Something to Smile About

An overview of Surgery Day:

We arrived at the hospital at 7:45am after dropping Chloe off with Courtney to get to school (THANK YOU!!) and the boys with Christy. (THANK YOU!!) And Jess, for Chloe's school pick up (THANK YOU!!). Thank the Lord for my sweet pals. They were a HUGE help to me. As we headed back to the pre-surgical area, I handed Mia her little backpack which I had filled with a few things to pass the time (almost 2 hours). She dug right in while I signed paperwork and answered questions from the nurse.

After I was finished, I noticed that Mia was pulling out several things that I had not packed in her bag. I quickly realized that each of her siblings had put in a few treasures of their own for her. I had no idea that they had done that, but when surveying the lot it was pretty clear who had chosen which item. =) I packed Mia a doll baby, a small lovey blanket, crayons, a coloring book, and a sticker book. I will let you guess who chose the other treasures we found inside: lip gloss, leggos, a pop-bead necklace, a cross medal (from One Way Club), and silly bands. (Answer key at bottom.) It brought such a smile to my face to see the tender care my other children had for their little sister and to see each of their little personalities shining through the gifts that they had chosen.

Mia did a great job waiting patiently for surgery. About 20 minutes before she was to leave, Mia was given some medicine to make her loopy so that she would not have trouble heading into surgery without me. For each one of my other children (and me for that matter), this medicine made us totally goofy within 3 minutes. Not for Mia. She seemed totally unaffected. Not ideal. So I walked back with her as far as they would let me. She looked concerned, but as always was very brave. No tears.






After about 15 minutes the dentist came out with the xrays and discussed the details of our options. He told me it would be another hour of surgery. I waited quietly and busied myself with my Bible study. During that time, Pastor Dan stopped by to talk and pray with me. Then my neighbor (and dear family friend from church), who is a nurse anesthetist, came out. He reassured me that he had checked in on Mia and she was doing great. (Thank you Curt.) Both of those visits were so sweet. Have I mentioned how much I love our church family? I got a couple calls, more prayers with friends and updated Steve.

And then very shortly afterward, it was all finished. I got the summary from the dentist and about 5 minutes later I was brought back to Mia in recovery. She had a VERY difficult time coming out of the anesthesia. She cried and kicked and sobbed and fought for over 45 minutes in my arms. It was really rough (and definitely the toughest part for me). She was very scared and disoriented. She would not drink anything or even eat a popsicle (SHOCK) for a full hour. I finally got her to eat most of a popsicle and they removed her IV so that we could go home. Mia was still very upset. More than anything, she seemed really angry at me. It broke my heart. I know that for right now, she does not understand.

We made it home and within a few hours she was doing much better. We managed her pain with Ibuprofen for a few days. Now she just needs it occasssionally when she complains of her pain.

Here are the details of all that was done:
She had 2 root canals on 2 of her front teeth.
All 4 of the front teeth were "saved" and capped (with resin colored crowns).
She had a large abcessed molar extracted.
She had 3 sets of decayed roots extracted (from her 3 missing teeth).
She had countless cavities in the remaining molars and got 6 stainless crowns on those in order to give her a functional ability to chew.
So she now has 16 (out of 20) functional teeth (10 have crowns) that will hopefully be painfree and HEALTHY.

My mouth hurts just thinking about all of it.

So that's the scoop...
We are praising the Lord for His hand of protection. And for all of your prayers.
Happy 2 months since Mia Day!

ANSWER KEY:
lip gloss - Chloe (a girl always needs a little shine!)
pop-bead necklace - Chloe (and some bling)
cross medal - Caleb (my preacher in the making)
leggos - Luke (doesn't everyone love leggos?)
and
silly bands - Luke (my always-has-an-opinion-about-fashion guy)


And now here are the long awaited photos of her new smile...