(no subject)

I'm currently sitting in one of the outpatient surgical prep rooms. This will be where I stay while Petey's dental surgery is performed. I feel very good about how things have gone so far. Every one is very nice--as is typical of Idaho :) Petey's nurse, the anesthesiologist, and his nurses are all very nice, repeatedly asking if I have any questions. The only hitch was when the anesthesiologist noticed that Petey has a stuffy nose and asked if this is common. I couldn't come up with a coherent answer! I stumbled through something like "He's never been tested for allergies but I mean, he just gets sniffly noses like most kids do, nothing extrodinary...." and just trailed off. Wha..? I guess part of the problem was that I didn't understand what he was asking or why. Turns out that if Petey has a cold the anesthesia could make it turn into something worse. Once I understood that, then I could say yes, Petey gets stuffy noses on a pretty regular basis that don't necessarily turn into colds.

The anesthesiologist asked if I thought he'd need oral sedation. He said, "I think he'll be ok with the gas, he seems cool as a cucumber." I, however, thought differently. I know that Petey has some claustrophobia issues and especially if he feels like he can't breathe freely. For example, he hates steamy bathrooms and insists on keeping the door open. I asked if Petey could see the mask ahead of time to get an idea of what it was like. A few minutes later he came back with a strawberry scented mask and, after showing it to Petey, tried to place it over his nose so he'd know what it felt like. Petey flinched like a startled puppy. That behavior was in stark contrast to how he'd been acting all morning (playing his Gameboy and acting very nonchalantly about everything) and I think the dr. was surprised :) He left and the nurse came back in a few minutes with the oral sedative. Fast forward ten minutes and Petey is laying on his bed with his eyes wandering over the ceiling and a smile tickling the corners of his mouth. Still, he never put down that gameboy! They even let him take it back to the operating room with him. I hope it doesn't get lost, it's actually Zack's.

I'm currently being entertained by the conversation I keep hearing at the nurses station. So far I've learned that one of them though JK Rowling is a man, and that another of them has never had a ticket issued to her because she always cries or wheedles her way out of it some other way. Interesting :) Overall, I feel calm and reassured by how things are proceeding so far.

Now I shall get to work on my FINAL final exam.

Edit: There are too many distracting voices and beeps in here for me to work on my final. Also, I want to write this down before I forget: Petey told me he wished he had a dictionary with him so he could look up all these new words he keeps seeing around the hospital :)

Writer's Block: Traditional Pursuits

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Singing Christmas carols. I love that we have these beautiful, historical songs that we only sing once a year. I love the harmonies, I love the overwhelming feeling of joy and love that I feel when I stand in the center of a choir singing carols.

(no subject)

Thanks for all the goods thoughts and prayers :) Petey came through the procedure just fine. Unfortunately they discovered he also had an abscess on the other side and had to pull three teeth instead of just two. In a weird way, this alleviates my anger at the Florida dentist who I thought botched the first two teeth. Now that I know the Spokane dentist also botched, I easily let go of my anger towards the Florida gal. The interesting thing about the Spokane tooth is that it is a stainless steel crown. However, when the dentist handed me the teeth, I could easily see that the crown did not seal against the tooth. It has a largish gap where I'm sure a lot of gunk got trapped.

Tonight the tooth fairy will be paying for three teeth all at once! Petey has been fine all day. He's a bit bothered by the spacing hardware in his mouth, placed there to keep his remaining molars from shifting around. He's also not enjoying this all-day liquid diet, but he's such a trooper.

Another interesting tidbit the dentist told me: The grooves on Petey's permanent molars are the deepest he's ever seen (and this is an older dentist.) He put sealants on the molars, but he also told me that we can expect to have a lot of trouble with those teeth.

Petey can't win for losing!