Our Family, Our Joy: Lily's Surgery

Tuesday was Lily's surgery day. She started crying (a really sad, pitiful cry) as soon as we arrived at the Surgery Center and I took her out of the car. She knew something was happening and she was scared. Last week she had the dentist appointment, then the tooth extraction, a pediatrician appointment where they had to remove wax from her ears, and then she had to have blood work done. A lot of scary things she didn't understand.

At this point, we had only been home for 3 weeks. Just 5 weeks prior, people she loved took her to a strange place and left her with complete strangers. How does she know that isn't going to happen again?? It's times like this is when the language barrier is so hard. It just breaks my heart not to be able to explain to her what is happening and that we will always be there for her. All I could do was hold her, and rock her, and tell her how much we love her, and hope that she could just feel the love.

She continued to cry on and off until they put her under. I was allowed to gown up and carry her back to the operating room. I stayed with her and held her hands until she was asleep. She cried and looked scared, but fell asleep quickly. The surgery last about 1 hour and 50 minutes. The doctor called me early on in the surgery to tell me that 2 of the teeth we thought could be saved were in really bad condition. Without them, Lily would not be able to wear an appliance with false teeth to take the place of the teeth they have to pull. We decided to try to save the 2 molars. (one on top, and one on bottom). During the wait, one of my dear friends Shannon showed up to keep me company. Thank you Shannon! Your visit made the wait go by quickly!

The doctor came out after the procedure to give me the not so good news. She was only able to save 6 teeth instead of the 11 we expected. Even the front bottom teeth that looked to be in the best condition literally crumbled apart when the doctor began to work on them. They were totally decayed. Lily's teeth were one of the two worse cases the doctor has seen. The other child had been given bottles full of coke at bedtime (who does that??), and lost all his teeth.

I asked her about the black holes in Lily's molars. The doctor explained that they see many kids with black holes in their molars. With these kids, they can drill down and the blackness (decay) eventually stops. Not so with Lily's teeth. The decay was all the way through the teeth. And not only all the way through, but also around the teeth, which is why they appeared so brown and black.

The good news is, all of the infection and decay is now gone! Lily will be pain free! The 6 remaining teeth, 2 molars on top, and 2 molars and 2 eyeteeth on the bottom, received crowns. She will eventually be fitted with appliances with false teeth on top and bottom. As long as the two questionable molars remain stable, she will be able to wear the appliances until her adult teeth come in. Her adult teeth will not be effected by the decay.

Lily woke from the surgery kicking and yelling. I could hear her all the way down hall. Fortunately she had not yet opened her eyes as I wanted her to know I was there when she woke up. She yelled out in Chinese, but then eventually calmed to normal crying. Once she had calmed and drank a little juice, they sent us on our way.

Once home, she laid on the couch and slept on and off for a couple of hours. I sat by her side and wiped up the blood she drooled out of her mouth. After a few hours, most of the bleeding had stopped and she sat up, drank some juice, and let me know she was hungry. She has to be on a soft diet for at least 10 days, so we started off with cake and ice cream. Yum! She ate that, and then had rice and bananas for dinner.

I'm really so happy we found this dentist. Not only did the dentist call to check on her, but other staff members have called too. Lily is now well known at the practice.

She has been doing really well the last few days. We kept her on motrin for a few days, and there's still a little soreness, but she's tolerating it well. She's back to her smiling, laughing self. The doctor says that her gums will harden and soon she'll be able to eat everything anyone else eats. Right now she's eating soft food, cut in small pieces. We are just so happy this is behind her, and she no longer has any pain.

Here's some recent pictures..........................

All the kids with Daddy on his birthday