Everyone took their turn and had their own unique experience. Let's look back and see how each Surgery Girl did... (fade out music)
Daisy was up first. She had the easiest surgery of the three, but because her procedure was done at the hospital, it was the most structured. You know what I mean, right? There is a certain way to do things at the hospital with the monitors and the number and waiting for your person to come back out. It makes it feel more intense than it might actually be.
Daisy was there to get tubes in her ears. There has been a long history of Daisy and her hearing problems. When she was younger, she stopped being able to hear. You could stand behind her and say her name and she wouldn't respond. We took her in for a hearing test and she failed. She seemed to have an ear infection and they thought that was the problem, so after antibiotics and some healing time we took her back in for another hearing test and she failed. Oddly, we could tell that she could hear again, so even though she failed the test we decided not to worry about it and we moved on with life (yes, we are stellar parents).
Fast forward five or six years and suddenly Daisy couldn't hear again. She had an ear infection, we got her some antibiotics, and the infection improved but the hearing didn't. After two months I decided to take her in to see an ENT. They gave her some hearing tests and sure enough, she failed. She had lost almost 30 decibels of hearing. That means normal speech sounded like a whisper to her. The doctor recommended tubes to get rid of the fluid in her ears. I'd like to think that fluid has not been sitting there for five years.
The procedure to put in tubes is very fast and pretty easy but they still like to put children out because it can be scary for them. We arrived early on a Monday morning and were escorted back to a room. We only had to wait a little while and Daisy spent time talking with us.
Once again, this was at the hospital, so she had to do the whole gown and rigmarole. But she looked very cute in her hospital jams and her finger monitor.
She brought her own blanket but they also gave her another one at the hospital. (Not pictured here.) They wheeled her out after everyone had come to talk to her about the surgery. Daisy didn't seem too worried and luckily she doesn't weigh much so they decided to just give her a gas mask instead of putting a tube down her throat. (Yay!) It didn't take long and she was wheeled back to us curled up and groggy. Everyone reacts to anesthesia differently. The nurse we had said kids come out screaming most of the time. (That sounds so disturbing.) I don't think Daisy did that, but they probably wouldn't tell us if she did. She was rather grumpy as it wore off. She got a slushy which you'd think would make her happy, but she didn't want us taking pictures. Too bad.
Shortly, she was back to herself. Except now she could hear. We stopped to get some real breakfast but she didn't eat much. Not so hungry after the whole ordeal. Daisy's recovery was quick and barely changed anything in her routine. The other girls were not so lucky.
Next up was Ivory. Lucky for the original Surgery girl to go at it again. This time, she was in for some not so fun oral surgery. Ivory has stubborn teeth and to help them move, the doctor planned to drill a ton of holes in the bone under her teeth in hopes that while healing, the teeth would be more willing to adjust. This surgery was easily the most expensive since insurance wouldn't cover it, and there was only an 80% chance that it would work. (Yes, you are reading that correctly. There was a 20% chance that we were not only wasting our money, but also inflicting Ivory to a lot of unnecessary pain. Let's all cross our fingers.) We went to a consult in October to be told all this good news by the doctor. Here we are reading before he came in.
A little over two months later, we were back for the actual surgery, despite the possibility that it was all for naught.
The bone drilling was not the worst part. It was getting to the bone. They had to slice and pull back her gums and they sliced them from mid mouth all the way back to the wisdom tooth. And since they were back there, they decided to take out her wisdom tooth as well. (Now she is 1/4 less wise.) The coolest part is that they put cadaver bone over the mutilated bone, so it could heal after the surgery. That means Ivory is part Zombie now. How cool is that?
Ivory was such a trooper. Not only did she have this awful surgery, but then she went right over to the orthodontist to get bands put on. They wanted to pull on those teeth right away to get them moving. Unfortunately, she still had bloody gauze in her mouth, so they just gave the bands to me and told me to put them on as soon as I could. (Seriously?? I have to reach into the bleeding maw?)
We had to do a good job keeping on top of her pain. And she had many Jamba juices. I also got the bands on a couple of her brackets, but I couldn't even reach the back one because of swelling. Luckily, she didn't have too many problems with band pain because it was incorporated with regular healing pain. Because she got that wisdom tooth out and the general healing from her operation, she ended up with a really fat cheek. It was a legitimate chipmunk cheek but only on one side. But she was still loved by all through the whole ordeal.
She even ended up with a pretty awesome bruise under her cheek. Can you see it in this picture?
Finally Ivory was able to get all her bands on where they were supposed to be. And the best news of all, her teeth shifted. The surgery did what it was supposed to do and helped close the gap. I was so happy mostly because it was a hard experience and I' m glad Ivory didn't do it for nothing. And now when she finally gets her wisdom teeth out, she will only have to remove three, which will probably lead to one chipmunk cheek again.
Last up was June with a regular removal of all four of her wisdom teeth. Here she is before her surgery. And then after.
For sure, June was the funniest one while her anesthesia was wearing off. She kept touching her lip and asking if it was her tongue. Then she would do it all over again. (We may have giggled a lot.) June went through a ton of smoothies from Green Me. She liked the Peanut Butter one the most. She must have eaten at least ten. And she watched a LOT of movies. But that didn't bother me. Everyone needs a break when they have surgery.
The head wrap didn't stay cold for very long, so we took the small ice packs that Ivory was given and I put soft fabric on them and made them into more comfortable little packs. June used them a lot. Sometimes she would enlist help from her younger sisters. Contrary to Daisy's face, they were all very happy to help.
The surgical center where she got her wisdom teeth out, sent her flowers. I thought that was a very nice gesture, but I was also a little annoyed because Ivory didn't get anything and her surgery was arguably much worse. Such is life.
June's cheeks never got that big. There was one day they seemed a little more plump but it faded so quickly, it seemed like it was nothing at all. Everyone is happy to have surgery month out of the way.
Robyn is a little sad she didn't get it over with, along with June, but Front Sight was worth it and now, when it is her turn, she won't have to share the couch.
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