R had to had some dental work done and so they put her out completely at the surgical center. It was horrible. The anesthesiologist was a very quiet thin man that hunched forward to talk and to listen. He was very soft spoken and kind. After he had explained everything then we "laid" R down on the table. She was fighting and scared, trying to cling on to me. Then they started giving her laughing gas and she wouldn't calm down. All of a sudden she went limp and they sighed like it was a relief and we were done. Then she started curling her arms and legs in weird ways... and it was freaking me out. The anesthesiologist just started pumping the gas more quickly and I was sure she was going to die or have brain damage. The other guy said, "She is still really fighting this." That is when I felt the splatters of my tears bouncing off the table. It was horrid.
She finally stopped contorting herself, and then I had to leave her. I tried to hold back the sobbing as the dentist told me he would hurry so I don't have to worry about her too long. Then I stumbled into the bathroom and had myself a good cry. When I was calm enough, I tried to call E to give him an update... but I found that I really didn't have it together yet.
Eventually they called for me about on hour later and R was just waking up.... mad as could be. I tried to hold her but she was a little psychotic about the IV. She kept yanking on the tube anytime her hands escaped. Trauma. The nurse did come back soon and took out the IV. Then R moved on to the name bands she had on her ankles. She was screaming and kicking, "Off! Off!" I tried to distract her by singing, showing her things, "Look at that curtain," didn't go over so well. Funny, but the thing that did the trick was explaining that as soon as I had some scissors I would cut them off. She calmed right down.
She was pretty clingy for the next couple of hours, but really she did great. This all happened last Wednesday. I had a hard time talking about it, so I couldn't blog it until now. I still cried remembering. It was the weird muscle movements that threw me over the edge. The only thing that is freaking me out now is the follow up calls to see if she is doing OK. The Surgical Center called twice and her dentist just called this morning. Is that normal?
Any who, everybody go brush your teeth right now. I will go brush R's teeth now as well.
4 comments:
I am so sorry. That sounds like a nightmare. I hate it when your kids look at you like, "why are you doing this to me?" I have never had any of my kids put out except Isaac to have tubes in his ears. He thought it was a great adventure. He talked really early and when he came out he was saying "I can hear that" and "that sounds really weird." The doctor liked it because he said most of his patients are too young to talk so he liked knowing it worked. I am going to brush all my kids teeth from now on.
While I certainly advocate brushing teeth and avoiding the issue all together, rest assurred that all of the description is perfectly normal. The way that she went off to sleep was perfectly normal for an inhalational induction of anesthesia. Moreover, the post-operative calls are also very normal. Even though it can look kind of scary, it is just what I would expect for placing a child under anesthesia for surgery.
i think you are just a little oversensitive :P...haha j/k. sounds like quite the experience. glad she is doing good now! hopefully her mom can gradually recover, too ;)...
Nate, I am so glad you commented... being one in the know and all... Still it was horrible!
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