The day started off at 6:30 am - which Corey tells everyone in the known universe and anyone who can pick up his radio signals in the unknown universe - possibly also the Borg.
We left William at home with my sister and loaded Amélie into the car. She watched Tinkerbell all the way to Saskatoon while I criticized Corey's driving skills. She asked us a few times to have something to drink and told us her stomach was 'gurgling'. She kind of knew what was happening but was really blissfully unaware. We had told her she was going to the dentist and he would fix her teeth and she would be able to eat candy without it hurting.
We got to Saskatoon, and Corey found a brilliant parking spot. We wondered if we were going to get towed it was so awesome. We grabbed all our stuff, registered and gladly followed a volunteer who took us to the right place. Thankfully!! We were wondering how we'd find where we needed to go. Amélie hated her bracelet the moment it was on.
Then we did a lot of waiting. We waited until about 10h30 when they gave us her hospital pajamas. Amélie is still annoyed we didn't bring those cool pajamas home. They were white with yellow stripes. Amélie made friends quickly in the waiting room and soon was playing with her Discovery Toys patterns game and playing 'Teacher' with another little girl. Amélie was 'Miss Ariel' (her dance teacher) and the rest of us poor saps were her students. It was entertaining at least. Everyone was entertained even the macho-est guys in the room thought she was super cute with her bossy dance moves lol.
Then it was our turn at about 12:45ish or something. We went downstairs to where the 'theaters' are and into the patient holding area. We waited hardly long at all before the Dentist - Dr. Hamilton - came to talk to us. At this point Amélie had fallen asleep from being tired, hungry and thirsty. He explained what would most likely happen - and then we talked to the anesthetic team. They were so, so nice. Very calm, funny, explained how the anesthetic worked (they would use gas). They explained they would put a tube through her nose and then something down her throat so told us what to expect. I had been through surgery before and no one had ever explained anything this detailed to me. I was able to go in with them just had to gown up. THEN a nurse came to talk to us - or wait ... was she a nurse? I can't remember but anyways she was also very sweet, explained how recovery would go. I have to point out that they repeated each other and themselves a lot which really reassured both of us that everyone was on the same page.
Once I was gowned up, Amélie said I looked like a Doctor and she thought that was hilarious. The nurse called the 'theater' and asked if they were ready and they were. I could feel that Amélie was a little nervous so I talked about Halloween and the nurse asked her what she was going to be. Amélie replied -
- A princess or whatever - and she giggled lol.
The nurse stopped to get a blanket and Amélie was just so happy that she would get a blanket whereever we were going.
When we got to the room there was the tiniest little operating ... chair? Ever. It was pretty cute I have to say. Not really like a bed but more like a dentist chair.
Nice. We walked all the way to our 'theater'. Number 5. I considered that lucky because Amélie was born on the 5th of May and 5 is just a great number in general really.
I expected tears, a fight, clinging, when I lay her on the bed, but she just laid down and I tickled her and she was giggling. I can't remember what the nurses were saying but they were talking to her and super nice and the nurse pulled off her sock and put the little device that normally goes on your finger on her toe and Amélie thought that was silly as heck.
They didn't waste time either, I sat near her head and they put the little mask over her nose and there was some cherry smelling stuff inside which surprised Amélie at first but then she sniffed it. The girl anesthetist (spelling?) began to tell a story about how she got cherries and picked them herself so that it would smell nice and as she told the story she turned up the gas - which apparently changed the smell because she was talking about rotten cherries (which would later give Amélie horrible thoughts that i will discuss later). Anyways, Amélie eventually went to sleep but she did fidget a bit, so I held one hand and the nurse held the other until she was relaxed and then that was that.
They said I did awesome. I was like ... uh ... thanks? The nurse was going to escort me to where Corey was waiting but then the dentist said I'll walk with her. All the way back he was chatting and he mentioned that when she woke up sometimes they were ... you know ... a little out of it, grumpy (I think he was trying to warn me that she might be nuts when she woke up) I told him as long as she wakes up and gets over it I'll be pretty pleased. He said 'She'll wake up for sure.' Which made me feel good anyways.
I asked him if I could take off the gown and he's all like - oh no you have to wear it until you leave. I didn't realize he was kidding until we got to the patient holding area and he told me where to throw it lol. Lame!!
Interesting fact : This is kind of a quick overview just so I can put down the main points. I might edit it later to add things that I skipped over.
I told Corey how it had gone and he was reassured. Then we had 20 minutes to grab a bite to eat and then we had to be in the waiting room. They liked us to be easy to find and although her surgery would take about an hour they liked it if we were available for any consultations during surgery and emergencies of course.
I couldn't eat. I had a huge headache and I was nervous. So I got an orange juice that I barely drank. We went back I read my eReader which made time pass quickly. At just after 2 - or around 2:15 the Doctor came to talk to us. Everything had gone well, he'd capped all her molars so 7 of them, he pulled one that was absessed. (I totally called it) and pulled one of her eye teeth (I think it's an eye tooth) that I also said would be pulled. He did 2 fillings in the front but suggested that even if the fillings don't last to either get a dentist to pull them out or not to worry too much. They would fall out first in a few years anyways.
So then I went and took care of paperwork and paying the bill (eep 1500$ later). While I was gone, they called for me to come and be with her in recovery but since Corey was the only one available he went. She was calling for him anyways. Paying the bill was taking forever (I had two insurance forms I needed her to fill out) - then waited for everything to process on her slow credit card machine. Gawd. I got back and saw Corey was missing and I wanted to go to the recovery room.
I knew where to go but couldn't get in so I asked a nurse - our same nurse - to help me. Once I got in, another nurse pointed out my little snuggle bug to me and I went over. Amélie crawled into my arms and we sat on the chair that would take us upstairs once she had calmed down. Corey took our things and went to wait in the waiting room. By the time I got there he had managed to calm her down a bit. Apparently she woke up wobbly, her eyes kind of rolling and I think that scared him a bit. Anyways, I held her close and asked her if she wanted a popsicle but she was just pissed that they wouldn't give her chocolate milk. LOL.
And by pissed I mean like super irate! They took out her IV - none too gently but I don't blame the nurse. She was trying to be gentle and Amélie jerked her hand. Dang it. Should have just waited until she was more alert I think. Oh well. Once that was out I got her snuggled up in her blanket and she mostly whined and said she was thirsty. She didn't want her popsicle at all! We offered her apple juice, which she wanted but then we were moving upstairs. The nurse told Corey to meet us outside and then we were off.
Amélie was still kind of out of it so whenever I asked her questions she just flipped out - I stopped asking questions. Just cuddled. We got to our day surgery recovery room and onto the bed and snuggled. We got her some apple juice. She insisted on 'doing it herself!' It was hilarious watching her try to get the straw into her numb mouth. Are we bad parents for laughing? HAHAHAHAHA!
Anyways ... I sent Corey for another apple juice and apparently the nurse there was super bitchy about it. All I could think of was - wow. My little girl just had a fairly traumatizing experience and she wants a 2nd apple juice and your freaking out and at the same time handing over jello, popsicles and ice cream to the 'other' kid next to us who had the same type of surgery. Like ... wtf!!
We snuggled a bit longer then I asked Amélie if she wanted to change into her princess costume. She wanted to get naked. Anybody who knows her will now be reassured that she was feeling better lol. So naked she was. Wrapped in her blanket of course. We played her pattern game, then she and I had a little nap - like ten minutes I think. We asked her off and on if she wanted to put her costume on. She wasn't into it so we figured Halloween was a write-off. I was unaffected but Corey was devastated lol.
We were kicked out at about 4ish with really minimal discharge info. Nothing too major to worry about. Here's our biggest beef - they say 'no drinking out of a straw for 24 hours' as they hand you an apple juice with a straw in it. Confused? As were we.
Amélie and Corey checked out the gift shop while I ran to the washroom. She was devastated not to get a bear from there (apparently super expensive) so Corey took her to ToysRUs where she picked out a Tinkerbell Teddy Bear, some stick on earrings and another Ariel doll. Seriously. We have a lot of Ariel dolls but she was pleased.
On the way home Amélie suddenly asked 'Is it trick or treating time?'. Dang. Corey was thrilled. She had a tiny nap on the way home, watching her movie mostly, then we got home had some soup - which Pat had made for us - and dressed the kids and went trick or treating.
AND The toothfairy came to our house that night. Did you know that teeth get more money these days? A TOONIE EACH!! LIKE ... WTF?! In my day it was twenty five cents. Just sayin'.
PS : Amélie is afraid of our fan in the car because it 'sounds' like the gas that put her to sleep and she thought that she had rotten cherries and she would die!! We had to TURN OFF our fan in the car before she would stop crying about it. Yeesh. We've explained a million times that she misunderstood, it's not the same etc .... sigh. We'll see what the future car rides bring lol.
PPS : Although I don't want to relive that experience with William or again with Amélie, we had a really great team. I'm really grateful to them for their compassion and thoughtfullness.
