Braeden's Oral Surgery and Hypoglycemia

Two weeks ago, my sister Kellie and I headed to Boise at the St. Luke's-Meridian hospital to have Braeden's oral surgery performed. We dreaded the day because Braeden couldn't have anything to eat or drink from midnight the day before until after the surgery.  It was a miracle because he didn't even ask for water that morning.  When we arrived at the hospital (and hour and a half early...which was what we had to do) it was 7 am.  That was way early because we had to get up and drive an hour away from Mountain Home.  We checked into the surgery place and waited a few minutes before they called us back.  Braeden got weighed and his height measured.  Then they put us in this little room with a baby bed in it, and they asked us a bunch of questions.  About 30 minutes before Braeden went into surgery, thy nurse gave Braeden some "happy medicine."  I didn't believe it would make him happy, but it did. He was so funny.  He sat on my lap and laughed and sang and basically acted like he was completely drunk.  My sister and I laughed so hard we were crying.  He would look at me and just laugh.  Right before the anesthesiology nurse came and got Braeden he was getting unstable and he couldn't sit up by himself so I say him on my lap and held him.  The nurse came and asked him if he wanted to watch Elmo on his iphone.  Braeden liked the idea and they wheeled him away.  He didn't even cry when they took him.  That was a relief for me.  It was still nerve wracking that my little boy was with someone else and I couldn't be there.  Kellie and I went down to the cafeteria to get some food to eat and waste some time.  Braed had an hour before he would be out of the surgery and then some time before we could go in and see him.  We ate and went back upstairs to wait.  We waited and waited and waited.  I was starting to get really nervous and worried, but then the volunteer came and told us that Braed's procedure was over.  The dentist came out and told us that everything went well and that his teeth look great now.  They saved all of them, but had to crown 2 teeth and cap 3 of his front teeth.  After that we waited until they called us back to see Braeden.  They finally called us back and I basically ran to see my boy.

When I walked into the recovery room the nurse that was holding him was being so rude.  I wanted to cry for him.  I reached for him immediately and she said I need to see your arm band...I said okay, but give me my son.  I grabbed him and sat in the rocking chair they have in the rooms to hold him until he comes out of his anesthesia. He wanted some water and he wanted all of it, but he couldn't have it because he would probably throw it up. It was so terrible to watch. He was in a diaper with a terrible hospital blanket...he was pale, with an IV in his hand, he had blood on his mouth and he looked terrible.  I will never forget the sight of my sweet little boy like that.  It was not a fun thing to see.  I don't ever want that again.  He was miserable.  The nurse told me he was a fighter, and I told her oh I could have told you that...what is wrong with that. Then she said, he didn't like waking up in a place that was unfamiliar with.  I was beyond mad at the nurse at this point.  I could not believe that she was so rude to a 2 year old who just had a major surgery, didn't have anyone he knew around, had anesthesia, a breathing tube in his nose, and woke up in a weird place with nurses who were not very nice.  I could not believe the difference in the nurses before the surgery and then after.  The ones before were so awesome. They were so nice to all of us and one even took Braeden's car's heartbeat to make B laugh.  I wanted to get out of there so badly.
Braeden woke up and started to pull on his IV and wanted it out.  I didn't really know what the nurse wanted to me to do about it and I really didn't want to ask her anything.  She treated all of us like crap.  She came in and re taped Braeden's IV in and told me to put his hand under the blanket so he didn't see it.  Then she gave him another sedative so he would calm down.  A few minutes after that I was sitting in the rocking chair and I started to feel really weird.  I didn't know what was going on.  So I asked my sister if I looked okay and she said no.  I leaned my head back on the back of the rocking chair and breathed, but the way I was feeling wasn't going away.  So I told my sister to go tell the nurse that I was going to pass out...sometime after that I woke up feeling terrible. I couldn't speak, or say anything to find out what happened. There were three nurses around me all trying to get me to wake up and then I saw my sister crying so hard, and she was holding Braeden.  I had no idea what had happened, how long I was out, or anything.  I was so weak and didn't really know what was going on.  Another nurse brought in a full size bed and helped me lay down on it.  They took my blood sugar levels and they were extremely low (73). They asked me when I had eaten and it had been about 2 hours prior. They kept a close watch on my blood pressure, and gave my some apple juice and crackers to get my blood sugar levels back up.  I laid here for a while just in a totally different world, but worried about my boy and my sister who I just scared to death.  Braeden finally started coming out of the anesthesia a little more and the discharge process began.  The anesthesiologist came and said that Braeden was free to go.  We got all of our stuff and someone wheeled Braeden and I out to the car in a wheel chair.  I was a little nervous to drive an hour home, but I made sure I had some crackers and took it easy.

Later that night, Braeden got worse from all of the stuff he went through that day.  He threw up for two days, and was miserable.  I felt terrible for my little boy.  He had a rough night sleeping the first night and that means we all did too.  It took a few days, but Braeden came out of his not self and began to play and have fun again.  We had to slowly get him back into eating solids again, which was not fun.  He was just so hungry he wanted to eat everything, but for a few days he threw up everything he ate and drank.

I am so glad my boy is back to normal now and that he has some nice new teeth and it didn't cost as much as we thought it would.  I don't have to worry about those old teeth anymore.  That is a huge relief.

As for me and my incident, I have to be so careful to time every two hours and eat something. If I don't I will get light headed and pass out.  I have pregnancy hypoglycemia.  It is terrible because I feel like I am always eating and I hate the feeling of being light headed.  I have to bring something to eat all the time or I am scared to drive anywhere and do anything.  It is not a fun thing to watch the clock...2 hours goes by way too fast. I cannot wait for 8 more weeks until this baby is here and my body can return to trying to function normally.