Callie's Dental Procedure

Before:
(I didn't get a very good before shot! so mad I forgot! I thought of it right as they were taking her back.)

After:

I'm pretty happy with it's appearance. I don't like that it created more of a gap between her teeth but I think it needed to be placed like that for more stability.

The morning of her actual appointment I was very nervous! Thoughts of her not waking up from anesthesia popped in my mind. As we drove to her appointment I still hadn't told Callie where we were going. I've learned with my daughter that she handles things much better if I tell her last min. That way she doesn't have to time to stress over it or process it. She really likes running errands and shopping with me so she was happy to come along. When we pulled into the parking lot she looked at the building and asked "Do we have an appointment? Is this a Doctor's office?" She wasn't very happy when I reluctantly admitted it. But she was cooperative.

We arrived and almost immediately they came to get her. I went back and watched as they put the mask on her, she only protested a little. I got a little teary eyed as they were putting her under. They wouldn't let me stay and walked me back up front. I was surprised at how emotional I was. Tears flowing and wishing I wouldn't have told Ron he didn't need to be there. The Dentist told me they would do everything they could to save the tooth. He came out a little while later showed me the broken part of her tooth (practically the entire lingual wall of her tooth was fractured off). The nerve was exposed so they did a pulpotomy (baby root canal) and placed a zirconium crown.

When she woke from anesthesia she was a little upset but let me hold her. I was a little unprepared because she had an accident during the procedure (something I should have thought of). So I was trying to carrying my groggy 3 year old and get checked out. The Dr. office was up stairs so I was paranoid she would tip back and out of my arms as I walked down a flight of stairs carrying her in one arm and my bag and paperwork in the other.
We made it home safely but Callie was still upset. She kept screaming "there's something in my mouth! I want the crown off! I want the crown off! Take it out!!! I don't want the crown in! I don't want the crown in!" I think she was feeling the numbness from the local anesthesia in that area and didn't like it. She would yell "I want it out! I want it out!" while simultaneously try to remove it herself with her fingers. She even declared "I'm not going to the doctor EVER again!" It really would have been funny if it wasn't so sad at the time. This crying and screaming occurred for about an hour, until she finally fell asleep in my arms.

Mason's 1st Eye Surgery

4 days after his accident when the swelling went down enough for him to open his eye we scheduled an appointment with the Retinal specialist. At this appointment it was determined that surgery was needed ASAP. Dr. Kwong found what looked like it MIGHT be Retinal tear. The sooner you operate the better. On Tuesday April 8th we went into surgery not knowing much of the outcome and praying extremely hard. Mason wasn't nervous at all. I think he was even a little excited about this new adventure.

BEFORE:

The nice administrator explaining everything to Mason:

Our good friends the Sare's gave Mason these cool headphones which he LOVES and wants to wear all the time. Up until this point I had worried that at any point Mason might start acting his age and get a little anxious, nervous or scared. I should have known better. This kid is invincible. As they wheeled him off he turned and waved to me as confident as ever. I won't ever forget that mental image.

Dr. Kwong informed us this particular surgery could last anywhere from 30 mins. to 3 hours. The longer it went on the more anxious I became. I ignored the feeling that everything was going to be ok and worried that because it was taking a while that wasn't good. Joyce and Larry came to visit and distract us at the hospital. Which was a nice change from starring painfully at the large hospital screen with random surgical updates hoping to see Mason's assigned surgery number say "Out of surgery".When we finally got the call saying surgery was over it had been about 2 hours. I was bracing myself for the worst. If he did in fact have retinal detachment we were going to have to restrict his movements, head positioning is crucial after this type of repair surgery. I was brainstorming taping him to a massage table face down with his face in the hole so he could see an iPad on the ground or something. :) Head positioning is critical after that type of surgery (we are talking hours at a time keeping his head horizontal! BLAH!!!)

As we sat down to talk to Dr. Kwong I held my breath as he proceeded to tell us how well the surgery actually went. Dr. Kwong was pleasantly surprised that Mason did NOT in fact have a retinal tear. I remember saying a silent prayer of gratitude as my heart filled with joy. I was so relieved. During surgery they removed his lens (due to having a traumatic cataract), cleaned up blood that had accumulated in the back of his eye and used a laser to repair some of the damage.

Post surgery:

Mason handled surgery like a champ! He was a little upset first coming out of anesthesia so they gave him some more meds in his IV and of course a popsickle makes everything better!

 

When we got home Mason was put on more eye drops and needed to wear this eye patch for the first 24 hours. After his first Dr. appt the next day he only needed to wear it at night for about 1-2 weeks. He NEVER once asked for pain meds or complained of discomfort. The only complaints from Mason were about not being to do very much. Poor little guy we are trying to bottle up the ocean over here!

Noah Noah Noah

Noah's latest phrase when he's mad and thinks I'm ignoring him "You're just annoying me!" LOL He confuses the words annoying and ignoring a lot. Very cute!
Cute Noah catch phrases:
"B-sketti" - Spaghetti
"Toose Paste" - Tooth Paste

This little man can be moody at times but in my opinion is perfect! He is obviously adorable but very gentle-natured. I've watched a few different babies on different occasions for friends and Noah LOVES having a baby around. He will tend to the baby constantly getting them toys or blankets and talking to them. It REALLY makes me proud.

"PLEEEEASE???"How can I say No to this face?!?

Noah's personality is very cautious but he's very wise. I've said this before, but I really do think Noah is very similar to Ron in personality. He thinks about and analyzes situations. He won't do something if he doesn't want to. (STUBBORN!) If it wasn't his idea it's NOT a good idea. He is my best eater, and will try just about anything.

I was having a rough day this week. Overwhelmed with Callie's cracked tooth, Mason's eye issues and insurance claims/issues running out the wazoo. I was crying thinking about Callie's tooth and just sad. Noah ran up to me and gave me a big hug and told me "I love you mom. Why are you crying?" I explained to him briefly how I was sad about Callie's tooth and he ran off and secretly disappeared to his room. A few minutes later he emerged with a paper colored on and a note written to me.
His Note reads: "Love Noah. Here is a message. I love you."

He is such a sweetheart and very perceptive to those around him.

Callie's tooth

Well, when it rains it pours!! We just can't seem to get a break around here in the Huber household. Callie fell at the playground Thursday night and bumped her tooth on the monkey bars. I took her to the Pediatric Dentist today for an x-ray and evaluation. Her tooth #E (center right tooth) is chipped and cracked. There is a vertical crack that runs up to or very close to the nerve of her tooth. She will more than likely need a pulpotomy (baby root canal) and crown on the tooth, IF it's even savable at all. If the crack is more severe than it appears on the x-ray she may need to have the tooth pulled all together.

My heart has been very heavy over the past few days thinking about the possibility of her not having a tooth there for the next 5 years. Ron and I were discussing our "woes" and feeling very down. Considering Maosn's eye, Callie's tooth... etc. Then we started to talk about the trials of close friends around us and in our ward. And how in comparison what we were experiencing was actually not as bad as we thought. We have each other, we have relatively healthy and happy children. Life really is good, it just throws you curve balls and punches once in a while.

Callie doesn't like ANY doctor office. So why would the dentist be any different? She did ok for the appointment, but didn't like it. After the treatment plan was determined the doctor gave us a Prescription for antibiotics and pain (to prevent an infection). He also recommended a soft food diet until we could get her back in to fix the tooth.

This little climber of mine is stressing me out big time. I went into nursery today to help because I'm paranoid she is going to bump that tooth again before we have a chance to fix it. 

This picture doesn't do justice to how bad the crack and chip is. The whole Lingual wall of her tooth is practically gone. She hasn't complained at all of pain so far (that's good. I'm really hoping her nerve isn't involved) We were still able to have a Girls night out with Maryann while the boys were at fathers and sons!

Shopping with Maryann "Mom, Can I ride the Alligator?"

Mason's "Bad Eye" Part 2

For a few weeks following the accident my life drastically changed. Mason had an eye appointment almost daily, He was put on 3 different eye drop medications that need to be administered 2-4 times a day. Do the math. He needed eye drops placed 6-8 times a day. This was no easy feat either. Because his left eye was swollen shut for a few days, this made the eye drops were a 2 person job. One person needed to pry his eye open, and the other quickly drop the medication in. Mason was extremely tolerant of this process and only whined occasionally. Per Doctors orders he was put on extreme movement restrictions. No running, jumping, bouncing... etc. At this point we weren't sure how much damage had actually been done. If he had a retinal tear or detachment jumping and bouncing could potentially make it worse. Those first 2 weeks were exhausting. I stressed over any movement at all from Mason! You try telling a 7 year old NOT to be 7. BLAH!

The very first morning (post accident) Mason refused to open even his good eye. I have learned a lot about eyes lately and apparently your eyes are "wired" to work together. If 1 of your eyes open the other closed eye will still contract it's pupil. So, for Mason this caused pain in his injured eye. He chose to just kept both eyes shut to avoid this pain. I tried everything I could to entice him to open his right eye, finally resorting to movie suggestions (even though he is injured I HATE the TV just being on. To me it's just NOISE and I don't like it.) He seemed excited at this prospect so he immediately chose a Scooby Doo. I remember thinking "oh cute. he still likes the little cartoon movies." WRONG! As I watched him "watch" the movie I noticed he STILL wasn't opening that eye but commenting and laughing at the movie. When I brought this to his attention he simply stated "I don't need to watch it. I have this movie memorized." LOL Funny kid.

Mason had lots of concerned visitors that first day. Including his primary teachers bringing him a card and a conference packet to enjoy watching conference the following Sunday. This is the FIRST time I noticed Mason get a little emotional after they left because he couldn't see the papers they brought him. He was so excited as I sat and explained what the papers said and how he could use the conference packet. He didn't cry, just got choked up a little and said "but I can't see them!" That's a really hard thing to watch your child experience "helplessness".

Later that evening quite a few family members came to check up on Mason including my Dad. We thought at this point Mason was asleep on the bean bag so we were quietly talking and Grandpa Faler said "He looks worse today then he did yesterday." to which Mason promptly responded "I can hear you!" LOL It was really funny.

Wednesday, (day 4) was the worst day for me. I think reality set in. He had been home from school all week and we were running a few errands. (This was the first day we didn't have any appointments) I remember where we were. Walking out of Wal Mart and Mason declared "Mom! I can open my eye!" I ran to him and was so excited the swelling had gone down enough that he could barely open his eye. I excitedly asked him "Can you see out of it?!?!" When he replied "No" my heart sank. The rest of the day is a blur. I don't know what I expected. I think I thought that miraculously he would see again and all would be as it was before. Lots of tears shed that day, guilty feelings crept back in. I wondered how different his life would be. "Would he be able to drive? Could he even play sports again?..." Ridiculous questions but valid concerns. Mason however was fine, completely unfazed by it. He was bouncing off walls and acting his usual upbeat self. Which only stressed me out MORE!!!

Mason has had several doctor appointments over the past few weeks. As always he is very well behaved for the Dr. and asks lots of questions. I REALLY like the Retinal specialist, Dr. Kwong. He is very informative and nice. He gave us his personal cell phone number at one point, I could tell he genuinely cared about Mason.

This particular appointment Dr. Kwong printed off the ultrasound pictures of Mason's eye and while explaining them to Ron and I, Mason speaks up from behind "Can I see?" Of course Dr. Kwong proceeded to show and explain to Mason what was going on in his eye.

I can't get over how high this kids pain tolerance is. Ron and I have more than once commented on how little Mason gets sick. The more we thought about it the more we realized he was probably sick more than we realized, he just never ACTED sick. This kid is go go go! For the most part the first couple days after the accident were fairly easy to keep Mason still. He was tired and I'm sure in pain, even though he NEVER asked for pain relief meds and would ALWAYS respond "Good" when you asked him how he was feeling. Almost everyone would ask "Does it hurt?" and Mason would ALWAYS reply with a smile "No." The only complaint he ever makes is his sensitivity to light. His eyes are extremely sensitive to light (mostly because of the dilating drops medicine) and especially first thing in the morning. We bought him some cool shades to help with this problem. He wears them EVERYWHERE! (Even to his choir concert at school and his Piano recital!)

The iris in his injured eye was torn during the accident. This is a drawing Dr.Underdaul (the Pediatric Eye Specialist) drew for us in the hospital. This can be fixed with surgery.

You can see his miss-shaped pupil and iris in this picture.