16/365 But unfortunately for Elijah, it will be a while yet until he has them again. Yup, today he had to get his right top, front tooth removed. He went first to a children’s dentist who said that it looked like the tooth was the way it was (dead) because of a trauma. He asked if E had hit his mouth on anything. I cannot remember anything, the kid has the uncanny ability to sometimes hurt himself and not cry or say anything but just go on his way. So if he hit his mouth, he never told me.

While I was talking with the dentist in his office, E came running, crying and hollering for Mommy. All they did? X-rays and an exam, but it apparently freaked him out. Nothing was a picnic from there on out. They made us an appointment at the oral surgeon for 11, it was 9:30 at the time. We left the building and as I was putting E in his carseat, I realized he’d forgotten his sticker and little bath toy whale the office had given him. Normally I might have ignored the fact and hoped he’d forget about it, but I thought those things might be of comfort to him later. So we went back in and found them amongst the toys.

We were 40 minutes early to the oral surgeon’s even though I’d driven the exact speed limits and taken the long way there. The thing was, Elijah wasn’t allowed to eat or drink at all before hand. When we’d left at 7:30 am, he was already saying he was hungry. That was one of the least fun parts.

But being early gave me enough time to do all the paper work and wrangle E for a while and he went back at exactly 11. I went back with him and he was already crying even though I hadn’t told him exactly what was going to happen. I had just told him he was going to get his bad tooth fixed. When he saw the chair, he absolutely flipped out. The doctor referred to him once as hysterical.

They had us sit in the chair together, showed him some toys, talked with me and then had me hand him to the nurse and just leave. The doctor said not to say anything, it would make it worse. I was trying to be strong but it was so hard and when I got back to the waiting room.

But about five minutes later, he was done! Less than ten minutes, anyway. They’d given him the “laughing gas” and he did fall asleep (they said sometimes the little ones do, but that doing general anesthetic in an office setting is unsafe so that was why they used the gas) but he was fully awake (and crying) by the time I got to the recovery room.

18/365 Oh, one of the worst things about it, besides the hungry child? When we were in the waiting room and he realized he was at a doctor’s place and was crying then, he kept saying things like, “I’ve got to go,” “Let’s get out of here,” “Mommy, can we just leave? Please?” It was breaking my heart. He continued saying those things after it was all over, before they released him, too.

The nurse told him he could have ice cream alllllll day so he lightened up a bit at that and said that he wanted to go to DAIRY QUEEN with MOMMY (as opposed to a nurse or doctor, I guess). When we got outside, he told me he wanted to go to Dairy Queen and see Uncle Danger (my youngest brother has him referring to him as Uncle Danger). So we ended up going out there and getting him (thankfully he had a three hour break from college) and went to their local DQ (where he works) and my sister-in-law met up with us, too. E had some chocolate ice cream and was quite the happy camper. His whole mood lightened before we got there and he told me, “Mama, I’m not sad anymore!” Good, buddy, that makes Mommy very happy!

So now my sweet little boy is missing one of his front teeth and he looks so funny to me, but now there is no chance of a bad infection that could harm him worse than losing the tooth, ya know? I saw the x-ray at the oral surgeon’s and even I, someone who his NOT a dentist, could tell that tooth was bad. It was just dying, I guess, ever since its trauma. Oh, the dentist had also said that the trauma could have been within the last year. So who knows what happened?

One thing, though? Both the dentist and the oral surgeon said that the tooth should have been pulled at the same time they did his frenectomy. However, at the time we didn’t know he had a bad tooth and according to the oral surgeon, the woman who did the surgery, as an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor, is not legally able to pull teeth. We were referred to her from the general physician. So I guess we would have had to have her and an oral surgeon. Ah, well, we had no real idea at that time. It was at his month check-up that I asked about the blister and she suggested it could have something to do with the teeth hence going to the dentist and here we are today. But my poor little guy, two (minor) surgeries in just under two months, both of them knocking him out! Crazy. But at least it’s not worse, you know??!

Afterward, he got a short nap but I woke him up to go in Blockbuster to buy Bambi. Apparently, they put it back in their stupid vault and when I joined the Disney Movie club the other day (yes, me, believe it or not) I was unable to find it in the catalog. I ended up getting it cheaper than what Amazon has it for, though, so… well that’s just weird. I am on a quest, though, to get the classics, the good Disney movies. I am SO sick of all the commercials, I would rather E watch some great, classics than see all this junk that’s on TV during the day. He watches too much overall, and we’re working on that, but at least if he’s going to be watching, I’d love to have it without commercials. But I’m getting into something that should be in another post. :) Doctor’s orders were that he lie on the couch and watch movies, no running around and such, so he’s already seen the movie twice… but now is ignoring our instructions and playing anyway… not too hard now, thankfully.

Anyway, that’s enough. In retrospect, I’m glad it’s over. It was tougher than the tongue thing, and that included a whole hospital admission thing. I’m glad it’s over, very glad, and I will also be glad when he stops asking me where his tooth is, and can we put it back in? (He swears he will not ever “grow” another one. I do have the tooth, it broke in two parts though, ew.)