This morning I took my three year old in for out patient surgery. She needed some work done on several teeth, and the dentist felt it would be less traumatic for her if we did it as a surgery instead of several visits to the office. Having gone through this just two years ago with Savannah, I agreed...
Today we were suppose to be at the out patient surgery center by 6:30 am. Here procedure was suppose to be at 8:15 and they need time to check them in and all. I was surprised at the amount of traffic on Powers at 6:15 this morning. I guess it has been a while since I drove around that early in the morning...
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At about 7:50 they finally took us back to pre-op. And there we go to sign a couple more papers, and wait... And wait... And wait some more...
Through all of this time Catalina has been a happy little girl. She knew we were there for them to work on her teeth. But she didn't seem all to worried. In fact there was a brief thought that maybe she would have been OK doing the whole thing with out the surgery aspect of it...
Then her dentist showed up. I really like her dentist. She is great at explaining things to little kids. OK she doesn't tell them all the things she is doing, but she really talks well to the kids and makes them feel calm... Usually.
Today didn't go as well. Dr. Mani was explaining to Catalina that they would take her back and put a little mask on her face like an airline pilot. She then went on to tell Catalina that sometimes the mask smells like Monkey Butt and that we don't like that smell, so she would need to blow the smell away, like blowing out candles. And when she woke up after everything she would get a Popsicles...
Catalina practised blowing with Dr. Mani and seem OK with everything. Dr. Mani then left to go and check on things. And that is when Cat lost it... I could see the tears coming, and it only took me asking what was wrong for Catalina to start sobbing. I picked her and tried to calm her down. Pre-op is right next to post-op, and there were several people resting in post-op already. Not really sure why they don't have a pre-op/post-op just for kids... Maybe in a room were doors close... I would think it would be a big hit for those trying to rest...
Anyways... Catalina is now sitting on my lap crying loudly. And I asked her what was wrong, was she scared, why was she crying. Her answer was... "I don't want to smell monkey butts"!
Her nurse at this point decided to go with the option for versed and Motrin to help Catalina relax before surgery. I asked Cat if she wanted some medicine, and of course she did. I then took her to the bathroom, because the nurse didn't want Catalina to be up walking much after 15 minutes from the time she took the medicine...
When we came back there was another nurse there to help with Catalina. She asked if Cat ha picked what smell she wanted for her mask. I didn't think she had, and so the nice nurse told Catalina that she could have Cotton Candy, Strawberry, or Root Beer... Catalina picked strawberry...
The nurse left to go take care of the mask and then we got to wait... And wait... And wait...
At this point it was about 8:10am... The medicine they gave to Catalina was starting to make her a little tired. At this point Catalina asked me... "What were the choices again for me... I know strawberry and soda, but I don't remember the other..." I told her that it was Cotton candy, and she said... :Oh, 'cause I thought it was monkey butt..."
It wasn't much longer before I met the anesthesiologist and then I was caring her back to the OR. They put her "non-monkey butt" mask on her and with in a minute she was a sleep. At this point the nurse lead me back out to the front and I got to wait... And wait... And wait!
I was starving, because I forgot to bring something to eat, but I was also to scarred to run out and grab something (even though Dr. Mani said it could be up to two hours). I was worried that I would leave and something would have gone wrong or something and they would come out to find me and I wouldn't be there. I didn't even dare run to the car to get a dollar so I could get a soda...
After waiting what seemed like forever, but really was just over an hour and a half, a nurse came and got me. Catalina was awake and MAD!!! She was not to happy about things and she wanted to go home (they had warned me that kids often woke up mad). I tried to calm her down/wrestle with her. She kept trying to pull out her IV (in her foot), and take the sensors off. Finally we got her to calm down some with offering her some water...
They moved Cat so that she was sitting on my lap, and they got her a movie to watch. And after several BIG drinks of water, and even bigger burps, Catalina went to sleep. I sat and watched Toy Story for about a half an hour while Catalina slept on me. She woke up when the nurse took her IV out, and we went home...
We were only about five minutes down the road when Catalina remembered and said... "I didn't get my Popsicles!!!"
This will always be the story of monkey's butt and forgotten popsicles. Ahhh the memories we make for our children are just so precious!
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't get to eat anything! :(