Surgery Today

These are some pictures before surgery....

Today was the day we had Tetyana's teeth surgery. Last night we got Luke settled over at the Guernier's (thank you so much Guernier Family!!) and all went to bed early. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30 and it is about 45 minutes away without traffic. The thing that made Tetyana most anxious was not being able to eat breakfast. I think she thought she was going to melt away. Poor thing!

We got up and on our way. They make you get to the hospital 2 hours early! It just makes everyone so much more anxious. Tetyana was pretty calm and the nurses and doctors were excellent. They explained everything to her so she could understand. They told her they would not be using any needles while she was awake This made her feel very happy and relieved. We waited around for what seemed like forever. I tried to keep her busy by playing some games and reading (she is beginning to read English!) so we could keep her mind off things.

When the doctor came in to discuss the anesthesia, he told us there would be a nurse named Elaina and Tetyana piped right up. Her BM's name is Olena. We found out Elaina, the nurse is from Russia. I asked Tetyana to tell the doctor where she was from and she said "Russia"! This is the second time in a week she has said she is from Russia. It is the craziest thing. She couldn't remember which city she was from. We discuss Ukraine all the time. Maybe it is a mental block?

Anyway, they came for her and she went off without a problem. The doctor anticipated it would take him between 2-3 hours and he came out after 2 hours and 40 minutes. He told me that he changed much of his original plan once he got in there. He was planning on only extracting one tooth but once he saw the condition of the molars and top canines, he decided to extract 5 teeth, put stainless caps on 2 of the molars in hopes of keeping them until it was time for them to fall out, fill in all of the cavities and file down the front bottom teeth (they were very jagged). He told me I could go back in a few minutes when she was waking up.

On my way back there was another family there that had just come from the patient area and the mom asked me if I was the mother of the little girl in the back. I told her I was and she said "she looks just like you". I smiled at her and told her "that's funny because I just met her 6 months ago". She looked at me like I was totally loosing it and then I gave her a quick version of our story. We hear very often that Tetyana looks like me....I think it is so cool that so many adopted children look like their adopted families.

When I got to the back, Tetyana was crying and the nurse was trying to console her. The nurse told me she kept saying "Where's my mommy? I want my mommy!" When she saw me she nearly jumped into my lap. She looked pretty bad because her face was bright red from the tape they used for the nose tube. She had a little reaction to the tape but by the time we went home she already was looking better.

She had some apple juice, got out her IV and we were on our way after about 45 minutes. She couldn't wait to get in the car so she could eat. She wanted us to stop at Panda Express so she could get some "cheeken". I told her she had to start off slow and gave her a banana.

About an hour after we got home and Luke was home, she asked if she could go swimming! The doctor was right when he said she would be up and bouncing around by the afternoon! Here she is with her teeth. Just the filing of the bottom teeth has improved her smile. I think once the swelling goes down, it will look a little toothless but better. You can see the condition of the teeth in her hand. The were so brown with cavities. We have to go back to get the spacers put in but after that she will be done with the dentist for awhile!

She was very excited to get to bed so the Tooth Fairy could come. What could the Tooth Fairy possibly bring such a brave little girl? For sure an extra dose of magic fairy dust!