Boy, they’re fast now! Thirty-five minutes, to be exact.
After confirming the paperwork, she followed the nurse to the surgery room behind the glass wall. It felt like I had just walked in the door and started working on my journaling, when the nurse called me back to recovery. “She’s doing fine and the surgery went very well.”
Down the hall and around the corner to a small room with a recliner and two side chairs, Italian artwork and ironwork surrounding my teen as she sat there mouth ajar with rolled gauze puffing up her cheeks. She won’t remember this room looking more like a den that a recovery room but it was much more comfortable than I expected. Wow, 35 minutes!
Once she saw me, her large blue eyes widened beneath her exclaiming eyebrows--tears puddled in each corner then quickly ran down the edge of her nose and cheeks. Yes, her wisdom teeth are gone and recovery has begun--anticipation and anxiety now turned into a cleansing release of tears. My heart went into my throat because I had to do something, yet she’s too big for me to scoop up in my arms like I used to when she was two. But, she’s not too big for my kissing her forehead, wiping her tears, whispering in her ear, "You did great, keep taking big, deep breaths for me" and running my fingers through the tiny, blond wisps on the side of her temples. She's unaware it was only 35 minutes...
We’ll be maneuvering our way later...numbingly walking to the car, sleeping all the way home, deciding how best to prop ice bags, swallowing meds and eating her "non-chewing" food. Hopefully by then, the anesthesia will have subsided and she’ll begin to feel her tongue.
When I was a teen, I had to stay overnight in the hospital for this procedure (and endure an almost-broken nose caused by an un-experienced nurse forcing a tube up my deviated septum nose—which hurt me more than my teeth!). Wow, 35 minutes!
Lord, watch over my child as she heals…and thank you for her friends--they’re bringing her ice cream later today!
Psalm 121:5-8
The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
