Hospital, 3 Teeth, Thanksgiving & Family
We’ve had quite the week. Last Sunday Ethan was helping his dad clean the bathroom, when he banged his tooth (not hard) on the sink cabinet. It didn’t hurt for long, so we didn’t think anything of it. The next day his face was a bit puffy, but that’s normal for bruises to get worse before they get better, so again, we didn’t worry. When he woke up Tuesday morning with his right side of the face puffy as far as his eye, we made an appointment right away with a pediatrician.
At 9am the doctor said he wasn’t worried – it just looked like a bruise. Ethan hadn’t had his flu shot, so they gave him one (I asked at least twice if it was a good idea). We headed home since Ethan looked tired, and he promptly fell asleep. The doctor had prescribed antibiotics, but said it was borderline, so I didn’t buy them right away. When Ethan looked even worse at 1pm, I went and bought them and gave them to him.
By 6pm Tuesday, Ethan had a fever of 101° under his arm. I called the after-hours number for the doctor, and they said just give him Tylenol. I did, and his fever dropped, and he seemed a bit perkier at dinner. At about 8:30pm Tuesday, he said “My mouth smells like poop!” We went to look and puss was streaming into his mouth. Extremely alarmed, Mark made one more call to the after-hours doctor number, where they said he maybe he should see a dentist the next day.
At this point, Mark was livid and insisted we go to the emergency room. I thought he was completely over-reacting since the doctor in the morning had just thought it was a bruise, but Mark made us go anyway (thank goodness!). We arrived at 9pm, and were seen pretty quickly. It was definitely an infection (the doctor in the morning had made a very serious mistake), and they put him on IV antibiotics immediately. (Turns out that an infection in the face can get very dangerous very quickly, and can spread to the eyes and cause blindness.) It took until 2am before we were admitted into a room – we were very sleepy by that point.
They weren’t sure where the infection was since it was so puffy (his mouth wouldn’t even close it was so bad), and so they had to wait until the morning to figure out how to treat it (if it was in the cheek, it would be treated differently than if it was in the gum). The next morning (Wednesday, day before Thanksgiving) we pushed (advocated?) to have him get an x-ray as soon as possible, since the later in the day it got, the less likely we’d be able to get it treated. At 9am, he had a CT scan. The pediatrician at the hospital sent the scan to a dentist, who referred it to an oral surgeon. She said it wasn’t good enough resolution, so would have to see x-rays.
Dentists and oral surgeons are not on call at a hospital, so they ended up letting us take Ethan out so we could drive him over to the next town where the oral surgeon saw him at 1pm. She took some better x-rays, and the good news was that the infection wasn’t in the permanent teeth. The bad news was that the infection was in the roots of the baby teeth. In fact, it turns out that the infection probably happened because the baby teeth are more vulnerable to infection in the time right before they come out (the roots are disintegrating, and so the area is looser, and bacteria can get in there more easily).
The oral surgeon ended up pulling out three of Ethan’s baby teeth to remove anyplace the bacteria could hide, especially since the teeth were due to come out soon anyway. Ethan’s swelling came down even more after that, and he was ready to come home by Wednesday night. Thursday morning he was pretty much back to normal, with only a minor amount of swelling. We managed to cook the turkey on Thursday, and even had a few people over.
Last night (Friday) we also had Ethan’s big sisters and brothers and significant others over for big sister Julie’s birthday. Ethan felt well enough to play tag with Alec, and generally try to keep the attention of 7 adults. We are very grateful he’s ok! It was very scary to see him so sick.
One more thing I wanted to mention was that along the way, the doctors kept asking if Ethan had ever been hospitalized before. We had to answer that we didn’t know, but that we thought so when he was a baby. When we said this to the emergency room doctor, he gave us a big blank stare, and said, “I’m missing something here.” We explained that Ethan was adopted at age 4, and I realized in that moment, with some joy, that it had never occurred to Mark or me to even mention it because it was the furthest thing from our mind, and also that it had not even remotely crossed the mind of the doctor either.
At 9am the doctor said he wasn’t worried – it just looked like a bruise. Ethan hadn’t had his flu shot, so they gave him one (I asked at least twice if it was a good idea). We headed home since Ethan looked tired, and he promptly fell asleep. The doctor had prescribed antibiotics, but said it was borderline, so I didn’t buy them right away. When Ethan looked even worse at 1pm, I went and bought them and gave them to him.
By 6pm Tuesday, Ethan had a fever of 101° under his arm. I called the after-hours number for the doctor, and they said just give him Tylenol. I did, and his fever dropped, and he seemed a bit perkier at dinner. At about 8:30pm Tuesday, he said “My mouth smells like poop!” We went to look and puss was streaming into his mouth. Extremely alarmed, Mark made one more call to the after-hours doctor number, where they said he maybe he should see a dentist the next day.
At this point, Mark was livid and insisted we go to the emergency room. I thought he was completely over-reacting since the doctor in the morning had just thought it was a bruise, but Mark made us go anyway (thank goodness!). We arrived at 9pm, and were seen pretty quickly. It was definitely an infection (the doctor in the morning had made a very serious mistake), and they put him on IV antibiotics immediately. (Turns out that an infection in the face can get very dangerous very quickly, and can spread to the eyes and cause blindness.) It took until 2am before we were admitted into a room – we were very sleepy by that point.
They weren’t sure where the infection was since it was so puffy (his mouth wouldn’t even close it was so bad), and so they had to wait until the morning to figure out how to treat it (if it was in the cheek, it would be treated differently than if it was in the gum). The next morning (Wednesday, day before Thanksgiving) we pushed (advocated?) to have him get an x-ray as soon as possible, since the later in the day it got, the less likely we’d be able to get it treated. At 9am, he had a CT scan. The pediatrician at the hospital sent the scan to a dentist, who referred it to an oral surgeon. She said it wasn’t good enough resolution, so would have to see x-rays.
Dentists and oral surgeons are not on call at a hospital, so they ended up letting us take Ethan out so we could drive him over to the next town where the oral surgeon saw him at 1pm. She took some better x-rays, and the good news was that the infection wasn’t in the permanent teeth. The bad news was that the infection was in the roots of the baby teeth. In fact, it turns out that the infection probably happened because the baby teeth are more vulnerable to infection in the time right before they come out (the roots are disintegrating, and so the area is looser, and bacteria can get in there more easily).
The oral surgeon ended up pulling out three of Ethan’s baby teeth to remove anyplace the bacteria could hide, especially since the teeth were due to come out soon anyway. Ethan’s swelling came down even more after that, and he was ready to come home by Wednesday night. Thursday morning he was pretty much back to normal, with only a minor amount of swelling. We managed to cook the turkey on Thursday, and even had a few people over.
Last night (Friday) we also had Ethan’s big sisters and brothers and significant others over for big sister Julie’s birthday. Ethan felt well enough to play tag with Alec, and generally try to keep the attention of 7 adults. We are very grateful he’s ok! It was very scary to see him so sick.
One more thing I wanted to mention was that along the way, the doctors kept asking if Ethan had ever been hospitalized before. We had to answer that we didn’t know, but that we thought so when he was a baby. When we said this to the emergency room doctor, he gave us a big blank stare, and said, “I’m missing something here.” We explained that Ethan was adopted at age 4, and I realized in that moment, with some joy, that it had never occurred to Mark or me to even mention it because it was the furthest thing from our mind, and also that it had not even remotely crossed the mind of the doctor either.
posted by AttitudeAdopt | 9:45 AM
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