Very Stressful Weekend

The last few days have been very stressful and somewhat traumatic. Last Monday (24th), my 5 year old son complained about a sore tooth, and so I made an appointment for Tuesday (tomorrow) with a pediatric dentist. I could not get anything earlier. But on Friday, my son started crying, and saying his tooth was really hurting him. He missed school as we took him to two dentists, but could not get any treatment. All we got was another appointment for Thursday (this week). Could not get anything sooner.

On Saturday 29th his cheek started swelling up. We rang around. The 24 hour emergency dentist would not sedate him. They only did local anathestics. My son hates needles, (left over from the vaccinations he got when he was younger) and I knew he would have to be sedated. So we ended up taking him to the Sick Kids Hospital. Once there, the doctors heard a heart murmur. Noone has ever told us that he had a problem with his heart. Under those circumstances he could not be sedated for a dental extraction. We ended up staying in the Emergency Room of the Sick Kids Hospital for the entire weekend - Saturday, Sunday and today (monday). He could not be admitted to the main hospital because there were NO spare beds. But he was listed as admitted so that he can get outpatient treatment to get his heart looked at by a cardiologist.

The good news is that this particular heart problem is NOT a major concern. It may become a concern when he is an adult, but right now my son should be able to lead a normal and fairly active life.

Today he had to endure needles for blood tests, and a 2 hour Echocardiogram - or a doppler ultrasound. His tooth was finally removed under local anesthesia, at 4 pm today. He screamed and screamed for every needle that he saw and had poked into him. We were kicked out of the ER room at 5pm, and then forced to wait for 2 hours in the main waiting room for the discharge papers, because 5pm is the staff changeover time, and the doctors have to do their rounds first. Got home after 7pm just in time to see his favourite TV program. Remember he has seen no TV for 3 whole days. That is a lifetime as far as my son is concerned.

I posted the 50 Greatest Books post on my one visit home last night. While hubby babysat through the night, I got Sunday night to sleep at home. I had stayed at the hospital on Saturday night.