Caleb's Not-So-Little Mishap

What a day!  Our poor little Caleb had the opportunity to go play at the Cache Valley Fun Park yesterday with his Grandma and Grandpa Pehrson and the rest of the gang.  All was going well until he tripped on a step and ran into a pole.  By the time he got home he was swelling quite a bit and we noticed that three of his teeth were pushed back at an angle.  We decided that since it was Saturday we would get him looked at by a dentist on Monday.  Last night he didn't sleep good at all and had horrible smelling breath...  That alone should have clued me in on the apparent infection he was brewing in his mouth.  We felt prompted to take him into Instacare just to make sure he hadn't broken anything.  So we got him and Kaden dressed, left the girls home because Madison wasn't feeling so perky either, and headed over to my sister and brother in laws church and pulled them out to take care of the kids.  (might I just say I am grateful for having a wonderful family to ask for help at any minute and they willingly do so with out complaint!)  Anyhoo....  They came home with to be with Saige, Madison, and Kaden while Chad, Caleb, and I headed to Instacare.  Caleb had some x-rays taken and they showed up that he had three teeth out of place, one of which the root was protruding out of his gums.  The oral surgeon on call, Dr. Gregory Anderson, was called in to take a look.  He decided that Caleb needed immediate oral surgery done to correct the problem.  He said that Caleb must have an infection to make it swell so quickly and that it would need to be drained as well. 

(Let me just make a note that today was my turn to teach Relief Society and I had to run over to the church and ask the education counselor, Maryann Penman, to teach the lesson with only an hour to prepare it.  I am so thankful for her willingness and it sounds like she did a great job!  The Spirit was definitely there to help all of us today to make sure that we could be where we needed to be.)

So we got Caleb to the oral surgeon's office were they did a panoramic x-ray and found out that he had broken the bone in the roof of his mouth which was making the tooth protrude from his gums...  Yikes!  They put him under and did a surgery that included the following:  setting the bone back into place, setting the three teeth back into place, attaching a wire to his front four teeth to aid in healing the broken bone, and cutting into his upper gums and stitching on a drain so the infection could come out easier and thus relieving the swelling.  Poor guy had to have an iv which traumatized him.  When he came out of the anesthetic his main concern was the iv.  They had taken it out by the time he was fully aware but he remembered it and asked numerous times if they got the "shot" out of his arm.  He also took hold of his swollen upper lip and exclaimed "What is this thing?".  (hee-hee)  We explained to him that it was in fact his lip and he was not thrilled.  "It's too fat," he said.  Poor guy!  We got him out to the truck and left the parking lot when he said to me, "look Mom what I found in my mouth."  He had yanked the drainage tube out.  Oy!  He had to go in the office again and get another one sewn in. 

So in all, he ended up with at least 6 stitches, a wire holding the front teeth in place, a lovely drainage tube in he gums, and a whole lot of swelling. 

I have to say in all of this I am so grateful for the miracle of modern medicine, of willing doctor's to come in on their day off to help, for family so willing to help, and for sister's in the gospel that are willing to take a lesson on at the last minute, despite their own fears.  I am also eternally grateful for the Priesthood power that has allowed Caleb's swelling already to ease in all but the upper lip and that he is resting peacefully now.

Here are some pictures of the experience:

Here he is at Instacare... still smiling even though he was miserable.  What a trooper!

A few hours after the surgery, the swelling had gone down some by then...

Here is a close-up of the wire they attached to his teeth and some of the mouth trauma.

Caleb came home to this amazing get well soon picture that Madison made for him!  Sweet sister!