travis's surgery.

my poor guy.  about a week ago travis had surgery to have his wisdom teeth removed.  he had been in pain for weeks.  he had a regular cleaning the last week of february that just seemed to make everything so much worse.  he was supposed to go in on the 4th to have one particular tooth worked on {the walls of the tooth are really thin, and they were going to cap it -- or something like that}.  when he went in on the 4th, though, the dentist said there was too much trauma in travis's mouth already, and they would need to wait until after his wisdom teeth were removed and his mouth had healed a little better.  they also told him he needed to get in for surgery as soon as possible.

travis agreed, but the earliest the surgeon had been able to schedule him for surgery was march 19th.  at the time of the dentist appointment, that was still three weeks away.  the denist started calling around, and was able to get travis in with a surgeon in tulsa for the next week on the 7th. 

we made it through the week with travis's mouth still hurting every day.  the dentist prescribed lortab to help with the discomfort, but it didn't seem to help much.  i spent tuesday and wednesday {on an exhausting trip} in houston and then took the day off on thursday for travis's surgery.

until then, travis had never had any kind of surgery and had never been "put under."  he's my strong, tough guy, so he didn't act nervous about it {but i think he might have been because he brought it up a lot}.  i told him i couldn't wait to get funny videos of him.  one of my friends from stillwater recently had his wisdom teeth removed, and his wife posted the funniest videos of him to facebook. 

we woke up early and got to the surgeon about 30 minutes early.  we waited in the car for 15 and talked about trip ideas for my birthday. then we headed into the office.  we checked in, paid, and they immediately took travis back.  he later mentioned that he thought we would have time to sit.  i don't think he was quite ready to go back when he did.  i stayed up front in the waiting room and emailed on my phone, then spent the rest of the time on facebook and pinterest.

when they called me back to get him, i wasn't quite prepared myself.  i got to the recovery room and he was sitting on a table with his back against the wall.  his face was so swollen and his eyes looked a little black and blue.  his eyes tend to be a little squinty anyway, but they were even smaller and swollen.  he was wearing a baseball cap and they had a "sock" with ice packs in it wrapped around his head -- it reminded me of a little rascals or norman rockwell picture.

the doctor walked passed the room and travis through his hands up in the air awkwardly giving the man two thumbs up.  other than the clunky movements, he seemed to have his wits about it.  he hates being out of control of his brain so i think he was working extra hard to be aware.

we walked to the car and he told me he needed the pharmacy.  pronto.  we got him settled in to the car, and i thought he might pass out right there.

the office said our first stop was for something sugary and cold -- either an ice cream, frosty, or soda.  wendy's was just 1/2 block away so i pulled in and grabbed him two large frosty's and a large doctor pepper.  what can i say?  i wanted to make sure i had plenty on hand to get him through the day.

he started to eat the frosty with gauze in his mouth.  it hadn't been 30 minutes and our instructions were for him to take the gauze out every 30 minutes.  i assured him that the dr.'s office had given permission to remove it while eating, but he didn't believe me until i called the dr.'s office back {and the receptionist kindly said, "you don't want him to choke, do you?" to which i laughed and said, "of course not; i just couldn't convince him without a call to you."}.  we got a little bit of the frosty down him, then repacked his mouth, and he slept for the rest of the ride.

he woke up when we pulled into the pharmacy drive-thru window.  the pharmacy tech looked inside, laughed, and said "you've had a fun morning so far."  they said they would get it filled in 30 minutes or less.  since the pharmacy is just up the street for our house, i took travis home, got him settled into bed, and then headed back to cvs.  the prescription was ready so i paid for it and headed back home.

travis was ready for the meds when i got there.  he laid in the room for a bit with ice packs on his face and a heat pack on his head for an ongoing headache he developed.  poor guy.  he has just had such a rough go of it over the past few weeks.

he settled into bed, but he didn't fully rest for most of the morning/early afternoon.  he kept getting up to come see what i was doing in the living room and to kind of pace the house.  he did a funny little dance and said he wanted to make sure he didn't disappoint since he knew i was looking forward to him acting crazy.  then he said, "i'm sorry i'm not acting nuts. i'm just too STRONG!"  i love him.

later in the afternoon, he passed out.  and slept for hours.  i woke him up a couple of times to take his medicine because i was terrified to let him sleep through his med time and then wake up later from intense pain.  {he told his surgeon about this yesterday at his one week check-up, and the two of them came to the conclusion that i just wanted him drugged up.  nice, guys}.

friday i had to go to work but made sure he had all of his meds and water close by.  my mom was coming up that day, and i knew she would be around to help take care of him.  when i got home that night he was going crazy because she had talked his ear off.  my dad always said she would talk to a telephone pole if she thought it would listen, so i really wasn't surprised.  she loves travis so much, though.  i know she just wanted to make sure he was alright.

yesterday was his check-up/stitch removal.  the doctor said everything was healing fine, and they would want to check him again in six months.  i guess i should have mentioned they were able to pull the top two teeth {but with how impacted everything was they were concerned that his sinus cavity would be punctured or partially collapse -- thankfully neither scenario took place}, and then they could only cut out part of the two lower teeth.  they pretty much cut them in half horizontally.  they were both lying over a nerve and they couldn't be certain just how they were lying on the nerve.  they couldn't guarantee safe removal without nerve damage {and permanent paralysis} so they had to cut out what they could and leave the rest.  we'll have to keep close watch that those don't get infected, otherwise they'll have to take them anyway, and of course all the risks remain.

for now, he's feeling better ... but this morning is concerned that he has strep throat.  and his tongue has been hurting because several of his tastebuds have swelled up. his poor mouth!  i just don't know what has happened in the past month, but it has been one thing after another for him.

keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  he's a tough one, but i know this has not been a fun time for him.