Emma's Surgery

It all started a couple of months ago. I noticed that Emma's lip was looking puffy. After further examination, I found a lump in her bottom lip. It didn't hurt and it progressively got a little bigger. I took her to the pediatrician who told me that it was nothing to worry about - just a mucocele. He directed me to take her to the dentist, who in turn also told me that it was a mucocele and that I should wait 3 weeks. If it didn't go away, I would need a referral to an oral surgeon. Of course, it didn't go away and we went to the surgeon. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucocele for a great explanation and picture!) He scheduled the surgery right away as it was getting larger and needed to be removed.


After Emma's last encounter with needles, I wasn't so sure this was going to go well and explained this to the surgeon. He was awesome! He showed Emma the chair that she would lie in, the mask with that provided laughing gas, the "straw" that would go in her arm to put her to sleep, everything! She was pretty calm about it and I answered all of her questions. She was scheduled for a 6:30 am procedure and was asked to wear her jammies in. Everything went extremely well - just a few tears at the sight of the needle. It was all over within an hour. She looked horrible afterward, but managed a smile when I gave her a special gift of a Fairytopia Barbie and a new backpack for school. Then, she was back to sleep. She ended up with a fat lip, four stitches and a big bruise inside her lip. The mucocele had actually started to spread into her muscle under her lip. Good thing we got it done when we did!


Miss Emma slept for a couple hours after returning home and then decided she wanted to get the Fairytopia movie from the rental store. We passed a McDonald's on the way there and she decided she was hungry and needed chicken nuggets. Against my better judgement, I gave in. That woman ate 6 nuggets and a bag of apple dippers! All with stitches in her mouth. The stitches ended up bothering her, so she started pulling them out. (mom scream!) Without vomiting, I managed to cut the extra length off the stitches and things were better. So much so, that she insisted on going to a farm team baseball game that night! She was up until 11:00 that night without one complaint. Maybe a little Motrin, but no complaints! What a trooper. Kids just amaze me sometimes. Mine are awesome.

Emma on her way to the surgery. She carried a pillowcase with her Webkinz and her favorite CD of bible school music.

Emma two days after surgery.

I have to add that no pictures were taken of her lip close up, before or after, per her request.