Tyson's Surgery AND Recovery

The Story On Tyson's Oral Surgery

Before the surgery!
A mouth full of teeth.

Tyson was born with 3 front teeth 

So many of you have been so generous by checking in on Tyson, not to mention filling his tummy with a ton of delicious "sweet treats" and his heart with sweet notes.  I didn't go into much detail since then because we literally left for vacation within 2 days of his surgery.  

The Harris Family Cohen send their love (plus a frosty).
Ansley writes her own special note.  So sweet!

Ty's surgery was scheduled for the last day of school.  NOT quite the way anyone would desire to spend their last day of school, but I was glad to just get it out of the way.  Ty's anxiety level was really low.  We reassured him, on the way to surgery, that he would be put to sleep and he wouldn't feel a thing.

WELL... 

WE WERE WRONG.  I guess I just assumed "laughing gas" would cause him to fall asleep.  When I walked Ty back into the room, where his surgery would take place, I asked the nurse to go over the procedure with me/him again.  When she told me he would not be asleep, I freaked out.  I should have remained calm so that Tyson wouldn't have panicked, but when he saw my panic, he started to cry.

We practiced trying on the laughing gas mask and I was forced to say "good-bye". At that point, the surgery was scheduled and we were there to do it, so there was no turning back.  I was nervous about it, but I knew God would comfort our little man.

When the surgery was complete, the nurse came out and said that Tyson was a champ!  HE did REALLY, REALLY well, except that he did throw up all over the place during surgery.  I think the laughing gas made him nauseous.

The car ride home was pitiful.  He was in a ton of pain and trying to deal with the constant bleeding/cotton swab in his mouth.  I had to change out the cotton swab every 5 minutes until the bleeding subsided.  

He slept through the night the first night after his surgery, but he woke up in tears saying, "I hate surgery!"  He was enthusiastic to be able to eat nothing but ice cream and popsicles.  He started off his morning eating a creamsicle, but eating a popsicle was not nearly as enjoyable as before.  Envision yourself eating a popsicle with only ONE front tooth and stitches everywhere else.  It's just not the same.  A few friends brought buy some delicious treats and special notes, making him feel really loved.

Tyson receives a visit from ONE of his favorite little ones.

She brought him Ben & Jerry's yogurt.

The days after his surgery were spent finding NEW ways to eat foods that weren't so easy to eat with a sensitive front mouth.  He got slightly frustrated at times, but eventually he became creative.  It's funny watching someone drink water or eat on one side of their mouth.  The only horrible annoyance from this surgery to date is that for the first 6 days, Tyson slurped his saliva in order to swallow.  So every single time Tyson had to swallow... we heard a slurp.  He basically slurped about every 15 seconds.  Darren and I both were about to loose it.  We would sneak behind closed doors and slurp around each other, then die in hysterics laughing. Once, Ty caught us and got upset.  LOL!

The teeth that were removed.
OWIE!!!!

Things are slowly back to normal.  One of his stitches fell out the other day.  We did have to cancel our professional photography session because right now Ty looks like a West Virginian.  Hehe.  

Again, thanks to all who have checked in.  It means a lot.  Hopefully before long, Ty will have a full mouth of teeth again!