Goodbye teeth!

Tomorrow morning is Axel's dental surgery. I'm SO NERVOUS for several reasons, the first one being the initial intubation.

Remember last month, when I posted the pictures of Axel's MRI that showed just how his spinal cord is compromised? That issue requires Axel to undergo fiber optic intubation.  I found a website describing training someone to do the procedure. Guess what? I am all for allowing student doctors to work with my kids, but there will be no newbies assisting in intubating Axel tomorrow. A friend of mine suggested writing "Do Not Hyper-Extend!" on his chin! LOL

So, once the intubation is done, Axel has LOTS of work to be done in that little mouth of his! *Disclaimer* Since there are several new readers here, Axel was adopted in December 2010. He did not have dental care available to him where he was, so we've spent the last 2 1/2 months getting all of his medical issues addressed.*

Those holes you see where upper teeth should be are where he has teeth that have broken off, and there are still pieces of teeth in the holes. I think he has four teeth that need to be removed, a few that are abscessed, and several that need crowns. One one of his c-spin xrays taken back in January, I did notice he has a couple adult teeth that haven't yet erupted, so hopefully this damage to his baby teeth hasn't affected his adult teeth too severely. Also, his front lower gums are SO swollen! We just are not able to brush his teeth well right now (or since we got him home almost 3 months ago) because the cementum  is exposed making the teeth too sensitive to brush. We sure try, but it is so hard to watch him wince in pain. We know that if he winces, it's bad enough that one of us would be going through the roof. Axel has learned from his years in an institution that complaining won't get him help, so he doesn't. Oh I feel so horrible for him!

Oh, is poor little mouth is going to be miserable tomorrow! But in a few days, he's going to be feeling SO much better, and will no longer be in pain. That means he'll also be able to eat without having to be so very careful where all the food is in his mouth!

Once the dental work is done (or maybe before? I forget!) they're going to take him back to the the CT scan that we weren't able to get last week. The CT scan is needed for the spine surgeon at Shriner's, so he can see all the veinous and arterial structures in his neck prior to surgery, just to make sure there are no surprises when it's time to do his spinal fusion in May.

Tomorrow is a big day. Please pray for peace for Axel, and a very quick healing of his mouth. If you could say a prayer for the mama too, I would sure appreciate it.