Tongue Surgery

Back in November I noticed this little white bump forming on Rhylan's tongue. I didn't think much of it, maybe she bit her tongue, it will go away. Then in January I decided that it wasn't going away, it was actually getting a little bigger. I took her in to her pediatrician. She seemed concerned and wasn't sure exactly what it was. I thought she would burn it off like a wart and we would be don't with it. Oh no, not the case. She decided to send me to a dermatologist to figure out what to do, and how best to remove it. After calling the recommended dermatologist and finding out it would be a two month wait, I found another doctor that could see me the next day. The dermatologist was again concerned and didn't know what it was. He thought that is could be a small tumor or growth. He said things growing on the tongue are very rare, especially in children. He didn't seem too concerned that it was causing damage but that it needed to be removed and biopsied asap. He however didn't want to preform the extraction. The only numbing agent he could use was a shot to the tongue, and he said there is no way Rhylan was going to let him do that, she needed to be put under. He suggested I see an oral surgeon to work with her. After many phone calls and quite frustrating conversations I found there isn't an oral surgeon in southern Utah who would take my insurance for medical just dental-- and this is obviously a medical procedure. They were estimating the cost to be up to $3000!! I scheduled the appointment but kept trying to find another doctor. I finally found one up in Salt Lake that would work with us. I even worked it out to have the consultation and surgery the same day. My sister lives in Provo so we just planned on staying the night there.

So the day before the surgery I start driving. It was raining here in St. George pretty bad but by the time I got up the mountain (45 min) it was a complete white out. My van was slipping all over and I could barely see the car in front of me. I hadn't even reached Cedar City yet and I had to turn around. I had to call and reschedule for the next week. When we finally to Provo the next week we were ready.

Rhylan and I woke up at 5:00 am and started or VERY LONG day. I am so glad I was able to leave Gracin at Tiff's house. At the office, the oral surgeon found out that I was thinking she was going to be put under, and he informed me that he didn't have the OR that day, and I would have to come back again. The nurses who schedules my appointment informed him that we had planned on the surgery and scheduled this all already. Well there wasn't anyway to fix that. So instead he decided to do it right there with other medicine. I don't remember what it is all called but she had some pink medicine that took about 20 min to start working and made her so loopy. I was laughing so much at her. I felt bad but she was so funny. Then they also gave her "laughing gas" I think. After that I had to leave the room.

After about 10 min they came and got me, all done! I could hear her crying and asking for me. As the doctor was telling me how well the procedure went and how to care for the stitches, he looked in the room at Rhylan and the nurses and said "WHAT HAPPENED!!" We run in the room and a nurse said "She was grabbing for her stitches and I accidentally spilled this water in her eye." The doctor responded "that's not water!!" They went to work to quickly flush out the chemical with water, and stop the bleeding tongue. The doctor left for a while and then came back to tell me he had been on the phone with the ER at the hospital down the street, and we needed to go there to make sure her eye was okay. Rhylan of course was crying and telling me how mean those doctors were!!

So instead of her recovering and watching a movie there, I had to carry her to the car and get to the hospital (8 months prego remember?) She was still too loopy to walk or think straight. It was also a constant battle to keep her from pulling out her stitches. In the ER it took forever to sign in, Rhylan was pretty much screaming the whole time. Picture this: 8 month prego lady trying to hold a screaming 35 lb 4 year old on your "hip," while also using my other hand to hold her head up so she didn't do a back flip out of my arms, while trying to sign into the ER. Yeah I was a little stressed to say the least. Also concerned about the chemical in her eye we were sent to the ER for in the first place. The secretary suggesting I use one of the wheelchairs behind me. Well loopy Rhylan couldn't sit still in that and almost fell out of the thing every 2 seconds, I would lock the brakes, she would unlock them, I would set her up, she would slide off, etc etc! Rhylan on those meds is not a good combo. Anyways after we got in, the ER doctor and nurse checked to see if you eyes were seeing well. The nurse asked me to hold Rhylan and cover one of her eyes, I said "um I can't do that!" It takes two hands to make sure she didn't fall. Luckily the doctor could see my problem and helped. After further examination he concluded that her eye was fine. (I was planning on taking her straight to Riley's office anyways just in case.) On our way out I had to use the rest room, Rhylan had to stand on her own, that didn't go well. As I was washing my hands, she fell and hit her chin on the toilet and then her head on the tile wall.

After all that we were able to head back to Provo. I am so glad I had the DVD player in the car for that hour car ride. I don't think the crying would have stopped. The medicine was wearing off by then and they didn't give me anything for her pain. Once at Tiff's house I let her relax and gave her some Tylenol. She seemed to be feeling much better. Unfortunately eating lunch (yogurt, apple sauce, and bread) ripped out her stitches. She began bleeding pretty bad and we had to wait for that to stop before we started back home. She slept most of the drive and was feeling much better when she woke up. We went right to Riley's office and he checked out her eye, he also decided she was fine, luckily!

She never said she was in pain again, and now a week later, almost no sign of a cut. Glad that is behind us!!