If it Wasn't for Bad Luck........

Kasia had dental surgery scheduled on Monday to fix teeth that were ravaged by constant reflux & vomiting for the first 18 months of her life. Since there were so many, we had to travel to Sick Kids in Toronto to have it done. November is such an iffy time of year to travel to Toronto and old man winter definitely must have heard that we were coming!

We got there in one piece and checked into our hotel room, which was beautiful with a breathtaking view of Lake Ontario. But I guess the stress of the day coupled with the anticipated stress of the next day (coupled with remorse that I had paid $17 for a room service Caesar salad) were enough to keep both Dino & I up most of the night.

Monday started out perfectly. We met with the dentist doing Kasia's surgery and were immediately put at ease. He was friendly, experienced and assured us that the surgery would be over quickly and with very little pain for Kasia. We then met the anesthesiologist who was also really great. She even asked what Kasia's favourite tv show was (Backyardigans) and promised to sing it to her as she was going to sleep.


As we waited in the OR waiting room, Kasia fell in love with this car. Not too obvious, is it?





















We were all having so much fun until it was time for Kasia to go. When the nurse came to take her, I once again felt that heart wrenching feeling of not wanting to let her go. As I got my last glimpse before they went through the doors to the OR - of her little hand reaching back out towards us - all I wanted was to have her back in my arms.


In the days leading up to the surgery, I had started to worry. What if something went wrong? What if I gave her over for dental surgery and something went horribly wrong? As we headed over to the surgical waiting room, my stomach started to churn.



But right on schedule, her dentist came to find us and told us that everything had gone wonderfully. We would be able to see Kasia just as soon as she was settled in recovery.



And then we waited. And waited. And waited. An hour had gone by and we were still waiting. It was deja vu from Kasia's last surgery - watching parents come and go, willing with all of our might that the volunteer would finally call our names and bring us to see Kasia. And then I looked up and saw two anesthesiologists walking towards us with faces that said it all. Their words got through to me in disjointed spurts as I tried to understand what was happening.




"Something happened on the way to recovery.....stopped breathing....

.......not sure why .......... her brain ...............

.......................breathing tube ................."



Terror. Absolute terror is the only way to describe how I felt. I thought that at any moment, they would finish their story and say something like, "We did all we could." But eventually, they assured us that she was okay but that they were going to admit her for observation.


I couldn't wait to see her. Finally, after another half an hour, I did. She was curled up on a bed, hooked up to monitors, with puffy little eyes, blood on her mouth and some odd scratches on either side of her neck. (I found out later that those scratches were from the nails of the anesthesiologist frantically trying to open up her airway to get the breathing tube in.) She was still so sleepy, but I called her name and she opened her eyes a wee bit for a second. All I wanted was to know that she was really okay. That came a while later - when I sat her up, she looked at me through those puffy little eyes, reached out her arms and in barely a whisper mumbled, "Hold you".

By the time she got to her room, she was almost back to her old self. A little worse for wear, but nothing we couldn't manage. The nurses showered her with stickers and little presents and she revelled in the attention.







By the next day, without an iv to tie her down, she was running all over and getting into trouble like usual.






Boredom brings about strange games like "push-the-laundry-cart", which we did for close to 45 minutes while we waited to be discharged! What fun!





The doctors recommended that she have a sleep study done in the future to test her breathing patterns while asleep and we'll always have to worry about sedation from now on, but thankfully we were in one of the best children's hospitals in the world when it happened. One thing is certain - we'll never entrust her to any other hospital.