Another in a long line of 'firsts'

We have had so many 'firsts' since Viktor came home.  His first meeting with grandma's and grandpa's, his first day of school in America, his first ride on a school bus, his first dentist appointment, his first fight with dad over eating spinach, his first football practice, etc. The list could go on and on forever. 

Yesterday was yet another in the long line of 'firsts'.  It has been evident since day 1 that braces were in this child's future.  No shock there.  Unfortunately, after 3 months of the dreaded expander, he still did not have enough space in his mouth for all of his teeth.  That meant 2 had to go.  For those who are 'orthodontically' (is that a word??) inclined, lucky #5 and #12 were the ones chosen to be removed.  We scheduled the extraction on a day where there was a school vacation.  The theory was that it would give him a little break to recover.  Since school is closed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, Wednesday was targeted as the dreaded day. 

Viktor was SO nervous.  We met a few weeks ago with the oral surgeon who was incredibly patient with him.  He listened to every question, every fear of how things are done in Ukraine, every concern.  He worked Viktor through the process and through every concern talking slowly and using basic words.  Viktor left that meeting with a very different feeling than when he went in.  Unfortunately, he forgot every word the doctor told him between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.  He was terribly frightened and didn't want to go in the office door.  With a lot of coaxing, I got him in and he spoke with the doctor again.  He was given a ton of reassurance by everyone in the room and they started to get him ready.  They even let me stay with him longer than normal.  Once he was given the gas and wasn't so concerned about anything other than why he was floating above his body, I quietly stepped out of the room.  They started putting in his IV to administer the anesthesia just as I was leaving. Less than 20 minutes later they came to get me; he was already in recovery. 

Viktor was incredibly groggy but did fantastic.  Poor guy couldn't even hold his head up.  He kept asking me "Done?".  I kept saying yes and then he's try to lift up an arm or a leg to start leaving.  He literally couldn't say anything other than "Done?".  That slowly turned into "Mummy."  After about 10 minutes of him trying to come to, he looked at me through very squinty eyes and I got a "I really love you mummy." just as his head banged on my shoulder again.  Recovery took about another 25 minutes and included some discussions in Russian that of course I couldn't understand.  Finally he was steady enough to walk to the car assisted by both the nurse and myself.  We had to stop to get his pain meds filled.  Which I think is the stupidest process !  I have a 13 year old boy who can't walk yet who needs a prescription filled and I'm supposed to saunter through Target to the pharmacy department?  I think not!  Luckily there is a Walgreen's now in Stillwater with a drive through.  It was going to take them 20 minutes to fill the darn thing so we headed off to Culver's.  Poor guy hadn't eaten now for about 16 hours.  We got some ice cream but he couldn't really eat much.  He had Novocaine of course and couldn't feel his upper lip or his nose.  He keep telling me his lip was big and he wanted me to cut it so it would be normal size again.  He was quite fascinated with the swelling actually!  It was funny.  But I guess you had to be there!

Needless to say, I finally got him home and Alex walked him upstairs and got him settled in.  Grandma Jeanne had come over so I could go back to the office for the afternoon.  Between grandma and big brother Alex, they took great care of him as he was in MUCH better shape when I got home at 5:30.  We all had a few good laughs at the things he said and did while he was 'under the influence'.

Unfortunately for Viktor, yesterday was only phase I.  Phase II happens today.  The braces go on!!  I'll post on that complete with pictures later.  Bottom line, very proud of our trooper Viktor.  And very proud of big brother Alex who made sure Viktor was comfortable yesterday afternoon.