This past Thursday, our 19-year-old daughter (our baby) had all four of her wisdom teeth taken out.
She had been given two prescriptions: One for percocet, and one for Motrin (600 mg). Of course, one is supposed to take food before swallowing medicine, but it's difficult to get anything solid in there when one can't chew!
Anyway, my husband and I gave our daughter a glass of milk, and 2 percocets for her pain. Because my husband had been the parent who accompanied her to the extraction, I relied on his accurate recollection of the dentist's instructions. Mistake number one...
Within a short period of time, she started throwing up. And, throwing up. And... NOTHING would stay down! This continued throughout Thursday, and all night long. We soon realized that our mistake was in giving her the percocet on a stomach that was still virtually empty. Absolute stupidity, but then how were we supposed to have gotten solid food down the child?
It took our daughter a good 24 hours to get the percocet out of her system, but we were able to help her nausea somewhat by using an airsick patch behind her ear. (The dentist recommended it during a telephone call that evening.)
On Friday, our daughter looked fantastic! She had absolutely NO swelling, despite having had four teeth pulled at one time, and she was eating soft foods. She was also now on the Motrin. In fact, she felt so good that she decided to go on a short walk around our neighborhood. Mistake number two...
At 6:00 a.m., on Saturday morning, our daughter woke up in significant pain. She decided that it would be okay to take ONE percocet, rather than the two she'd had that first day, because she'd had a full day of eating. She got up, went to the kitchen, ate a cupful of applesauce, and took the pill. Mistake number three...
By mid-morning, she was once again as sick as a dog, and couldn't eat anything. We switched her back to the Motrin. For most of Saturday, she was miserable, but the queasiness subsided. We continued this way until 6:00 p.m., Sunday evening. The problem with the Motrin, even though it was 600 mg, was that it only cut through her pain for about 2 hours, and then she couldn't take anything else. By Sunday evening, she had rated her pain at a 9, on a scale of 1 to 10.
We called the dentist again, and it just so happened that he was on his way into his office to see another patient, and told us to bring her in. He examined her incisions, and proclaimed them to be healed. SO healed, in fact, that he cancelled her follow-up appointment for this week. And, she still had no swelling.
The pain medications were discussed, and it was decided that Tylenol 3 (with codeine) would cut through the pain more effectively than the Motrin, but wouldn't be as harsh as the percocet. Fine...
So, beginning Sunday night, we put our daughter on the Tylenol 3. Mistake number four...
By Monday morning, she was sick again; she was queasy, dizzy, and weak, and her pain was still very much present. She returned to throwing up anything she ate or drank. The night before, however, I had made her a ham and cheese omelette, topped with sour cream, and she had wolfed it down, and it had stayed. The roller coaster ride with food issues between Thursday and Monday had been terribly frustrating for all three of us, with our daughter's paying the price! She'd had jello (came up), Gatorade (came up), fruit smoothies (some came up, and some didn't), homemade potato soup (stayed down), cream of wheat and a glass of milk (stayed down), tortellini (stayed down), applesauce (stayed down), cottage cheese (came back up), one or two other snacks, and the omelette.
The challenge, as far as we were concerned, was to get food in her that was solid enough so that she could take her pain pills. Mistake number five...
By yesterday afternoon, I began to think that her dizziness, nausea, and weakness was an indication of dehydration. I told my husband that we ought to think about having her put on an IV if she didn't get better within the next 24 hours. When I went upstairs to check on her, she said, "Mom, I think that I'm dehydrated, and need to be on an IV." So, we called our regular internest, and the decision was made to take her to the ER...
This child was SO dehydrated that between 9:00 pm and 3:30 a.m., this morning (when she was finally admitted to the hospital), she was given THREE bags of fluids, along with antinausea meds, and pain meds, and she was STILL dehydrated this morning!!! And, still queasy.
Today, she is receiving three more bags of fluids, and will remain in the hospital another night.
WE ARE IDIOTS!!! We were SO focused on getting solid food into her, as well as the pain pills, that we didn't realize her fluid intake was so low. I've had the flu before, and have had difficulty keeping food down for a couple of days, but I never had such a thing happen to me.
Instead of the applesauce, and cottage cheese, I should have been pushing plenty of broth, and water! The percocet and the Tylenol 3 completely upset her system, the walk around the neighborhood didn't help with the hydration issue, and my husband and I were too stupid, and too slow to recognize her symptoms.
Without our stupidity, she would have been fully recovered from her surgery by Saturday morning. In an attempt to nurse her back to health, our efforts landed her in the hospital.
Stupid, stupid, stupid...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Oh you're not an idiot! Alot of foods do have enough liquid in them, I feel bad for her. I throw up alot when I'm pregnant, food in my tummy or not. It's just awful, and I can't take anything on an empty stomach either.
oh your story brings back horrible memories. When my sister had her wisdom teeth taken out she had nothing but problems after. In fact she was sick for like two weeks. When she went to the doctors to get checked out they told us she had Leukemia. Oh bad memories. I know that it wasnt the wisdom teeth that gave her Leukemia but needless to say I didnt get mine out til I was 23, when they could have came out a good 3 years earlier. And when I got them out I can tell you that I took full advantage of the mashed potatoes at KFC. They were awesome, of course they are far from my favorite.
Anyways, I am so glad that things worked out for you in the end. That motrin is good stuff, I was given 800mg because thats what the military gives and I actually liked it better then the vicodin.
and Tina is right, you guys arent stupid, you did what most parents were doing and were focused on getting her nutrition so that she wouldnt be in any pain. I would have done the same thing
Oh no! You aren't the idiots, the doctor was. He should have given you a list of preferred foods to give your daughter, and talked about the dehydration possibility.
We just lived through our youngest getting all 4 wisdom teeth out in March, and he was back at work on the Monday after a Thursday surgery. But I dosed him up with tons of Arnica Montana (homeopathic remedy for swelling and bruising) and he was good the next morning. He did take tylenol 3's but I don't encourage too much of that as it has side effects that can be damn unpleasant.
You all should take a nice little break, go do something you love and STOP blaming yourselves. Your daughter will be fine, I imagine, is already.
Why do we even grow wisdom teeth? I don't know one person who still has them! Is it so that oral surgeons can pay off their yacht mortgages?
Funny I was just thinking about my wisdom teeth removal last night. I had to go to work the day after because I was still in my first 90 days at my new job. So I had two teeth pulled and two had to be cut out, they were impacted.
I was in pain, and taking something, but nothing too strong, cuz it makes me tired.
Anyway, I had a grouchy look on my face and my stupid pig-headed boss was like "smile" (because we worked with the public)
And I said "I'm in pain!"
What a jerk. He should have said, you know what you should take another day off.... Sometimes when I think of the way that people treated me and I didn't just up and quit or whatever, still ticks me off just a bit!!
Our son just came by, and had visited his sister immediately after work. He lives only a few blocks from the hospital. He reported that she was looking better, and had ordered actual food for her dinner. This hospital has "room service" which means that a patient can order food 24 hours a day, so if she's hungry again at 2:00 a.m., she can have them bring her some fruit, or applesauce, or anything that her little recovering heart desires.
I'm fairly confident that she'll be home tomorrow, and we'll try this again...!!! However, she's not going to work this week. Her dad says that he's going to put the equivalent of what she would have earned this week into her bank account because he was the one who fed her the percocet which began this entire cycle!
Thank you for all of your sweet comments; I still feel outrageously stupid. I'm just grateful that she's finally showing signs of recovery...
As far as the whys over wisdom teeth, KaeEll, I was just thinking about that the other day. My theory is that wisdom teeth were designed to emerge just when early man needed them, having probably lost most of his original teeth by then. Since the life expectancy was about twenty to thirty years, those new teeth showed up just in time for that last decade of life.
It's completely obvious to me now that I'm not too bright, and I should have known that years ago. I was born with only three wisdom teeth: Two top ones (which I still have), and one bottom one which had to come out. Should have been a clue...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Moore, please don't beat yourself up over this one. I have one that will top yours.....
My uncle was on his deathbed in Ireland, and my mother was going home to try to see him, before he passed away. After my mom having gone home alone when my grandmother passed away, I swore that I would never let her go alone again. I snagged a ticket and a few hours later I was on a plane to Ireland with my mother. COMPLETELY forgetting that my daughter was having all four of her wisdom teeth out the next day.
My ex-husband (not her father, he was nowhere to be found.....) took care of taking her in, and taking care of her afterwards at home. She had the same type of reaction to the meds, and was violently ill. They did not tell me, and three days later, she ended up in the hospital. They told me at that point, when she was admitted. I scrambled, and managed to catch a flight back to the US, arriving the next day, when she was being discharged. Did I ever hear about that, especially since my uncle made a miraculous recovery, and they ended-up throwing a party in one of the rooms at the hospital, since all the family was together, four of his siblings had flown in from the US. He was a hoot, he looked at everyone, as they straggled into the hospital and told them to go bugger themselves, what did they think was going on? AND, how dare they scare him like that, making him think he was dying, by all showing up. He's a character.
Oh, my daughter's father never put an appearance in.
After I had my hysterectomy in January, the percosets made me throw-up in the hospital. Definitely something you don't want to have happen after having your abdomen cut open. They sent me home with Vicodin, which I had not tried at the hospital. I threw that up also. Motrin makes me sick, so at least I knew not to go down that route. Basically from Wednesday, two days after my surgery, I was on tylenol. It was hell, so I can definitely relate to what was going on in your house.
One of the things I have learned is that kids should have come with an instructional manual, and on the bright side, think about how much your family, and everyone you share the story with will know about the perils of wisdom teeth extraction, and not repeat the cycle, because you just met another parent, who's child went the same path, but she was out of the country at the time. Bad me!
I just remembered when I had my teeth taken out I was still in the Navy. I was on the verge of getting out and had no desire to have to pay to have someone rip my teeth out so even though they didnt bother me a bit I had them taken out by our command dentist. Now mind you my dentist I believe was all of 24 when he took out my teeth. And I remember him singing along to the radio as he ripped out my teeth....oh the joys
Moore I hope that you are starting to feel better about your experience, I agree that it is the doctors fault for not giving better discharge instructions. He should have given you guys a print out or something so that you would be able to read up on it.
Thank you, Shelly. Actually, my husband and I were just talking a little while ago about how it would have been helpful to have had written instructions.
When I called the dentist on that first night, I told him about having given her the percocet. He's a really, really nice guy, and made himself very available to us, but he said, "Yes, percocet really needs to be taken with substantial food in the stomach."
But, I'm wondering HOW in the world am I supposed to get SUBSTANTIAL FOOD into the stomach of someone who can't chew, given the fact that she just had oral surgery hours ago???
If they had only given my husband WRITTEN instructions that the Motrin was to be given first, I think that we might have avoided this entire thing!
The good news is that our daughter is feeling much, much better, and I'm very hopeful that she'll be home tomorrow. She was actually to the point of COMPLAINING about the hospital food, and wanted her dad to bring her some carryout from Panera: The cheddar/broccoli soup in their bread bowl. This is a GOOD sign!!!
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Unfortunately, I can't do that. We have a really great pharmacist who is enormously helpful to us, who knows us fairly well now, and who goes out of her way to accommodate us whenever she can.
Only a couple of weeks ago, after my husband's spinal surgery, I raced in there at a time when they were in the process of closing, and one window already had the cage down. She was kind enough to take care of me, even though it was technically after hours.
No. Can't blame the pharmacist, especially when my husband and I ought to have known better ourselves...
Nice try, though, Tina!!! I appreciate your trying to find me an "out"...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
yep its all down to the printout that they should have given you...and that cheddar broccoli soup is good. She must be feeling better if she can actually eat the bowl
since she had such a horrible reaction to the percocets be sure her doc knows if she ever needs pain meds again. i'm sorry she had such a rough go of it & i'm glad she's on the mend.
both my kids had the same surgery w/in six months of each other. nothing quite so dramatic happened to either one. thank heavens.
kris
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an ABC soap fan since i was a teen. favorte hobby is reading mysteries & legal or medical procedural mysteries
since she had such a horrible reaction to the percocets be sure her doc knows if she ever needs pain meds again. i'm sorry she had such a rough go of it & i'm glad she's on the mend.
both my kids had the same surgery w/in six months of each other. nothing quite so dramatic happened to either one. thank heavens.
kris
-- Edited by kris at 09:19, 2007-06-27
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an ABC soap fan since i was a teen. favorte hobby is reading mysteries & legal or medical procedural mysteries
I dont know, my doctors dont get kick backs for anything and they still give good pain killers. My doctors are usually Navy Lieutenants or higher so they dont get anything
The doctor put that she's "allergic" to percocet and to codeine in her records so that others wouldn't be tempted to try those medications on her again.
She explained to our daughter, and to us that she isn't actually allergic to them, but that's the way that it will read in her chart...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
She was released from the hospital earlier today, and was home a little before noon.
She looks great, is up and around, took a nice long shower, went for a brief walk in the neighborhood, drove her car to Hollywood Video to return some DVDs, and is eating almost normal food.
The wretched child...!!!
(Okay, wretched or not, we're thrilled to have her back home. Thanks for asking...)
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
