What a Difference a Day Makes

God has shown His loving kindness to our family yet again today. If you're aware of the series of events our family has experienced in the past year or so, you're probably starting to catch on to the recurring theme of His faithfulness.

Our day started with the oral surgeon and his staff arriving to the office much too early on a Friday morning so he could get Cole's procedure worked into an already busy schedule. The whole surgery took only about 20 minutes and included removing one tooth, cleaning the socket of tiny fragments of fractured bone, placing synthetic bone graft material into each of the three tooth sockets, and restoring the gum tissue back to its normal anatomic position. In looking at the finished product, my untrained eyes think he did a most excellent job!

An "after" picture is included at the very end of the post, so if you are squeamish and don't want to see it, you can read the post without having to see the image. It's really such an improvement from what his mouth looked like on day one, you may want to see for yourself.

The hardest part of the day was coming off the anesthesia and driving back home. Cole was chilled and was shaking, trying to communicate with a mouthful of gauze that the pain was unbearable. A very different experience from when his big sisters had their wisdom teeth pulled. I tried to reassure him all the way home that we were almost there, but it was the longest ten-minute ride of our lives. Things have steadily improved since that point. He was able to sleep for a few hours after the first pain pill started taking effect, and he woke up with a healthy appetite and cheerful attitude.

Shelby says her biggest disappointment is that he's not funny. She was hoping he would be silly and loopy and say ridiculous things he wouldn't remember later.

To sum up: excellent surgical result, rough start to pain control, but otherwise a pretty good day. We continue to credit our heavenly Father with having protected Cole from potentially a much worse injury, for arranging the circumstances to provide him with excellent medical care, and for the prayers and encouragement of so many friends.

Another interesting thing is how many people have approached us to share their story and let us in on the secret that they are wearing one or more prosthetic teeth. Who knew?

Step One

I'll start tonight by risking to state the obvious. I'm not good at brevity. But let me take a stab at quickly summarizing today's visit to the prosthodontist and where we'll be headed from here.

After the obligatory harrassment about why he wasn't more careful on the jet ski, Dr. Andy examined Cole and said best outcome would be by extracting the one impacted tooth and then proceeding with three implants. In his opinion, we could spend a lot of time and money trying to save that one tooth, when the odds of success really aren't that great. No need to convince us further. Cole had already been saying since Saturday afternoon that's what he wanted.

We will meet with the oral surgeon for consultation tomorrow (the same guy who pulled Kalynn's and Alli's wisdom teeth) with an appointment for the extraction set for bright and early on Friday morning. We are thankful for the scheduler being so gracious and rolling out the red carpet to get us worked in at a moment's notice. After all, it's wisdom tooth season now that school's out, and their office is slammed!

Cole also had the impressions taken for his "flipper" today. We provided a couple of photographs of a grinning Cole, rather than trying to give an adequate description of what his teeth used to look like. We have high hopes the lab will do a good job to give him back his old smile, as closely as possible.

Thank you so much to those who have called to check on the pain, etc. He really is doing well with it. He is getting by with a couple doses of ibuprofen during the day and a low dose of narcotic pain reliever overnight. Just knowing the culprit tooth will be gone soon is reassuring.

We may have more news after the oral surgery consult tomorrow or you may not hear from us until after surgery on Friday. We are all looking forward to the day when we can post a picture of the boy smiling with all teeth showing! Thanks again for your continued prayers!

P.S.

I forgot to tell an incredible little "God-incidence" about the teeth.

While the kids were having fun on the lake, Charlie and I were just working around the garage and yard. You know, normal Saturday-without-kids-at-home kind of stuff. I was moving a sprinkler across the yard when I felt God speak to my heart reminding me that my kids are out on the lake, where dangerous things can happen, and I need to pray for their safety. Somewhere recently I had heard comments about how we are sort of safety obsessed in our culture today. We pray for safety before a trip. We often take ridiculous precautions even for routine activities. We would probably bubble-wrap our kids if it were possible. (If that IS possible, please let me know, because I'm seriously considering it at this point.)

Anyway, my whispered prayer was probably less of a "Please keep them safe" and more along the lines of "Lord, I can't control what happens, and they are truly in Your hands." It wasn't 15 minutes later that the phone rang telling of the accident. Coincidence? Most definitely not! Was it my "arrow" prayer that kept Cole's injuries from being any worse? Or was God's quiet voice to my spirit about dangerous things that can happen the tool He used to prepare my heart and mind to hear the news of something gone wrong? Certainly, I can never presume the mind of God. But I do know He spoke to me in that moment, and I know He will continue to hold Cole in His hands throughout the healing process.

Please Tell Me I'm Dreaming

Not that I would swap our normal, crazy lives for something mundane and boring, but I would definitely trade away the events of this weekend. Anytime!

The bottom line is that Cole and Shelby were on a houseboat party with friends at the lake when Cole had a jet ski accident that resulted in the loss of three of his front teeth. Makes me cringe all over again just typing those words. Actually, one of the teeth is still in his mouth, but it is impacted deep into his upper gum.

GROSS FACTOR WARNING: If you are squeamish, you may want to quickly scroll to the bottom of the post and read without viewing the picture. But I realize some of you may want to see for yourself which side comes up short when mouth meets jet ski.








Let me also take this opportunity to publicly declare we LOVE our pediatric dentist, Dr. Robin Wilson. When I called her in the middle of Saturday afternoon, she quickly agreed to meet us at her office immediately for an x-ray and exam. We were so thankful to have the assurance of what exactly was the position of the remaining tooth and that there was not even a fragment remaining of the other two. One side note is that God provided a sweet friend from church as the employee who also met us at the office and did the x-ray before Dr. Robin could get there.

I'm sure other mothers can relate to this, but when there is an emergency involving one of your family members, you just sort of engage, efficiently handling the necessary actions, not hesitating or thinking twice. It was not until the next day when our family was talking about the event that we realized how perfectly God had provided for where his face hit the jet ski. Had he collided even an inch or two in another direction, he could have had yet another concussion, suffered severe facial fractures, or maybe broken his neck or worse. Thank you, Lord. Reminds me of the scripture that instructs us to "give thanks in all things." This is not something we would ever choose, but it could have been so much worse.

Many of you already saw Cole in person at church, so you know he is really taking it all in stride pretty well. But this evening as he headed to bed, he said the pain medicine wasn't doing too well at reducing the dull throbbing. Please pray we will find the right combination of things to make him comfortable. And also pray specifically that the impacted tooth will quickly re-emerge and not be damaged. Dr. Robin told us it could take a few months.

Where we are headed from this point is to first of all wait for the gums to heal. As soon as possible, a dental impression will be made and a "flipper" will be crafted with fake teeth. We are told this is what he will wear until his jaw and skull are completely finished growing. Then he will have implant surgery done where new permanent teeth will be fitted into place through a multi-step process. This last phase is a long way down the road, with many factors to consider along the way. Again, God has provided a friend from church who is a periodontist and offered to see Cole and advise us along the way, possibly being the doctor who will eventually do the implants.

Thank you all so much for your prayers!