8/7/23

 Today was the day that my sweet Avery had her wisdom teeth pulled. Poor Avery. They gave her good drugs which I was happy about. She was cute as a button. Afterward, she was drugged up and she couldn’t hold her eyes open. The nurse was giving me instructions on what to do when we got home. Avery quietly nodded along, with her ice pack tied to her head and her eyes closed, as if she was taking in every word this woman was saying.

It’s funny how our mind knows what we should be doing even when we can’t. She knew she was supposed to be listening as she drifted in and out of consciousness. I finally told her that she didn’t have to remember anything.

They discharged her and the nurse grabbed her under her left arm and I grabbed under her right arm. We got her standing and she took about seven steps and passed out slowly. The nurse thought we should get her back to the chair. Nope! I said, let her stay right here. I let her lay into my chest and cradled her. She was pale but the normal pass out pale, not the oxygen deprived blue purple I have seen Ethan have.

We gave her a few minutes and got her up into the chair for oxygen and to recline her. We gave her a bit more time to recover and tried again. This time went much better. She napped a little in the car and I picked up her meds at the pharmacy.

By the time I got home, I was hoping she didn’t pass out on our walk into the house. Luckily we made it, but she was pale. She sat on the couch for about a minute and a half and then proceeded to vomit. She got herself to the wood floor to do so…..which is what we trained the kids to do when they were little. So much easier to clean up.

She vomited blood. Frank blood. It was a fair amount. I could see she was worried. “Don’t worry, I vomited too.” I told her. We packed her with gauzes, cold packs and I called the doctor to report it so they had record of it. 

We changed her gauze packs so out as directed and then it was time to remove them. Avery took a pain pill and took a hefty nap.

She woke up and was feeling pretty good. She opted for some Jello. She at that and then took some ibuprofen. Back into the bathroom she went. Ibuprofen came up, jello came up. Poor Aves.

At this point she vomited on the ice headband they sent home and it was unusable. Time to be innovative. I used my low budget vet tech skills and came up with a new ice wrap made out of Paul’s socks with a few clothes pins. Worked like a charm.

Her stomachs wasn’t feeling well off and on. This evening she took a zofran and some hydrocodone. We are sleeping on the couch together so I can keep a close (closed) eye on her. I don’t need her passing out from standing up too quick. 

We snuggled in for the night. I am proud of her! She did great and she was a polite patient. I would want to be a nurse if all patients were as great as Avery!

When Ethan got home from work, he asked her if she needed anything. I thought that was nice. I can remember when she was kind to him in the height of his kidney disease and she cleaned up his vomit for him.

As much as we may find each other a pain in the ass from time to time, it is nice to know we can pull it together as a family and help our wounded members. We may just take their picture while they aren’t looking in the process.