I'm so happy I found this post. I wrote it a long time ago and thought it was lost forever!
Okay, so I really wanted to get this cute pic off my phone before I shared about this event with you. During a routine dental check-up in the fall (her first one ever, I might add), our dentist noticed in Montana's x-rays that her molars weren't descending at equal rates on either side and that it looked like there was a mass blocking one from growing in appropriately. (He did not inform me of this at the time.) I was at the office with all 4 kids that day and it was a bit stressful getting them rounded up and out after an older patient leaving called the office to tell them that there was a little girl standing out in the parking lot barefoot (Hallie), causing some unnecessary office lady excitement, because I knew she was there, and had, in fact told her to go stand out there to eat a particularly messy cookie. But I digress. What I am trying to get at is that they said, "Dr. Wortham wants to send these out to a radiologist to have read and we'll get back to you." I was so frazzled at that point, that I really didn't digest what they were saying and replied "Okay" and got my brood out of there.
Two weeks later I get a call, "Dr. Wortham would like to schedule an appointment with you to discuss the results of Montana's radiographs." Begin freaking out now. I could not even remember that they had said they were sending out the x-rays. (It was a crazy fall.) Thankfully, I was able to get in right away, but it was nervewracking wondering what was wrong with my daughter that we were completely unaware of! In an effort to shorten this story, he showed me her pictures and I could clearly see the cyst and he referred us to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon, Dr. Bergeron, was a very large dude, with a very loud, deep voice. A bit scary on first meeting. But he won over sweet Montana's heart! He examined and explained that although there was no way to know exactly what type of cyst it was at this point, it needed to come out and the sooner the better.
So, one month later, in early November, Montana and I were on our way to Anchorage for two days. Day one, shopping and pre-op appointment at Oral Surgery Associates of Alaska. Day two, a bit more shopping and oral surgery at Alaska Regional Hospital. And this is the part of the story that I really want to tell you about. It was the most wonderful 2 days of my entire year. I spent wonderful one on one time with my "middle" child. It was fun and special, shopping with her, staying in a hotel with her eating junk food and watching Disney channel as late as she could stay awake, going to Chuck E Cheeses with her, and listening to her talk her little heart out. And she was such a champ. She had to fast from the time she woke until surgery at 1:00 pm! (I managed to fast with her, except I did give in and get a breve when we checked in at the hospital.) She bought herself a cute messenger bag she just couldn't resist at Office Max and she carried it with her writing supplies and made a list of all the "Things She Didn't Expect at the Hospital". She got teary when the pre-op nurse explained what was going to happen, but then the little personal TV on an arm with PBS (which she is watching in the pic) took her mind off of it. Then they gave her the "happy medicine", the thing I am most thankful for, and she got silly. Hallucinating and whatnot. They wheeler her away happy and her recovery was a breeze.
When we got the results of the cyst, we learned that it is a VERY rare type of cyst. I still am unsure of how it would have affected life if it had not been removed, but all I want to say is that all the people we came into contact with at Oral Surgery Associates and Alaska Regional were top notch. It was a wonderful experience all around as far as medical things go.
And I know that having to go through this with my child should have been stressful and terrifying, etc. But I was truly sad when the whole experience was over. I loved my two days alone with Montana.
The end.
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