gijanet
Well-known member
I do not know where to post this, so will start here. The dental saga continues………..AND we will be adding a hospital visit - hopefully, outpatient. If you don't have time for my rhetoric (as some people accuse me of being long-winded, then please skip down to my questions).Katie had her pediatric dental consult today. The pediatric dentist she was supposed to see was performing oral surgery at the hospital (don’t even get me started on that one…….if it was an emergency, fine! If it was pre-scheduled…………….grrrrr!
), so a very young (26) associate dentist saw her. I’ll spare you the drama, but she confirmed that Katie does indeed have a huge cavity that will have to be addressed, and yes, she will have to be put under to do it, so they want to do it at Cook Children’s hospital…………….sigh! The dentist who will perform the procedure was the one who was doing oral surgery, so we got virtually no information today other than.........yep! It's a huge cavity..........duh! He’s supposed to get with Katie’s PC and the hospital’s anesthesiology department and get back to us in a few days, which I’m sure means sometime next week. IN the meantime, my mind is racing. I know the fact that Katie is on coumadin should be a non-issue in this. It’s a filling for gosh sakes! However, since Katie had such severe arrhythmia problems (heart was in JET for many days) and developed heparin-induced thrombocytopenia after her last surgery(ies), putting her under becomes more complicated. As usual, I want to be armed with information, so when the dentist calls, I can interrogate him properly. I am hoping some of you can help. I am new to both arrythmias and HIT, and know just enough to know that I don’t know diddly squat. We have never had to worry about these issues before.
1st) Can just being under anesthesia bring on or back arrhythmia problems? Katie is NOT having arrhythmia problems now and has not had any since she finally got back into sinus rhythm several days post-surgery. But is she at higher risk now?
2nd) How is anesthesia administered? I know IV. Duh! But what kind of solution is it administered in? Hopefully, not heparin. If so, is there an alternative solution? Could it be administered with saline? We know we will have to use saline flushes, instead of heparin………although that was a constant battle in Michigan as I am sure some of you will remember……….. I wouldn't think we would have to do argatroban as she is not being taken off of her coumadin ( at least common sense says she wouldn't be).
I know these probably sound like dumb questions to some, but I would rather display my ignorance to y’all and sound knowledgeable next week when the dentist calls.
So the dental saga continues……………sigh! Katie’s gag reflex is so strong, she almost threw up in the dentist’s office when they tried to take x-rays, so we didn’t even get those. Guess we will do those, fill the cavity, and clean her teeth…………..all at the hospital………………..geez! Just what I needed was another hospital bill………………another sigh! Thanks for any insight or input you can provide. Many hugs. J.
