This morning after dropping off my son at school, I had my regular oatmeal and made some earl grey tea. Then at 9:00 I woke up my daughter. She had her oral surgery today. We were supposed to be at her appointment by 10:30. After I woke her up, I did a bit of laundry. Then I got ready to go. We left the house at around 10:00. I got an earl grey tea at Starbucks on the way there. When we arrived the lady at the front told us that we would probably have to pay for the whole thing today. In the email that they had sent my daughter they had told her that she would have to pay $700 today and that they would bill her for the remainder. Then when we got there they said that since her insurance company didn’t send in the predetermination yet that she would probably have to pay the whole amount owing. So, before they even called her in, I called my parents to let my dad know that we would likely be needing more money before she was finished today. They were on their way home from Calgary. They called my daughter into a little room at about 11:00. I was able to go in and wait with her. We assumed that meant that she would be going in soon, but we were very wrong!! We waited for a very long time!! The surgeon didn’t come in to talk to us about the surgery and the potential risks of surgery until close to 12:30! Then we were sent back out to the main waiting room. We waited until the first lady called us again and my daughter had to sign a bunch of papers. Her insurance company did cover a very small portion, but they still wanted the rest of the full payment today – so much for the $700 payment and billing her for the rest… I called my parents again. They had just arrived in Edmonton. They said that they were going to have something to eat and then they would just come to the clinic and my dad would take care of it (my daughter is paying him back gradually as she gets paid!!) While I was talking to my mom they finally came and got her for the actual surgery this time, by this time it was 1:00ish, 2.5 hours after we had arrived!! I said goodbye to her and she went in to have her surgery done. The lady told me that it would take 1.5 hours tops! Then I waited some more! My mom and dad arrived at the clinic at about 2:10. I paid my daughter’s $700 portion and my dad paid for the remainder. Then they waited with me for my daughter to be finished. At about 2:30 someone came and got me. They took me into a room and went over a long list of recovery things that I had to remember. They gave me a list to remind me of everything they talked about, 2 prescriptions, 1 for pain killers and I for antibiotics and a bunch of gauze. Then they told me to go get my car and bring it down to the patient loading zone. I got my parents and they followed me down to the loading zone. They were waiting there for me with her. By then it was close to 3:00!! She was pretty out of it! But she was under general anesthetic, so it wasn’t surprising. She very quickly said hi to my parents, then we drove back to Beaumont. I dropped off her prescriptions. Went into Sobeys quickly and bought her Gatorade and chicken soup broth. Then I went back to Shoppers and picked up her prescriptions. Then we went home. At home we changed her gauze, I made some jello, I put her Gatorade in the fridge and I got her ice for her face. Then I tucked her into a blanket on the couch, she wanted to stay upstairs:

Her cheeks have already poofed out since I took this photo!! Then I sat down beside her and turned on the tv. We watched the Mary Kondo show on Netflix (I had a google timer set for her ice pack so we knew when to switch sides and another timer set so we knew when to switch gauze in her mouth! I also kept track of when she could take her medication!!) and I had something to eat, because I was bloody starving!! I was starving and exhausted!! We watched tv and changed her ice and gauze until about 8:00. The lady told me that I should only have to change her gauze about 3 times and that the bleeding should slow down and it should clot. However, that wasn’t happening…so at 8:00ish I got dressed, got 2 of my younger daughter’s dance costumes ready to take to my mom’s house, then I quickly went to Shoppers and bought more gauze, because we had used all of the gauze that they had provided!! I brought it back home and dropped it off. Then I drove to the studio and picked up my daughter. We drove to my parent’s house and she tried on the costumes for my mom. My mom looked at what she would be able to easily do to make them fit a bit better by Friday!! Then my daughter and I drove home. At home I helped my oldest daughter again. She took the gauze out of her mouth. There was still some blood, but not as bad as it had been. I made the executive decision that sleep was more important! So I helped her get ready for bed. Then I finally let the dogs out and in and filled up my and my younger daughter’s water bottles, even though she was sleeping… I just put it on her night stand! Then I went to my room, got ready for bed, wrote this and now I’m going to bed. I’m soooo bloody exhausted!!!

Night All! 💤😴

To help with research and treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia please go to http://www.tnnme.com (Trigeminal Neuralgia and Me) to sign a petition to have the we’World Health Organization (WHO) add Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) to their Health Topic List.

“Hopefully one day I’ll get it right, or at least have fun, while about it I write!!”