Latex or Lidocaine? Something Attacked My Baby at the Dentist!

Disclosure: I’m not a sicko that goes around taking pictures of my baby when he’s sick. I took these for our doctor’s appointment to show them just how bad this was. I wanted to let you all know why I’ve been so absent so I’m posting this here. 

Our weekend didn’t go so well, as you can see. A simple trip to the dentist for a teeny tiny cavity for Bubby resulted in this. It didn’t start out like this. But this was the result. It was not good, not good at all. Let me back up.

Saturday morning, Bubby and I headed out at 8:30 am for a 9:00 am appointment to get this itsy bitsy cavity filled. We were the first ones at the dentist office so that had to be a great thing. He went right back. They gave him happy gas because he’s a twitchy little patient (I was happy to pay the extra to make him “brave” as he called it). A smidge of Lidocaine to make the area numb, minor drilling, a little filling, and they were done. We were in and out in less than an hour. Awesome! But, not really.

We headed home, did a few things around the new house, then the whole family loaded in the truck and we headed to Home Depot. Seemed like it would be a great day and Bubby’s face wouldn’t be numb for long, so all would be fine. We had a lot to do. But at some point in Home Depot, we all noticed that Bubby wasn’t looking good. No, his face, his lip, was swelling. Quickly.

I did what any self-respecting parent would do. I panicked (quietly, hoping he didn’t notice), then I called the dentist. They told me to come back in as they were still there. The first photo here is from 5:30 pm, the one just above is from 2:20. At the time I called the dentist, it was about 12:30. We loaded up our supplies from Home Depot, quickly checked out, and headed straight to the dentist. He went straight back. She immediately thought it was an allergy to latex. OK. Next steps. He was breathing fine and was uncomfortable, but overall, he was fine. She said Benedryl and rest and the swelling should be gone by Sunday. But as you can see from the first photo, that wasn’t the case. It got worse. He got worse.

I continued to panic and watch him like a hawk (seriously, y’all, I didn’t let him see me panic). Around 5:30 pm, I called the on call nurse at his pediatrician’s office. We went through a crazy series of questions, and after about 15 minutes, she told me to take him to urgent care within the next 4 hours. Four hours? We were out the door in 4 seconds.

Our trip to urgent care reminded me that things at urgent care just don’t seem very urgent. It’s pitiful and my lack of patience (and the fact that my kid kept swelling) was very evident. But we were seen. The doctor was very nurturing and extremely nice. She was truly impressed with Bubby’s intelligence and asked him to come back for laughs when he was well. She was leaning toward a drug allergy to the Lidocaine since I’m highly allergic to pain killing drugs. I’m leaning toward that too. Anyway, we went home with hopes of a deflated Bubby in the morning. We were to see an allergist ASAP.

Obviously, that didn’t happen. Sunday afternoon didn’t show much relief. He was eating well, he was playing, he seemed OK, but this thing was NOT letting go. I was certain he’d be better by Monday morning and ready to face his 3rd week of school. I had a plan of action. I’d call the pediatrician’s office and get a referral to an allergist. Surely they would see him immediately. Surely.

This is today. He’s definitely better but I kept him home from school. I wanted (needed) to watch him. He’s having a little trouble at school already because of his speech and it’s definitely much worse with this lip thing going on. Plus, eating food is not easy (or pretty) so I figured I should keep him here and keep pumping him with medication that will eventually make him his comfortable, happy self again. Tomorrow he’ll go back. In the meantime, I spent a LOT of my day on the phone. The allergist (seriously, I was ready to cut a bitch) initially gave us an appointment on November 21st. Yes, more than 2 months away. I might have showed my momma hen side…just a little. We’ll be seen on Friday for testing.

Both latex and synthetic drug allergies are cumulative. We need to know what this is. Each exposure only gets worse. I can’t handle worse than this with my baby, my Bubby. He can’t handle worse. Fingers crossed y’all that this allergist knows exactly what they’re doing and we know what to avoid from here on out. If it’s latex, there are a host of things we’ll need to avoid moving forward. If it’s synthetic pain killers, let’s hope this poor little thing never breaks a bone or anything (hello getting your entire elbow region rebuilt and only being able to take Darvocet to deal with the pain…ouch, that was a painful 6 months for me).

Either way, my baby could use some kind thoughts. If you’re a praying person, please remember him when you say your prayers. If you believe in happy and healing vibes, he could use some. I love this little guy and he tends to get the raw end of the stick way too often. He’s awesome, he’ll be fine, and he’ll do incredible things in life. I know this and I’m so very proud of all that he is. But for now? I’m a worried mommy. Friday can’t come soon enough. Wish us luck!