I just posted about Hunter getting his wisdom teeth out and exactly two weeks later we were back in the same office for an unexpected visit at 10:30pm on a Friday night.
Bennett had a large group over to hang out and swim. Steve and I were inside talking with his sister who was visiting from out of town and another sister and her family. All the sudden, I hear wailing coming from outside and then I see one of Bennett’s friends holding his mouth as blood was dripping from his hands as he approached the patio doors. We weren’t quite sure what had happened, or what the damage was but we all jumped into action to help him out.
As we waited for his parents to arrive, we tried comforting him the best we could but he was in serious pain. He was wailing. Its a sound I won’t forget and I don’t want to hear again.
We learned he had been doing flips on the trampoline when he over-rotated and hit his face on the bar of the trampoline. Which is where we started looking when we learned one of his teeth was missing. His parents were searching. Friends were searching. When we couldn’t find it, we wondered if maybe it wasn’t missing and instead forced up into mouth.
Steve and I could see his parents were in shock and wondering what their next move was. We told them Steve’s cousin Paul was an oral surgeon and we would be happy to give him a call to get some direction. After a quick facetime, Paul offered to meet them at his office to perform surgery, an offer they couldn’t refuse when they saw their son in so much pain.
They quickly left and we were left with 23 teenagers standing around looking at each other wondering what they just witnessed. Not surprisingly, the group wasn’t interested in swimming or jumping on the trampoline any more and they all returned home sooner than they normally would have.
By 10:30, Steve, his sister, Bennett and I were sitting on the couch talking. I saw a call from Paul come through and I was excited to already receive an update. The update was Bennett’s friend was sedated and they were starting surgery. But he wasn’t calling to give an update, he was asking us to go out one more time and look for the tooth that was in fact missing from the x-rays. He knew we had already looked but the window was closing to get the tooth back in his mouth and he was asking us to give 5 more minutes to finding the tooth – after that the tooth probably wouldn’t take. All four of us went back outside witih flashlights in hand. We searched for less than a minute when Steve said, “Go get the blacklights.” An answer to the prayer he had just offered up in his search.
I grabbed the blacklight we use for scorpion hunting and then climbed into the attic to grab a blacklight bar from the “Glow Party” box. With blacklights in hand we scoured the area. Steve had climbed under the trampoline. We were searching the artificial grass. The pavers. The real grass. The trash can containing all the paper towels we went through trying to stop the blood. Within 5 minutes, Steve yelled from under the trampoline, “I FOUND IT!” The blacklight was a true answer to prayers and the tooth was illuminated sitting in the rocks.
None of us were looking for a tooth so large, root entact, but there it was in his hand, the front tooth. With the tooth in a cup of milk, we made the 20 minute drive to the surgery site. Bennett felt nauseous the minute we stepped in the office and he kept his distance. I was okay to stand by the door and talk to the dad where no blood was visible and Steve was fascinated watching the whole surgery. There was a lot of damage to that mouth of his – sadly just two weeks after he got his braces off.
We were there for almost 2 hours, until the last stitch was tied and he woke up. He was entertaining as he woke up which was a welcome change from the pain we saw him in just a few hours earlier. Unfortunately, this surgery solved the immediate need but he will still have a lot of dental work and recovery ahead of him. But he was in good spirits considering the circumstances.
It was a wild night, but we saw so many tender mercies.
I am so grateful we found that tooth – truly a miracle after we had given up looking for it. I’m grateful Paul was in town and answered his phone late on a Friday night. (He had just returned from being out of town for ten days). And I’m grateful he had two assistants answer his text when he sent out the plea for help to join him in the office which made it possible for him to perform the surgery.
It was humbling to be in the midst of real-life angels.
And I’m hoping we don’t have that much excitement on a Friday night for a long time.
