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Sunday, January 3, 2016

Propofol Fail


 I've read horror stories regarding dental sedation. I now have my own.  

If you go to a dentist who can perform dental surgery in-house, it can mean a service comes in and provides the intravenous sedation. My oldest daughter had this done three or so years ago and it was absolutely textbook and successful. She also has no severe food allergies.






Different story for Izaiah. It was traumatic for all of us and if you have a child with severe food allergies, keep reading the post. I'll be brief.

The conversation with the anesthesiologist went kind of like this:

Anesthesiologist assures me that propofol (with egg and soy) is always used with highly allergic kids.

I assured the anesthesiologist that Izaiah was allergic to egg and soy and this would not work.

She assured me that it is highly refined egg and soy proteins so it should work. 

I assured her that I have tried highly refined types of soy that he still reacts to, so I knew this would not work.

She assured me that she would do a test run first and watch for reactions and stop if she saw anything.

I assured her she would not see a reaction because it would happen days later and Izaiah would be covered in severe eczema, head to toe.

She assured me (read pressured me) that she believed none of that and that in a couple of hours Izaiah's dental work would be done and he would be fine. That was her experience with kids with severe allergies and we should give it a try.

I should've walked out.

Have you ever seen your child put under? They put Izaiah out as he lay in my arms. I thought they killed him. I turned so many shades of white a corpse would've looked sun-kissed beside me. I trembled uncontrollably and cried. They promised me this was normal, took him out of my arms, and made him comfortable in the chair. It was time for me to go and for them to get the work done.

I made my way to the restroom where the mirror reflected someone 30 years older.

I regained my composure and tried to look interested in Ashi's schoolwork. Forty-five minutes later the anesthesiologist rushed out to tell me that Izaiah had an asthma attack and they had to pull him quickly out of sedation for a breathing treatment. No dental work was done.

I won't go into my feelings but horror, shock, and "I told you so" were all front and center.

Fast forward a month and Izaiah still has eczema head to toe. It reared it's ugly head about 3 days after the procedure. It isn't severe anymore, but we haven't seen any of this since closely following the protocol of our bio-med doctor more than two years ago. Even though we know what it is, how to treat it, how to keep Izaiah comfortable; it angers me no end.

For more than 2 years Izaiah has had no egg and no soy. We have turned our lives upside down and spared no energy, effort, or monies in healing him; but just like the flip of a chart on a clipboard, one anesthesiologist can turn it into a vapor. And that's the end of that. No apologies, no recompense, no responsibility. Par for the medical and dental profession today. Not one care for how hard we worked, how hard it will be on Izaiah to recover from having his allergens injected into him. It's not their child, what do they care?

I have since found this case study regarding propofol and allergies. This is what happened to Izaiah.

Ultimately, I've located an holistic dentist an hour away from us who works with autistic children and will help me heal Izaiah's tooth naturally. 

Our bio-med doctor promptly communicated his heartfelt regrets over what happened, bless his heart. He knows how hard we've worked. He emailed instructions for detoxing Izaiah, but even still, it will take one to three months to get the infractions out.  If I could go back, I would follow my gut and WALK OUT.  Don't forget about that option.

I will update on the progress with the new, holistic, dentist at a later time.

Nothing goes perfect in this life. If we think it does, we are wrong. If we think because we love Christ and are a Christian that all things will be perfect, we are also wrong. If we think every decision we make that has no bumpy road is of God, I would question that. When things are perfect, we don't need Him. The only person who doesn't want us to need Him is Satan. So, if things are always going your way, I'd be a bit nervous, to say the least.

God didn't rescue the Israelites from slavery because they were having a good time. No, he heard their CRY unto Him.

Some days I swear I don't have the power to move even one more step or handle one more responsibility. Some days I feel like cooking one more meal, doing one more chore, getting through another day of therapy, school, and bedtime will literally burst me into a million pieces. A nap will not help. A vacation will not help. Even a major breakthrough in therapy will not help. There is only one thing that causes me to power up again and face my struggles with joy. And that is crying out to God and steeping myself deep into His Word.


Isaiah 40:29-31 says He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.


1 comment:

  1. The new dentist office in our town is the talk of the neighborhood. There are at least a dozen dentists working, a dozen rooms, a huge modern waiting room, and plenty of things to keep you busy while you wait for your turn. Even this busy the longest I had to await was a little over a half of an hour tops.

    Freddie Gray @ Ballantyne Dentistry

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