Of course it happened to me.

I am having surgery on the 24th(I think) of this month.  I am going to have a saliva gland removed because I have something called a mucocele.  It is very annoying.  I thought I was having an allergic reaction to a new crown, because I keep getting this sore under my tongue.  I saw my doctor after a couple of months, who told me to see my dentist, who sent me to an oral surgeon.  Turns out the damage to the gland could have happened from eating a peice of popcorn or a chip.  I think it is so weird.  The surgeon said it is not weird, just not that common.  OHHHH!  That explains it, because I always seem to be in that small percentage of things happening to people. 

The interesting part came after asking a few questions about the surgery and recovery.  I wanted to know if I would notice I was missing a spit gland.  He assured me that I probably wouldn't notice and that people with special needs need them taken out a lot due to excessive drooling.  That got my attention.  I asked him all sorts of questions after that and it led me to finding out that he performs tongue reductions on patients like Em.  He told me that it's his kind of work.  I have been told repeatedly by Em's pulmonologist to have the tongue reduction done, since her tongue is the main culprit in obstucting her airway(large tongues are common with Ds).  Her ENT has refused to perform the surgery and actually scared me away from it after learning about the risks involved. The oral surgeon, however, had a completely different attitude.  We talked about the risks and it didn't sound as scary to me coming from him.  This is an area of expertise for him, he told me he would be comfortable performing the surgery on her.  I talked to my sister about it and she mentioned that things don't worry you as much if you do something over and over.  This is definitely not a surgery that her ENT performs on a regular basis.   He asked a few questions about Em and thought she would be a good candidate for the surgery.  I might take her to see him.  I don't think I would have thought to see an oral surgeon about it, it's funny how things work out.  We'll see what happens after meeting with him.  I don't want to put her through surgery, but the thought of having that problem taken care of once and for all is very enticing.  I have been told that Em having the sleep apnea could be part of the reason why her behavior can be so hard at times, her Endocrinologist also thinks that it could be part of the reason her blood sugars are so high at night.  It could be causing her body stress and that equals high blood sugars.  It is something I am going to look into for sure.