Ben's lip

Most of you probably know about Ben's lip by now. He had a mucous seal growing on the inside of his lip and had it removed on Monday. The doctor said that the youngest he had done it in the office was probably 7, but may have been 8, so he was willing to let us try to do Ben's in the office rather than going to the hospital for it. I was pretty glad about that, since it would have been more expensive in the hospital.

Ben did great with it. He only got a little nervous when the doctor was going to put the anesthetic cream on it because the thought that part would hurt, but once he realized it wouldn't hurt, he was fine. He even sat still for the needle part. And he totally cracked me up while they were removing it. They were holding his lip still and he kept talking throughout it, saying, "Hey, I don't feel that!" It's especially funny when you realize that Ben is our shy one and doesn't typically talk around people he doesn't really know. So there he was in the doctor's office with basically strangers who were trying to hold his lip still, and he wouldn't stop talking.

His lip started hurting a little bit later that night, but hasn't hurt him since.

Here's Ben showing his mucous seal:


Here's a picture Ben took of his doctor. Nice, huh? I don't know why, but I see this picture and think, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." And the doctor didn't remind me of that at all in person. He actually reminded me of my home teacher (who is blonde, so he reminded me of a dark-haired version of him).


Here's Ben after they put the cream on his lip, trying not to swallow any of it.


Here he is in the chair after he's been numbed, waiting for them to come back in and remove it.


Here's his lip after.


So while it wasn't fun for him to get it removed, he did great. The doctor said he thought that was worth a $50 Christmas present for him, since he saved us lots by not having to have it done at the hospital. I agree. But I got him an icee on the way home from the doctor and we rented a movie to watch that night (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which he really liked). He thought that part was fun.