I have two children, Nathan and Anna.

A couple of months ago, I took Anna to a private hospital for a procedure to have four of her wisdom teeth extracted.

These teeth were well embedded in my daughter's gums, necessitating the use of a general anesthetic,

necessitating, in fact, a visit to an all-hours private clinic,

time was of the essence.

Frustratingly, there were unforeseen delays with other surgeries that day,

so Anna endured an agonizing weight for what ended up being an

extremely late surgery, an extremely involved surgery.

The extraction of those impacted molars lasted two hours all in all, and was rather anxiety-inducing for me, too.

Now, anybody who's seen the aftermath of such a procedure in either reality or and was rather anxiety-inducing for me, too.

Now, anybody who's seen the aftermath of such a procedure,

in either reality or the YouTube footage of a sadistic parent,

it knows that it often involves wonky, witty remarks from recovering patient,

and whilst I didn't have a recording phone at the time,

I will admit that I was hoping for some bizarre wordplay.

But my daughter instead, she uttered something vile.

Before I repeat her confession, here's some context.

My husband, Ed, used to go whitewater rafting with our two children

and his brother, Darren. Some years ago, I'd go with them, but work commitments often clashed.

Well, anyway, Ed wasn't a particularly strong swimmer, so I always felt a little uneasy

about the idea of him out on such an unforgiving water without me.

In late 2022, my worst fear came true.

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