I hate dentists....

No.  Seriously.  I view them as a necessary evil, and I'd rather have THREE mammograms and FIVE Pap smears a MONTH than go to the dentist.

And that was before I became the mother of a child with crappy enamel and really really groovy back teeth.

She had her first filling after her first dental visit.  It was so horrible for her that we skipped the next one and went in a year later.  Some battles ain't worth fighting, and she was little enough that trauma would last, but baby teeth wouldn't.

In the middle of epilepsy hell, I took her back last summer.  Some teeth we were going to watch, but he didn't want to fill them .. yet.  What about sealing?  Not usual for baby teeth and/or in a kid this small.

Flash forward to January.  The Demie Diva has two cavities on ONE molar.  I looked the dentist in the eye and said "I told you we should have sealed them.  This is going to set her back, given the trauma she's had with machines and epilepsy dx."  He told me it'd be bad, and might require a crown.  I told him there was no way he was working on my child without my presence, that I wouldn't contaminate his field, and that I'd do a better job holding her down than his staff.  He hemmed, as one does when one is Southern, Male, and more than a little paternalistic...and I looked him in the eye and told him that if I could hold her while they blew a vein sedating her for an MRI, and then hold her more tightly while the blood pumped, and we found another vein, I could jolly well handle this.

What the hell was I thinking?


I know.  I was advocating for my child's needs and interests.  


Holy Hannah.  This morning, I laid on my child while they drilled, exposed nerves that "looked healthy, but..." and put a crown on.  Then, having been warned that we might not be able to get her teeth sealed, I looked at him in the middle of the hysterics and said "Seal her now, cause I can guarantee you we won't get her back onto this table to do it later."  So he did. THEN he asked what procedures she'd had...so I ran them: one CT w/o sedation; three EEG-s (two in the last 10 months); and an MRI...only the last under sedation.  Poor kid.  This has been a crappy year.

No pain meds.   Motrin/Tylenol alternating q 3.  Soft foods.  Poor kid.  She went to work with me.  Her father was covering my first class cause we knew I'd be a little late.  The Demie Diva wanted just her mommy.

She wanted to go home.  (Do you blame her)  So.....

One panicked email to my colleagues later, I had my wonderful friend "K's Mom" in my room.  Morgan said she'd go with her, so I got to teach.  My afternoon classes were covered.  I went to get M, and she wanted a cupcake.  I got a salad.  And my other friends and colleagues stepped up when it became clear that her adrenaline/novocaine cocktail was wearing off and it was time. to. leave.  NOW and got a "to go box" for my salad, cleared my dishes, and took care of us.

I've gotten my reminder - as I often do - that I can ask for help and get it.  I've gotten further reminders that THIS is why we need to relocate to the state/place where she and I are loved and supported.  I'm not sure how on earth I'm going to manage it, and I am again planning on wallpapering my office with rejection letters...but the Diva Grandparents have agreed we can live with them to start ...

so...hope that the sealant worked. Hope that this last trauma is more quickly be recovered from than her last medical traumas... and oh dear friends, hope that this year at last, we can go home.