This blog has become more of a journal to me, that will some day all be printed out in a book so our family can look back on the fun things we did, the funny things that were said and done, and, every once in a while, the not so fun things that happened. I keep the blog public so that family and friends can peek into our lives and see what we're up to, but mostly this blog is for me. Yeah, I'm selfish like that. I say all that because this post certainly isn't written in hopes that other people will look at it, because I'm almost embarrassed by it! But I'm going to write it anyway.
John had his very first dentist appointment right before school started. We haven't ever had dental insurance so thought we were saving ourselves money by not taking our kids to see the dentist. But boy were we wrong! We were shocked to find out that John had 8 cavities!! Every one in his molars. Pete and I felt awful, to say the least. Currently we had been good with the kids brushing their teeth everyday, but unfortunately we had had times during the last few years where we weren't so good. We had totally gotten out of the habit, wanting to just put the kids to bed and not wanting an extra step in the already long process. Even with those times where we had gotten out of the habit of brushing, we were still shocked. Not only did it hurt us knowing that John was going to have to have so much dental work, but we had just barely chosen a dental plan for $50 less a month that covered normal cleaning and check-ups, but did NOT cover fillings... dumb, dumb, dumb! So these couple months have been tight, to say the least. But really the thing that has hurt even more than it has financially has been watching John have to go to the dentist again and again and be in so much pain. For a month or so has was complaining about his teeth hurting multiple times a day, didn't want to go to school, didn't want to go to karate or soccer, was overly sensitive to just about anything I said or did or didn't do, and just wasn't his normal, happy, helpful, brave self. And then to top it all off, near the end, a tooth the dentist had already put a filling in apparently still had some bugs that infected the root and caused half his face to swell up! For about 4 or 5 days before his face began to swell, he was constantly complaining of one of his teeth hurting. Gosh, I feel so bad for him! When his cheek started to become swollen I finally took him to the dentist and she put him on antibiotics, told me what was going on, and did a pulpotomy on the tooth a week later. During the month or so while all of this dental work was going on, I was seriously wondering if my sweet, happy John was ever going to return! His aching teeth made him absolutely miserable. BUT... thankfully, we are finally all done with his dental work! I thought it would never end. And John is just as happy as ever. I'm hoping that that whole experience only made him a stronger person. It is seriously so hard to watch your kids go through hard things (I know, I know... compared to some things, this was not even hard... but it was to me!) So I feel like we had to learn a lesson the hard way... teach your kids good hygiene, be consistent, and take your kids to see the dentist while they're still young!
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