I Hate Teeth...The Extraction

It is done.  The tooth is gone as of 2:00 p.m. yesterday.


I almost didn't go. I could barely eat lunch due to my nervousness. It took all my strength to get in my van and drive to the appointment.  But I did.


And once there, I went right in and my dentist numbed my mouth.  A few moments later, he began working the tooth out.  Or as he stated, the three pieces of my tooth.  


It made a lovely noise as he was working.  Kind of like nails on a chalkboard, which was actually the tools against my tooth.  And then, he had to push down on my jaw as he was working.  It felt like my jaw was coming apart at the joint.


My heart was pounding so rapidly, it was skipping beats and I could feel my whole body shaking.  A small tear or two slipped out the corners of my eyes and I prayed without ceasing that it would be over soon.  And then it was over.


The dentist patted me on the shoulder and said it should feel better now that I had rid myself of that broken tooth.  


I felt a little shell-shocked, and couldn't really respond due to the wad of gauze I had clenched between my teeth.  But I managed to walk out to the desk where they informed me that I had a co-pay I needed to take care of.  Couldn't they have had me pay BEFORE I went in?  Somehow I wrote the check and headed out to the van.


It was then that I regretted turning down offers from my family to drive me to the appointment.  It seemed like a hundred miles to my Mom's house where I had left the children.


By the time I got home, I just wanted to cuddle up in my chair and try to relax.  I couldn't really eat anything; but I managed to down a whole can of cream of chicken soup.  It was not very satisfying though and my tummy was growling all the way until bedtime.  


So here I am, blogging away, after a decent night's sleep, trying to get back on schedule and not keep thinking about yesterday.


I do know that in the future, I will try to avoid at all costs having a tooth pulled.  And lest you think I have a low pain tolerance, please know that I have had five children and two were without pain relief!


Thank you for your prayers regarding my tooth.  And please feel free to share any dental moments you might like to add to my comments.  I would love to hear from you!

Slacker Mom, Slacker Teacher

This morning I read a wonderful blog post http://dailydwelling.com/the-best-discipline .  It really opened my eyes to see that I am a slacker mom and slacker teacher. 

I am totally disorganized.  I also think I have Attention Deficit.  These are not great things to be when it comes to being a mom and teacher.  

At the end of every day, I struggle with the fact that really, in all those hours, I have accomplished very little, especially when it comes to our homeschool.  And I have to face the fact that I am the one who is causing this, not the students.

My teenage son is a "reluctant learner".  He's very intelligent, but just doesn't get much work done.  I have to really stay on him for him to stay "on task".  And do I do that?  No.  I'm floating around doing umpteen other things besides teaching school:  laundry, dishes, sending out packages from my Etsy business, checking the computer, etc.  Meanwhile, he's wasting time doing everything but his work.  We are like parallel teacher and student, never meeting at all.  And that is just sad.

My girls pretty much get their work done on their own, with very little input from me.  They are able to stay on task while my son and I drift aimlessly from one thing to another.

I cannot expect something from my son that I myself am not able to do. 

It is me that needs to change before I can help him to change.

I am taking this issue to prayer, because I feel so weak in this area, so without self-discipline.  And I need to acquire it quickly, as I have so few years left to help my son to learn.

I plan to work with him, too, by admitting that I, too, have a problem focusing, setting goals and accomplishing them, especially when it is something I don't like to do.

I need to set a good example to my children, not only in learning self-discipline, but how I go about it.  They need to see my struggles and how I try to overcome them.  And maybe together we can become the homeschool I know we can and should be.

I Hate Teeth...The Sequel

Just a quick update on my Friday trip to the dentist http://momsoblessed411.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-hate-teeth.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_ca

My appointment was at 11:00 a.m.  Luckily, I only had to wait a couple of minutes as my heart was racing with fear as to what the dentist would have to say.  Luckily, he is easy on the eyes so that helps to soften the blow.


He took a look at the x-rays the technician took and whispered the word "fracture" to her.  Now I started to think maybe I had broken my jaw or something since it had been swollen there.


Then he came over and looked at my with his big brown eyes and said he had bad news...my tooth was fractured.  


Phew, I thought, is that all?  What a relief!  He said he couldn't fix it, that it needed to come out and that he could do it right then.  What?  I must have looked like a deer in the headlights.  I just panicked.  I wanted to get out of there.  As I said before, I am an avoider so I just wanted to escape.


I asked, does it have to be today?  He said, no, it would need to be in the next week or so to prevent more damage.  Thank goodness!  I could put it off!  Hurray!


So, I chose to make an appointment for the next Monday.  And then he proceeded to grind the sharp edges off for me as it was hurting the inside of my cheek and I couldn't put my teeth together.


So I left feeling pretty pleased with myself for putting off the inevitable.  And then, my tooth started to really hurt.  More than it had before I went to the appointment!  I should have known when the technician said I could take 800 mg. of Motrin (prescription strength) for the pain.  I can't take that because it melts my stomach, so I managed with just 2 ibuprofen (hey, I'm tough!  I had 5 children with very little pain relief).  


It did get a little better.  And this morning, it is feeling pretty good.  In fact, it feels so good, I am starting to feel like maybe I don't need to have the tooth taken out.  But I will overcome my urge to run away from the appointment and plan to be there on that Monday to have the extraction.


Please continue to pray for me!