Dental Trauma

    Ooooh, starting off the year well; Ten days in and I'm already getting the first post written! Let's see if I can get at least one post in every month! Hooray, 2024 Resolutions! 

   Stats: Emma- age 6 1/2, Weight: 20 pounds, but the doctors are always trying to get her to gain more, Height: 31 inches, Other things: Trying to get her into physical therapy via her elementary school, and get her evaluated for Autism, two insurance companies are still battling over a bill we shouldn't have ever gotten, for her every day Genu Recurvatum (backward bending legs) leg braces! Two years after her leg surgery (Bilateral Distal Femoral Osteotomy) that we went to Delaware for in October 2021, she is able to bend her legs backwards almost as much as she was before the surgery. The Orthopedist here, who has worked with the Delaware doctors, told me that he feels comfortable doing the surgery if Emma needs it again, so we wouldn't need to drive back to Delaware for it.. We need to get new KAFOs (leg braces for physical therapy) made for her since she got several inches taller since the last ones were made, but can't get those casted until the leg brace bill is settled/ disregarded/ redacted/ whatever the word is.

   Anyway, today Emma had a dentist appointment and I just texted my best friend a really long paragraph about it, so I figured I would turn it into a blog post!! I'll be adding other notes in along the way as well. Please notice our matching shirts that say "Love You Babe". I got these from one of those monthly box kits a couple years ago. We have Christmas ones too! Second photo shows how Emma gives kisses. :)

   I made sure to bring Emma's new Crayola music "toy" that she uses a lot, which she got from her GiGi and Grandpa Al (Michael's parents) for Christmas. But after I started one of the songs for her, she turned it off and picked up her Jesus song book. Haha, Jesus for the win!! :)

   Emma did really well on the car ride there, continually playing her "Dance with Jesus" songs. Her favorite one seems to be "The Wise man and the Foolish Man". I told Michael that I appreciate so much that he reinforced the handle on the ventilator because the old clasps on the side, that come on the ventilator, would stretch and unclip far too easily, which could cause the ventilator to drop on the ground and break when you go to pick it up!! My goodness!! Such terrible possibilities if one is not paying attention.

   The reason I mention this is because of HUGE NEWS: We have finally gotten to the point, as of last month, where I have begun taking Emma to doctor appointments on my own! We had a "dress rehearsal" where I did all the loading and unloading on a family shopping day, then Emma and I went out ourselves a few days before her first appointment so I could see how long it took me to get everything ready and time myself on certain things. We just went to the gas station and grocery store that day, but it was a lot of fun. Her first real appointment was to the Pediatrician where I brought updated school forms for the doctor to sign so Emma could continue her Hospital Homebound program. This way Michael doesn't have to keep using vacation days to come with us to the doctor.

   Aside from it feeling like it took me half an hour to get the stroller and everything out of the car, the appointment trips went well! ("Everything" includes our special girl, of course, the heavy medical backpack that I wear along with my satchel-type purse, which holds a lot of bandana bibs along with extra room for Emma's glasses and little shoes when she gets tired of wearing them; oxygen tank, suction machine, ventilator with all the tubing that has to get wrapped around "just so" to keep out of the way enough when going through doorways; ventilator battery which lasts about six hours, and the wooden attachment that Michael built in March 2018 before Emma came home from the NICU, so the ventilator can hook on to the stroller!! **There is a link for that, which you should definitely click on and read that post about tiny Emma!)

>> There was a Delaware link up there too, at the top. Here is part 2 of it, getting her cast off.

  Back to today... When we got to the dentist office (as well as at a the GI office last month.. or maybe that is when a nice dad held the door for us), I found it bothersome that the doors don't have the little kickstands. It would be so helpful even for single moms with regular strollers. On the way out, I put the backpack down, which held the door open so I could push Emma through. Not sure why that was the first time I thought of it. The stroller is really heavy with everything I listed above on it. Plus it only has one wheel in the front and if it isn't facing straight then it doesn't want to move at all, even if you rock it back and forth. For me, at least. 

...Okay!! So here is the paragraph I texted to Mia!

   First, "the dental hygienist brushed Emma's teeth with the thick, dark turquoise toothpaste. I held her arms down and the lady tried to hold her head. Emma is a fighter! Then we had to wait at least 10 mins after that for the main “dentist doctor”. Good thing I brought in Emma’s Jesus song book because that helped to keep her occupied. The doctor talked to Emma and she kind of played with his gloves. She was fine at that point, but when he used the little mirror to look at and count all her teeth, she was not having it!! I was sitting in a different spot at that point and holding her ankles down and the hygienist was holding her head and her hands, as best she could. Emma was trying to fight a lot, by moving her head left and right. It was taking him too long (at least 3 minutes) to look at her teeth and she started gagging when he got to the back/ molar area- not choking or anything really bad- but it was making me want to cry. Then she got a break for a tiny bit before he had to put the “vitamins” on her teeth. That looked like a tiny paint brush.

 

   Then when the doctor was done he put her seat back up and Emma was crying so much, like she was scared, and so sweaty. He told her he was all done and with a big sigh, Emma signed, "All done" with her hands. She still had her little jacket on because it was 66 degrees outside (the start to a Florida winter!) so I took that off and I held her tight and told her how great she did. “I love you so much. I know that wasn’t fun, but it’s all done now. We can go home now, and you did so good! You were such a big girl! I’m so proud of you, Honey!” She kept looking back then would start crying again and bury her face in my shirt. She has been giving us good hugs again lately (since last month?) by pulling on our shirt/ top of the shoulder so we hold her tighter. She kept doing that. 

 

   I held her for maybe five minutes as the nurse cleaned up and then I told Emma we had to leave, and that I could hold her some more when we got in the car if she wanted, because I saw everyone else in the building was gone. I guess they all go on a lunch hour at 1pm." He did tell me that all four of her 6-year molars are coming through and should be fully through in the next few months. This would make sense as to why she has had some really crabby days and keeps her pinkies in her mouth a lot.

 

   This is when I wish she would take food by mouth, but she still refuses, and we even had another trial for it at some point last year (even though we thought we were going for a Speech/Sign Language eval). That way I could soothe her with some ice cream or a cookie from Publix, etc. And of course, some for me too! But she eventually fell asleep towards the end of the ride home and seemed fine again once she was back home in her bedroom with her toys. She even started laughing again. She has the best smile!!

   As of right now we don't have any more appointments scheduled until April since Pulmonology got pushed back a week last month, but then I got sick that morning, and now they say there are no appointments available for three months because "the Vent Clinic is only open one day a month!?".. Why do all the kids with MORE medical issues seem to get LESS help!?