Do you ever have a day where you feel like you go, go, go, but don’t quite get anywhere? Come to think of it, I feel like with my running some days, but that’s a different post entirely.  Saturday night we had Adalia’s sixteenth birthday party (I’d post photos, but they’re “stuck” on my camera and my memory card reader isn’t functioning, so they won’t be on my computer until I buy a new one). While sipping some water I felt a *ping* in my mouth as one of the brackets in my mouth popped loose (I have braces on just three teeth at the dentist attempts to pull a tooth with a fractured root out of my jaw bone…all in a bigger attempt to avoid an implant).

This is the second bracket that has come loose. Nevermind that I had actual braces for two years as a teen and never had one come loose…this is the second one that has popped off since I got them in November. I know you’re not supposed to do things like chew on caramel or bite into apples, but drinking water? I wasn’t aware that was considered risky behavior.

Anyway, I called my dentist first thing Monday morning, only to discover he’s on vacation. The recording left the number for his backup dentist…only the phone number was off by  one digit. Thankfully, the dentist has an unusual last name so I was able to look him up in the phone book. When I called his office, they were of course closed President’s Day.

Monday afternoon Mordecai fell out of tree and landed on the side of his foot. He refused to walk on it and spent the evening crawling/hopping around the house. Now, out of all my children, Mordecai has the highest pain tolerance and it just isn’t like him to pretend to be hurt for the sake of drama. I decided to wait and see how he was in the morning.

Tuesday morning he still wouldn’t walk or put weight on it, so I decided I better take him in to the doctor. Well, that kind of put the kibosh on my plans to call the dentist first thing in the morning. I mean, if you had to decide between taking your child to the doctor for a possible broken bone, or yourself to the dentist, who takes priority? I was able to secure an appointment for 11 am…well, now I didn’t feel like I could make a dental appointment, having no idea how long Mordecai’s stuff would tie me up.

We left the house at 10:30 to make the 20 minute drive to the doctor’s office. He examined Mordecai and sent us for x-rays. We drove to the imaging center, got the x-ray then headed home. I walked  in the door at 12:45. Apollo wanted to nurse as soon as he saw me, so I sat down and nursed him while I chatted to my mom on the phone. At 1 o’clock I called the dentist. The receptionist sounded downright irritated that I called. “Well, we’ve already worked several of Dr. Y’s patients in today”. Umm….okay…was I supposed to feel bad? Apologize? Find a different dentist? I mean, Dr. H was working at the backup dentist, right? It’s not like I was asking them to mow my lawn. Or pay Apollo’s medical bills. Or fix me dinner. Sheesh.

“Well, you better just come in and we’ll work you in somehow” she said, still obviously irritated that I had called. She told me to come in at 2:00. I glanced at the clock and saw it was 1:08, I would need to leave by 1:30 and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. I scrambled some eggs, apologized to the kids and left. Again.

I had my doubts that Dr. H could help me, considering Dr. Y is in the middle of pulling the tooth down and Dr. H doesn’t have my records, but I also knew I needed to at least get it looked at. Wouldn’t you know Dr. H’s office was way across town, 20 minutes away, not a mile from where our doctor’s office is! Yes, within a mile of where I had been just that morning.

The first thing that struck me as I walked into Dr. H’s office was the smell. It smelled distinctly of dentist office. I’ve never noticed the lack of smell at Dr. Y’s but boy, oh boy, did I appreciate that now. By the time I was back in the dental chair I was literally nauseous from the strong smell. And speaking of the chair, it was old and decrepit and so noisy it sounded like it was going to collapse at any moment when dentist lowered it.

Dr. H looked at the bracket, removed it and the wire, stuck them in an envelope for me to keep and deliver to Dr. Y, told me to get in as soon as he was back from vacation, and sent me on my way.

Yes, I could have done that myself. I was tempted to do it myself, but really didn’t think Dr. Y would be impressed with my dental prowess.

I arrived home at 3:45 (after stopping to get gas). Yes, 3:45 and I  had accomplished nothing. Somehow I am also supposed to: do laundry, cook dinner, train my children and oh yeah, homeschool them too.

{On the bright side, Mordecai’s foot isn’t broken…and he’s back at school today}