March 23 – “Once more, from the top”

Mom had another trip to the dentist the other day.  Actually it was to the oral surgeon.  He was scheduled to remove two more of the teeth that were in such bad shape.  We decided to break the removal down into more manageable chunks rather than pull them all at once.  We figured it would be easier on her that way.  Chris took her in this time and it didn’t take long to realize something was up.  Not with Mom.  We knew what she needed from the last visit.  This problem was with the office.  It seems they had her scheduled for what they called a consultative visit to “determine if pulling teeth was necessary.”  We already went through all that.  A quick perusal of her chart would have revealed that he already had a plan in place.  We were just picking up where he left off last time.  As a result of their snafu Chris and Mom had to wait almost two hours “to be worked in.”  Never a fun experience, but the agony was amplified with a dementia patient who couldn’t understand what had happened.  Add to that the fact that she is still in her “talkative” mode, and you have a pretty miserable experience before the doctor even walks in the room to begin.  He finally did begin digging in.  Believe me, I chose those last few words carefully.  Chris told me he had to do some serious excavating on the first one.  And when he started on the second he made a comment somewhere in the vicinity of “Uh-oh.”  Not what you want to hear from the mouth of anyone who expects you to call him “Doctor.”  Come to find out, a third tooth, located between the other two, looked as if it would be falling out on its own very soon.  He showed Chris the problem by sticking one of his instruments all the way through it.  He said it really needed to come out as well, so Chris texted me to see if we would have enough money to cover a third extraction.  Before I could answer, though, the offending tooth literally fell out on its own.  Apparently the other two had been the only things holding it in place.  The good thing about that was that we didn’t have to pay for the third extraction.  The bad thing?  Well, let me just say … Kids, brush your teeth when your Mom tells you to. 

Our issue now is convincing Mom to leave the stitches alone until they are ready to come out.  Last time she had them pulled out before we even got back home.  She has done better this time, but she constantly asks if there is something in her mouth and when it will go away.  She is also beginning to ask about getting some false teeth.  From out of nowhere she said her Daddy had false teeth, so she figured she would get some, too.  We assured her that we would look into it further down the line after all the other teeth problems were taken care of.  That seemed to satisfy her.  At least until the next time she noticed it in her journal.  And then the questions began again.  Once more, from the top …

Genesis 8:1 says, “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.”

Father, thank you for remembering.  It is comforting to know that you are there and you do not forget us.  Amen.