Lucky Dorito

Five Random Moments this Week:

1. We’ve been on the search for new sneakers for Luby, with the first day of school coming this week. She’s kind of tall for her age, wearing a size 4 1/2 shoe now. In our little town, it’s hard to find those *middle of the road* youth sizes…. not quite kids sizes, not quite womens sizes. We’d looked several places before finding a pair, actually. Luby said to me during this time, “Wouldn’t it be great if you were born with the size feet you’re going to have all your life? Then you could buy one pair of shoes and they’d fit forever… you could wear them until the fell apart!” I laughed and said, “Ok, look down at your feet. Could you picture THAT size foot being attached to a baby?” She said, “Oh yeah… I can picture it and it SURE LOOKS CRAZY!”
2. I had to close myself in the bathroom one day at work to cry over a patient. I hate it when I KNOW I can help someone but they won’t let me. It frustrates me to no end. I had an older gentleman from the state nursing home this week in DIRE need of dental services but he is so far gone in dementia, he doesn’t understand who we are and what we want to do for him. He pitched a fit, yelling all sorts of things at me and threatening to sue me so fast it would make my head spin. Now, I realize he is not aware of what he is saying and it’s not that I took those comments personally that upset me…. it was just that he NEEDS some treatment - it would totally improve his remaining years. Once I got myself back together, we had to fax over orders to their facility that we would not be able to see him again in our office - the care he needs would ultimately require IV sedation because of his mental status, which we don’t do at our office. I know that basically means… he won’t be getting ANY care after all. I truly hate that for him. I keep telling myself that I can’t FORCE him (or anyone) to let us help him. But goodness…. I sure WANT to!
3. My husbands clinic moved from their previous location for the past five years to a *transition space* that they will utilize for the next 3 to 4 months while their new building is being designed and built. They left a 3500 sq foot space and are in a MUCH smaller space temporarily until the new building of 4500 sq feet is complete. So a ton of stuff got stored - what a mess that has been for them, deciding what goes into use and what gets boxed up for a while. Crazy. Also, with the move comes the hard part. Two of the therapists and one massage therapist/tech are leaving the company - due to the downsizing and a bunch of other factors. That leaves my hubby as the sole therapist/athletic trainer left… which should make life interesting for him (and us). As for moving… we don’t know where that stands. We’ve looked at other offers, we’ve weighed pros and cons, we’ve talked endlessly about it…. and still - we have no clue what we’re going to do. But, right now, the clinic HAD to move because of the situation that was going on (the end of the contract they were under) so as the Director, he had to man the ship during this transition regardless. It’s going to be super hard to leave now that he is the sole therapist if that is what the decision turns out to be. Surprisingly, I’ve really found some sort of peace in all this now, finally fully accepting that the Lord is going to work all this out for us. It took a while to wrap my brain around it all but I think what ever happens at this point is all right with me.
4. I had a precious little boy patient, 4 years old with a massive anterior open bite. (defined as increased vertical opening between the upper and lower front teeth, usually caused by some external factor; thumb or finger sucking or prolonged pacifier/bottle use - this condition ultimately requires orthodontics and possibly orthognathic surgery to reposition the upper arch. It can lead to speech impediments and serious temporamandibular joint dysfunction if left untreated.) He was cute as could be but very quiet and shy. He had a mouthful of cavities and it was obvious that he doesn’t do a lot of home care. (Of course, at that age - the parents are usually the ones doing most of the work, you know) So, I talked to the mother… she said they brush every now and then, when they think of it. And that she figures the open bite is caused by the fact that he takes a bottle to bed with him every night. A bottle?? at four years old? WHY??? Mom said that his sister had died of cancer and he was distraught and she just couldn’t handle that. He’d given the bottle up at a year old but after his sister died, she gave it back to him to keep him from squalling. I asked what he drinks in it. Mom said, “Nothing. He just sucks air all night.” Can you imagine? I was shocked. I asked the boy if he had a tummy ache a lot of the time and he said YES. I explained to him and Mom that not only is that sucking causing the malformation of his palate but to suck air like that all night is just NOT good for him. When Mom went back to the waiting room, I had some time to talk to the boy. He was more talkative without her in the room (as all kids are) and he said that he sleeps with a teddy bear too. I asked him which he’d rather give up, the bear or the bottle. He said the bottle. I told him he HAD to get rid of it, it’s so not good for him and that he just needed to wrap his arms around his bear all night and let that be his comfort while sleeping, not that silly old bottle full of air. He agreed… we’ll see what happens. Poor Mom - I can only imagine what she must be going through, losing a child… but part of me wanted to say “But this one is HERE! He needs you to pay attention to HIM. He has a mouthful of cavitites and a serious skeletal malformation happening right before your eyes… wake up and SEE HIM.” I know that sounds harsh and I don’t mean it to be… it’s just a bad situation for all of them. Hopefully, she is moving through her grief enough now that she can start to focus on him a little bit.
5. No five. Can you believe I’m stuck on four? Let’s just call this one a Friday Five Four instead. M’kay?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS