Today's the day. It's been looming on my calendar for over a week now. I'm scared beyond belief, but not for me. . for my little girl.
Today was the day I was going to have to take her to the Oral Surgeon to have TWO teeth extracted. She didn't know. My wife thought it was best we didn't stress her out the entire week like we were, and then , on the morning, let her know we were going there instead of school. I thought this felt like I was blindsiding her, but if she felt half the anxiety we were feeling by knowing, then I think my wife made the right choice.
So as I was saying, today was the day. She woke up her happy little self, and then my wife had to lay the news on her that we had to go to the dentist. She cried and was visibly scared. I think it's just instinctive that kids (and adults) are scared of the dentist.
Well, I took her to the first appointment , to her dentist who she knows, for an examination to assess the problem. Her teeth, for whatever reason (genetics, asthma medicine, candy) are in pretty bad shape. On the other hand, my other daughter, who lives identically to the way her sister does (with the exception of the asthma medicine), has ZERO cavities.
Well, the exam went as expected. . . X-rays, and a quick look in her mouth by the Dr. The dentist took off the little apron and told her that it was over. WHEW. . nothing hurt, nothing was invasive.
We walked out of the dentists office, a relieved and renewed daughter bouncing along next to me. She thought that was it, it was easy.
Here comes the worst part. We had another appointment at the Oral Surgeon in 30 minutes from now to have two horribly decayed teeth extracted from her head, and I was the one that got to lower the boom.
I tried my hardest to be positive and assure her that everything was going to be ok, but to be honest, I had no idea how this works. I'm not quite sure if I was trying to convince her or myself more.
She was DEVASTATED even more than when she first heard the news earlier in the morning.
Through her crying and nervousness, she powered through. We made it there and she walked up the stairs and into the office where all she saw was a bunch of adults waiting to be worked on. I assured her that kids go here and that's why we were here. Meanwhile, I'm starting to look at my watch to see if my wife will be here soon so we can take turns "faking" it in front of our daughter.
My wife , who was dropping off our other daughter at school, and NOT a fan of practice of dentistry, arrived:
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tor·ture /ˈtôrCHər/ (aka dentistry)
Noun
The action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something.
Verb
Inflict severe pain on.
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Well, it was our turn. The three of us went back to the first consultation room where we met the surgeon. He couldn't have been nicer or more calm. . perfect for us (all of us).
He explained what he was going to do and we moved on to the next room. Here , my daughter's vitals were taken, relaxing her, and getting ready to go in.
Once in the chair, we then had to leave and wait in the waiting room. They said from start to finish it would probably be about 30 minutes. My wife would be a good nba ref because she was calling out minutes every 5-6 of them. After about 30 min, the assistant came out to tell us how proud we should be of our daughter who did fantastic.
We brought her home to some smoothie and soup and a nap.
She's still sleeping in the other room right now while I write this. My little girl continually amazes me in what she is able to push herself to do. Her own motto is "never give up". She continually pushes herself to do things when she otherwise can't. From the littlest thing , all the way to teeth extraction. I know there are children and adults that have MUCH more difficult and challenging things facing them, and I feel so lucky that MY ridiculous fears are just that. . . ridiculous.
I'm always inspired to see my brave one when I come home each night. . .
home of the brave