Out of Wisdom (pictures added)

Teeth, that is.

Last week- we added to our already crazy life by taking Oldest out to Cougar Country to get his wisdom teeth removed.  There is a surgeon that comes to Small Town, but it is only once a month and he is booked out for months.  I called on the 2nd and got an appointment for the 10th.  We took him to the same surgeon who did Outpatient.

Now-  I don't know if I have shared the story of his teeth, but here it is, non-cliff notes version.

Oldest did not get any teeth- at all- until he was nearly 17 months old.  I was a tad concerned, but the doctor had a patient not get teeth until 15 months, and my own cousin's daughter who is only 2 weeks older than Oldest, didn't get teeth either.  Finally, what I think made them come in was the fact that his little sister was starting to get teeth, and he wouldn't be outdone by her.  This is a pattern that still exists, I'm afraid.  Anyhow- his first teeth were the top and bottom right teeth-and they took something like 6 months to fully come in.  The remainder of his teeth followed this pattern, taking their own sweet time to show up and be useful.

When he was 10- we went to the dentist to learn that his 6 year molars had finally decided to join the party.  We also got a really good look at what was going on with his adult teeth.  It was not a pretty picture.  Every adult tooth wanted to take the space being used by up to three baby teeth.  So- we went to visit our friendly neighborhood ortho, and began the process of trying to make room for those giant teeth. 

The next problem, his baby teeth didn't seem to be in any bigger hurry to vacate the premises than they were to join the party in the first place.  You might recall Oldest's lovely tooth pulling adventures from Dec 30- 2009.  The dentist pulled 8 baby teeth out then- and left the 4 canines to come out on their own.  Only two were obedient, and it took over a year for most of the permanent teeth to come up into place.

Bored yet?

So- when we went to the dentist last October, we saw that the punk's wisdom teeth were already forming.  Yes- those teeth that most people don't get until they are about 18- were already coming in.  This is in the mouth of a kid who doesn't believe in getting teeth.  To make matters even funner- the wisdom teeth were holding his 12 year molars hostage.  In July, the dentist pulled the remaining baby teeth.  We decided to go ahead with braces because if we wait for his teeth, it will be years!!!! 

So- the oral surgeon removed his 4 wisdom teeth and went on a search and rescue for a wayward canine.  The possible bad news is that his 12 year molars may not ever come in- and may need to be removed just like wisdom teeth are. So not funny. By the time we are done, I think we could have bought a decent car for what we will end up investing in that kid's mouth.

He had a little trouble coming to after the surgery, which made the headnurse-momma a little nervous,  He twitched periodically which was a reminder of the seizure he suffered as a toddler.  He did reach out a couple of times to pet my face (he has the biggest hands!), and fell in love with the office's fuzzy blanket.  Finally- after 5 hours at the surgeon's office, we got to leave.  He has done well, but he did puff up and is now moving on to bruising stage.  He was able to participate fully in his Teachers Quorum Super Activity, and this coming weekend he will get to start the bow hunt.

All is well, until August 31st.  Then we will start the braces.

Someday he will be so thankful that we put him through all this, and that I made a record because he better start saving now for his own children, or become an orthodontist or oral surgeon himself.

Thursday- not too bad- only the right side was puffy

Saturday- both sides were puffy-  but hey- he is vertical and functional, much better than I did.

And- when it comes time for mission prep- he already lost his wisdom.  Teeth.

A Few Scattered Memories

For some odd reason, I woke this morning to some very random childhood memories. First I was thinking of my friend's giant sheepdog. On facebook, I accidentally called it a St Bernard (both big dogs)- Out of the blue memory for sure. Then, I started thinking about being a candy stripe - r volunteer at the hospital. Random enough for you?

My friend Heathre lived down the street and had an awesome treehouse/playhouse. She had one sister, and they were both adopted. I could tell their parents loved those girls very much. Her mom had the best laugh! I can still hear it in my mind. Her dad worked at the college in the food services. Sometimes we got to go to his work and we would get a mint brownie. I remember LaDawn taking us to Salt Lake and buying me a bag of sea shells. Heathre got her dog, Eddison as a puppy. He was roughly the size of a bear cub :). He went through all those puppy stages in giant fashion. I seem to recall lots of destruction in their back yard. To get into the playhouse, her parents had to lower the steps/ladder that was on a pulley system. I also remember Heathre and I trying to get that dog up that ladder into the treehouse- what I wouldn't give for a video of that today- I am sure it was hysterically funny to watch. Why I was thinking of all that this morning between the older patients' alarm, and the Youngest's, I don't know.

When I was in junior high, I became good friends with a girl named Tonya Lane. Her mom was a romance novelist (for real). I don't know what her dad did, he seemed to always be around when I was there which was different from my dad. Anyway, I don't recall exactly how it came about, but she and I decided to volunteer at the hospital. The older ladies that do so are known as Pink Ladies. The girls were called Candy Stripe- ers. I wrote it that way to make sure you pronounced the Stripe- and not strip. Ha. We wore white shirts and white pants, then a red and white striped apron. I think when we signed up to do that, we thought we would be spending the time together, but we seldom worked at the same time. A few of the "jobs" I did were sitting at the front desk and answering phones, in those days, we actually could give out the room numbers. We accepted floral deliveries and took them to the patient rooms. I also called bishops or other religious leaders to let them know a member of their congregation had either died, had a baby, or was in the hospital for some other reason. I doubt they do that stuff any more. This strikes me as funny, because anyone who knows me, is aware that I have a phone phobia when it comes to calling. My mother made my hair and other appointments clear up until I moved to Washington- and sometimes, even then she made appointments for me when I was coming home for something. LOL! She is SUCH an Enabler :) (Thanks Mom!!! Love you!)

Another job I did at the hospital was the candy/gift cart. Oh- that was also hard for me. We had a cart that was covered in stuff from the gift shop that we would take to certain floors and rooms to give patients and their families a chance to get a treat or a prize for those who couldn't leave their room. I also had the job of washing hair. I am not kidding. We would go into rooms- particularly of elderly ladies, and offer to wash their hair with waterless shampoo.
I am sure there were other responsibilities that I don't recall, but those were the jobs I remember doing , and as reward for our service, we got to eat in the hospital cafeteria, which has much better food that what comes to the patients' rooms.

My friend Tonya and I went completely separate ways when we got to high school. I remember watching with shock as she and another girl I knew from childhood got into a huge fight at our rivals' home court during a basketball game. I read in the paper a while after graduation that she had been killed in a car wreck. Then, about a year later, I read in the paper that her parents had divorced. I don't know what would have changed if she and I had stayed close. I just knew she was choosing different friends than I wanted to have, so I let the relationship slide.

Your guess is as good as mine as to why these two memories were in the fore-front this morning between 6 and 6:30. A friend's dog, and being a candy stripe -er.

Sure sign it is Spring-

Some people can tell by the weather.

Some people can tell by the flowers.



Some people can tell by the activities.

My family can tell by my shedding.


(This is ONLY the hair collected by my hands- I did not clean out my brush, or clean up the floor, or counter, or drain. Just one brush through with the brush, and this was all hanging at the end of my hair that was still attached to my head. Who needs a dog that sheds when they can do it themselves.)

Middle asked me to please stop brushing my hair because it was getting everywhere. I don't know what she is complaining about. I am the one who has to sweep and vacuum the bathroom every time I even walk in there.

Faces on Facebook

As you may know, I have a job where I get to work from home. I do data entry for crews that work in various states. I see names on production sheets, have exchanged more than a few emails with many of the employees, even talk to them on the phone occasionally, and without exception, I have never seen them in real life. I can't even think that I have ever even tried to picture what they may look like that I can think of. I just haven't given it any thought- even when I am frustrated with someone's inability to fill out paperwork correctly. I really don't care what they look like, just that they get their job done.

Today (tonight) has changed all that. I joined Facebook- don't ask me why. I looked it over and I can't really see why I would want to use it. I am not really interested in reaching out and touching someone from my past- those I want to get in touch with, I usually have been a little.

I have only added some of my family members to this point. What I do not get, is how on earth, the minute I set up my account, this list of "friends" pops up, with a bunch of names and pics of these people I deal with for work, some real friends, and some family, plus a bunch of people from Small Town, my high school days- I have not put in any mailing list of anything- IT IS CREEPY! There were a few people that I didn't know- but most were people whom I did, and totally unconnected to each other. Anyone know how that works?

Anyway- to make a long process short, one of the options was one of my bosses, and I pulled his picture up- since I have never actually met him because he is in a different state. There among his friends were a bunch more of the people I do stuff for. I looked at every picture. It was fun to see what they looked like and to have a face with a name. Kind of crazy, really.

And, no, I don't think I will be adding many of them as friends- even if they ask nice.