Ben's Saga.

Oh, Ben.

I'd like to preface this all by presenting my defense.  Because, I don't know, taking your kid to the dentist to find that he has 10 cavities and an abscessed tooth?  Well, that just screams BAD MOM.  Neglect.  You know, it's just really a reign of shame.

So my defense.  I take my kids to the dentist every six months.  I've gotten to the point that I don't brush my kids' teeth for them, but I remind them to, at least twice a day.  Ben being the baby of the family, I might've ditched the toothbrushing lessons at a younger age. Yes.  But all in all, my kids' teeth have faired well!  No, I don't let my kids suck on juice boxes in bed.  I don't freak out about sugar, but we don't generally eat a ton of it.  (And by 'we' I don't mean me, of course.  Just the kids.  They don't eat a ton of sugar.)  We never have juice, just cause my kids don't like it.  But here we are.  Something has gone wildly out of whack.

I'd taken all the kids in to the dentist in September.  Ben did have two cavities.  One was so bad that they had to pull his tooth.  The dentist suggested that there might have been some kind of injury to the tooth that cause bacteria to get in there, and then it went wild.  But I was instructed to up the homecare, just in case.  Ok, so I only took that a little bit seriously.  I did do some more brushing and rinsing and flossing, but mostly I just increased my encouragement to Ben to brush his teeth well, and I'd check to make sure things were getting clean.

We go in for the next regularly scheduled check, and bam!  10 cavities!!  One abscess!  We were referred to the local pediatric dentist who immediately put him on antibiotics.  We had to schedule his extraction out a bit, because of the antibiotics, and then we were gone for a week.  Two days before his appointment, his face started to swell:

He was in terrible pain. 

I was again, in a bit of a panic.  I don't know why.  Something about google and WebMD and abscesses killing people.  The dentist was in surgery all day, but she took time out to call in a prescription and I busted up to school with it to get him right on it.  By evening, well, it was bad.  My little bud was cheerful, despite the meds making him nauseous and well, the monstrous stretching out of his skin, and the pain.  We had an appointment for the extraction the next day, so we had a chance to visit with the doctor.  She obviously couldn't work on his mouth in that condition so we had to reschedule.  I pleaded my weak case in order to get the soonest appointment imaginable.  (I hate being the mama bear, I just do.  I fear desperately for my likability, but I also have real fear.  Like WebMD.)

And then things get ugly.  Let's dial back a couple of weeks.  On our last round of antibiotics, I accidentally gave Ben the wrong dose a couple of times, and then, of course, spilled some down the sink.  So somewhere mid-course, I had to call in to get some more.  Kind of another bad mom moment, where I'm already suffering great hits.  Anyway, we are now on stronger meds for this second abscess flare-up because the first meds don't work.  I was strictly instructed to keep the antibiotics refrigerated or they would be no good.  Got it.  I am going to be very diligent and I head to the school with his meds so he can get all his three doses in a timely manner.  Then despite extra-good intentions, I forget to put the meds back in the fridge and then I head to Lewiston, where I find the bottle in my purse a couple of hours later. 

Ack!!  Seriously.

  At this point. Well....what can I do?

  I called the office for yet another script, which they can call in for me, but insurance probably won't cover a second round, and it is a $100 prescription.  If I start a new script, Ben will miss his appointment and we will have to wait until the doc gets back from vacation....all the while, the decay growing, and the antibiotics in his system for nearly a month.  They change the dose.  The meds are covered and we are back on schedule.

I put the bottle in a cup of ice, just in case.

Haha.  At this point, you surely believe I've learned my lesson, changed my ways, and became super-mom overnight.

Two days later.  We are in a super-rush to get out the door.  I proudly, in good-mom style, remember to dose Ben before taking off.  We come home five hours later and the meds are sitting on the counter and definitely room temperature.  Again.

Honestly.  Every day that my kids survive is just a plain miracle.  A miracle.
On the plus side, I just really admire this kid.  I get a hangnail and emotion-eat a lemon pie.  He has an abscess the size of a golf ball and his biggest concern is that he won't be able to smile for his teacher when she says, "Ready Racoons!"  But then he discovered he could still smile for his teacher, as long as he didn't show his teeth, he'd be ok.  He's just a happy little bud.