Over Under

There are days when I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I have been out of the office the past two days with Little K. On Wednesday, we had our Asthma Review and visited the orthodontist.

The good news is that Little K’s Reactive Airway Disease is under control. Her medication therapy is working perfectly and we don’t have to go back in for another six months. Woo-hoo!

For the orthodontist, we also have good news: her brackets went on without a problem. Which is a big deal, considering our girl. Little K has big teeth in a small mouth, which has resulted in some serious crowding as her permanent teeth come in. We attended two consults at two offices and chose the least invasive approach to her treatment.

The basic idea is this: put “mini braces” on our girl. This consists of a bracket placed on each of her upper adult molars and gluing a wire to her baby pre-molars. A spring connects them on each side. Over the course of eight months, we will push her adult molars back as far as possible; our hope is to gain at least half a cm on each side. We will then remove the mini braces and fit her with a spacing retainer until the next phase of her treatment, which will be around age eight.

As I said, everything went on without issue. Thank goodness! The problems didn’t start until about three hours later – her teeth and jaw began to ache. As a former braces wearer, I totally expected this and had begun pre-medicating her with children’s Motrin. But man oh man… It was a long afternoon. Thursday morning started with her feeling much better, but even one bite of food brought the pain and aching back to the point where I kept her home from school for fear she would be a distraction in class. She was able to eat on and off throughout the day, but never what you would call a full meal in one sitting. But we survived.

And then, at bedtime, she told me that one of her brackets was loose. I checked it and… *sigh* Of course.

That was the end for Mommy. After 30 hours of stress, I was just plain old done. I put wax on her bracket, tucked her in, poured myself a drink, and then sat in a shower for 20 minutes with my head against the tile.

I was frustrated.

I was stressed.

I was tired.

I was overwhelmed.

The past three months have felt hard. With Little K’s walking pneumonia and reactive airway disease diagnosis 36 hours before we flew to FL for Christmas, transition into a new position at work, new dental insurance and two ortho consults (the first one which suggested a very invasive treatment plan), $900 in medical bills from appointments and prescriptions, my car dying and subsequent purchase of a new vehicle, the big changes for my parents, R’s sperm count drama… GAH.

It feels like a lot.

Now, I am a naturally optimistic person. Silver linings, sunshine and rainbows, the whole deal. But when I’m done, I’m done. When I hit the wall I need to tilt back a drink, sit alone with the steam for a while, and head to bed.

I feel a bit better this morning. I was able to work on my BSF before work, leave a message for the orthodontist, make a cup of tea, and take some 5-HTP.

Hopefully the day will continue to turn around.