Bumps in the road

Unhappy in bed on Monday night

On Monday night as we sat outside enjoying the last of the summer weather I walked up the street with Olivia and Zach in the John Deere while Thomas rode bikes with Ryan. The next thing I know I heard some yelling and shouting, followed by Spense screaming "NADIA!" I just left the John Deere where it was (because it would take far too long with Olivia driving), picked up the kids and ran towards the house. Sitting on my front lawn was a very bloody Thomas and a very nervous looking Spenser. I ran inside to get towels and ice only to find that my great neighbor Kim had already beaten me to it.

I didn't look too much at Thomas' mouth, not because it made me feel bad, but because I prefer to comfort first and survey the damage later. That might not be the best course of action to take, but I have found that it works best for me! Spense on the other hand was taking a good look at This mouth - trust the dentist! He then sent Kim out into the middle of the street to retrieve a missing tooth. She came back with it root and all, but there wasn't any point in trying to save it since it was a baby tooth. Spense decided that there were a couple more in there that probably needed to come out and he was worried that he might have some other issues that he just wasn't trained to deal with so we started calling around. Luckily, we live in a ward that is just heaving with dentists and most of them are specialists. We called Dr. Kelson the oral surgeon, and Dr Echols the periodontist. Neither of them answered so we just had to wait and hope. Dr. Kelson called back first and within a few minutes Dr. Echols wife called to say that he was driving back to his office. We were so grateful that there were so many people so willing to help us. Since Dr. Kelson called first he was the one that we went with.

During this time Thomas just sat with me on the lawn. He kept asking what we needed to do and telling me that he didn't really want to do this. He asked, "Mom, who is going to help us?" I told him that he was going to have to go to the dentist's office to which he replied, "Well, why isn't anyone doing anything?" I just told him that we were waiting for someone to call so we knew where to go. He definitely was extremely calm and level headed.

Spense changed out of his work out clothes (he had just barely come home from a run) and I got Olivia and Zach ready to go over to Kim's for a while so that we could both go with Thomas. When we got to the office and he sat in the chair he started to show a few nerves. Spense and Dr. Kelson talked about what they were going to do and then I held Thomas' hands underneath the cart with the instruments on it. We weren't able to sedate him since it was after office hours and Spenser wasn't trained so Thomas had to grin and bear it. Of course he cried and screamed a little, but he didn't make it difficult to work on him. He was so good. Two little teeth came flying out onto the tray and then he also had three stitches placed in his chin. He got a treasure box for his teeth, a squishy toy, and a balloon to go home with. I'm not sure that he really cared about any of these things though. I think he was just glad it was over and wanted to go home. The best part was watching poor Spenser dripping with sweat and turning awfully pale. I thought that he might pass out! In his defense though, he had just got back from a run and hadn't eaten since lunch and I think that seeing his own son in the dental chair in obvious distress was a little harder to deal with than seeing his own patients.

On the way home Spense dropped into Dairy Queen to get some ice cream. It was supposed to be for Thomas, but I think that he just wanted some sugar himself! Thomas really wasn't in the mood to eat too much. When we got home Spense went and got the kids and little Olivia came in with big eyes looking for her brother. She had stayed well away from what was going on when we were out on the lawn, but she knew where Thomas was going. She came up to him and said, "Thomas, is your mouth all better now?" and then gave him a big hug and told him that she loved him. She really is a beggar a lot of the time, but she can be super sweet and caring, especially towards her best buddy Thomas. He managed to have a pretty good night and we kept him well medicated so he was able to get some sleep.

Excuse the milk and boogers. I didn't know they were there!

On Tuesday I spent most of the day changing out gauze. Thomas still had some bleeding, but was really pretty good. I think that seeing himself in the bathroom mirror that morning scared him a little though. His face was pretty swollen and his cuts didn't look too nice. I took him to Spenser's office in the afternoon to take some X-rays since we were concerned that he may have broken his condyles (where the upper and lower jaw connect) but they looked in tact. He was just really embarrassed about looking the way that he did. As we looked at the X rays and saw where his adult teeth are, the worst part was realizing that he might be without 3 front teeth for another couple of years. We kind of figured that since the roots on his teeth were so long. It definitely looked like they were going no where anytime soon. Spense then tok him to the pediatricians since she said she would like to look at him, but he appeared to be great aside from the obvious.

X-Rays at the office

Things were still pretty much the same on Wednesday and I was so sad about how self conscious he was about his mouth. My visiting teachers came over with their small girls and Thomas said that he would play upstairs so he wouldn't frighten them! I told him that was sweet, but he looked just fine. He had just had an accident and it would get better, but he didn't really listen. He was also frustrated because he wanted to eat, but was having a hard time. He had nothing to bit down on and he couldn't open his jaw super wide, but he gave it a good go.

We thought he might go back to school Thursday, but we decided to give him one more day. His swelling had really gone down and his cuts were starting to look better. His lips had also stopped bleeding and were healing nicely. He even got back on his bike in the evening. I was proud of him for that.

On Thursday

Yesterday, he went into school for the morning. Spense was in there volunteering so he would be close by if Thomas needed anything. He did great and everyone was so happy to see him. He really had nothing to worry about. Spense tried to make him stay all day, but the deal had been made. You should get some special treatment when you have an accident right? The tooth fairy was also very generous in her offerings. He enjoyed buying some new toys with his money. We just have the stitches to come out now!