Park Adventure

My big girls are on Spring Break from school this week so we took advantage of our pretty Spring day and had an adventure at the park. I call this an adventure because this was the first really warm day we've had in FOREVER. The park would surely be super crowded. Nope. I really wasn't. Maybe some people forgot to read the memo that today was going to be pretty!

My "Baby" Brother

Thank you to everyone who prayed last night and this morning for my "baby" brother. My sister's last update said that he was doing okay and that most likely it was a side effect of a new medication he was recently prescribed for mood swings. A side effect of this new medication can be suicidal thoughts. They've pretty much just been trying to find the right medications for him and sometimes they can try the wrong things and it will counter-act his other medication.

In case you are wondering....my 18 year old brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia in February. He has struggled for a long time and is finally trying to get help. He has grown tired of feeling the way he has felt for years. We are very proud of him and only want to ensure that he is safe. I believe that this newest medication will be removed from his list of meds and that something else will be administered instead. I won't be sharing any details of his previous suicide attempts on this blog-it's not my story to share. I would never want to post anything that he hasn't given me permission to share. I know that he would appreciate your prayers though. Please continue to pray that they are able to find the perfect mix of medications for him. I pray that he is able to get back to feeling as good as he was when he was released from the hospital in February. Thank you all for praying and caring for my "baby" brother. He means so much to me. And so do your prayers!

Hugs to you all:)

Please Pray

It's been a very long and trying day for me. This morning we went to our creditor's meeting for bankruptcy. To say that I was nervous is an understatement. I was flat out scared. It was a really simple process though and we were able to walk out of the meeting minus about $300,000 in medical debt. Can you say relief? I'm so glad that chapter in our life is finally over.

I got a phone call earlier that really has me scared. My brother was being taken to the hospital again. My sister said that he made another suicide attempt. I'm not sure of any details at this time. I can't take the kids to the hospital so I have to just sit here and wait for updates via phone from my sister. She promised to call as soon as she is able. He was inpatient at a facility for awhile in February, but seemed to be doing well since being released. Will you please pray for him and for my family as we try to get thru this together? I am so afraid that one of these days he's going to succeed at killing himself. I pray it doesn't come to that. I pray that he is able to get the help he needs before it's too late. Please pray with me...

Oh No! Delaney Did What?!

What happens when a momma foolishly tries to take a shower before the children are all sleeping sloundly in their little beds? I don't know what happens in your house, but I can tell you what happens in McNabb Land.

You see, the 3 little Easter dresses that I've worked very hard on....well, I finally finished them! Yay me! Right? Nope. I left them draped over a chair and went to take a shower. A few minutes later I returned to find Delaney surrounded by rags that looked a whole lot like my dresses. Seems like maybe the girls decided to let Delaney play with their school scissors while I was taking my shower.
Honestly, be glad you weren't here when I saw them. I broke out the UGLY CRY!
I'm talking about an all-out, full blown sob-fest. Our yearly family Spring pictures are scheduled for Tuesday and those dresses were what they were wearing:(

Long story short, guess what I'll be doing ALL WEEKEND LONG? If you guessed that I'll be sewing 3 little dresses all over again......you are correct.

Hope your Saturday is better than mine:)

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for:


-The chance we had to run away last weekend....an entire weekend AWAY from McNabb Land with just the 5 of us. It was peaceful and fun.

-Nap time. Delaney is super cranky today and I'm so glad that she is taking a nap. The constant high pitched wail was starting to be painful to my ears. (wasn't doing much for my sanity either!)

-No one was hurt this week when a car ran thru the side of the building at Delaney's school. The Henry Center is a school/daycare for special needs children and the car went airborne before landing INSIDE the classroom. There were at least 10 kids in the room taking a nap at the time. I am so glad that the teacher heard the noise outside and was able to move the kids-just in time.

-That Delaney WAS NOT inside that building when the car slammed thru the wall. It was not one of the regularly scheduled therapy days with the Henry Center. She was in therapy at Blount Memorial instead.

-Occupational therapy. Delaney is getting so much help from her therapist and I am starting to see some changes in the way she enjoys playing. Her sensory issues still have a long way to go, but her motor skills are rapidly improving. She's meeting so many goals alot faster than we anticipated.

-Speech. I'm almost positive that Delaney is trying to say I love you back to me when I say it to her now. She also is pointing to me and saying "momma" and then pointing at herself and saying "me".....she'll go back and forth with that several times and I never get tired of hearing it. She also runs to the door to greet one of us. She'll throw her arms around Bobby's leg and yell "daaaaaaaah-eeeeee"

-income. Bobby has been working full time (and a little overtime!) for 2 weeks now and I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to not have as much stress over income (or lack of income!)

-good dental care! My mouth is feeling 100% better now. The only thing that hurts now is my jaw when I talk too much (ha!) and when I chew up food that's not so soft.

-good health. Right now, we are all healthy. Yay!

-great friends. I have some super awesome friends (in real life and online!) and I am so happy to have them in my life!

What are you thankful for?

Wordless Wednesday

It Came! It Came!

Look what came in the mail.....

It's the Lisa Leonard necklace that I won over at Mimi's blog! Let's open up the box and have a look at it.....
The winner of the contest was allowed to selected any one piece of jewelry from Lisa's shop. I studied her shop for DAYS wanting to be sure that I selected the perfect piece. She had so many beautiful pieces to choose from. The one that stood out the most for me was Heartstrings. What do you think? I think I'm in love!

I've gotta tell you that Lisa is a sweetheart to work with. We emailed back and forth several times to make sure that my order was placed correctly and that the spelling was right. She was super friendly and even upgraded my prize a little so that I could add the pearl and have a longer chain. Plus, shipping was also included. Once we finally placed my order, I was told to allow 2-3 weeks for it to be custom made and shipped, but I got this necklace in just one week. I was thrilled to find it in the mail so quickly. I've already started picking out a bracelet from her shop to add to my wish list for my birthday:)

On a side note: Thank you again to anyone that donated to Destiny's fundraiser. The last of the money was collected and turned in yesterday.

Some New Pictures

Destiny's Jump Rope For Heart fundraiser for the American Heart Association ends tomorrow. She set a goal of raising $100, but hasn't quite met that goal:( If anyone else wishes to donate or learn about the cause you can visit her site HERE. We've also been collecting locally (in cash or check form) and she's raised a total of $75 between what we have and what has been donated online. We're almost there! Hopefully, by tomorrow, she'll have reached her goal:)

I got out my camera and finally got some pictures of all 3 of my girls. Just thought you all might like to see some new pictures.

Of course, I had to throw in one of my little Sugar!

Finally! Some New Pictures

I'm feeling a little better now. My jaw is really the only thing that bothers me now. I'm still having problems with chewing....it hurts! At least I'm making progress with the healing:)

I've been super busy (what's new, huh?) and just realized that it's been a long time since I posted any pictures on here. My older girls are a little harder to track down these days. They have grown tired (WHAT!) of me constantly sticking my camera in their faces. Delaney is still a somewhat willing participant, so I captured her doing some therapy. Seems we spend an awful lot of time doing therapy these days. I figure, you might as well see her doing what she loves best. Sorry these were taken with my phone!

Here she is with Tina, her Occupational therapist. She loves to play with Tina. They are reading a book in this picture. Tina will hold Delaney's hand and help her open and close her fingers to turn the pages and feel of the different textures on each page.
In this one, Tina has Laney sitting on a seat that spins around. She is trying to encourage Delaney to turn herself around to play with the toy. Delaney doesn't like anything that moves.
In this one, Delaney and Tina are sitting on a ball in front of a mirror. She will slowly bounce Delaney around while allowing Delaney to make faces at herself in the mirror. She's hoping to encourage Delaney to enjoy various forms of play.
This is Delaney with her speech pathologist, Victoria. This is the only picture that I have from speech because Delaney usually won't let Victoria close enough to touch her. After more than a year, she still doesn't really seem to like meeting with Victoria.

Delaney is making improvement during therapy. She's learning alot and is able to do more than she was able to do before starting therapy. I am so glad the she's had the opportunity to
get the extra help she needs. Tina set some new goals for Laney today. She pointed out to me that Delaney would rather sit in a chair with a book than to get down on the floor with toys. She doesn't hop around or run and jump like you would expect a 2 year old to do. She also doesn't roll around or try to act real silly. She's such a serious little thing! Tina wants us to try to encourage her to step outside her comfort zone and try new ways to play. She's hoping that if we show her that doing some of those things will be fun maybe she will decide to do those things on her own.

Also, in speech today, Laney said some new words for the first time ever: car(she said that one pretty plainly!), please (sounded like peeze!), cow (caw!), moo(said caw moo, caw moo!), quack (asked her what the duck says, she answered ack ack!). Now the words weren't perfectly pronounced, but she said them clearly enough to where we got what she was trying to say. I was over-the-moon. I am one proud momma!

Anyway......there's a little update on Delaney. I will try to post some pictures of my big girls soon. I also need to take some pictures of their room since we repaired all of the damage. Then, there's the new dresses that I've made them. I need to take pictures of those too. Maybe I'll wait to show you the new dresses until they wear them.

Smiles to you all:)

So Goes The Life Of A Mommy

That idea I had of just sleeping 'til the pain went away? Didn't happen. I laid around until the kids came home from school on Thursday, but then it was time to get up and move around.

I think, in the past, I may have painted a picture of bliss here in McNabb Land. I may have led you to believe that we live in the kind of bliss where my girls are best friends and always get along, my husband is super helpful, and my Laneybug is the perfect angel. Ha!

My girls have usually started fighting before they've even walked in the door after school. With a 9 year old know-it-all and a 6 year old whiner, life is rarely peaceful here after 3 o'clock. Don't get me wrong. I have good kids. For the most part. But man, they like to fight. Alot. I can often be heard (I'm talking daily here!) saying:

"don't hit her!"

"use your words, not your fists!"

"keep your tongue in your mouth!"

"she wouldn't bite you if you'd leave her alone!"

"do NOT choke the dog!"

"turn loose of her hair!"

"stop licking her food!"

"WHY did you kick her?"

"I don't CARE who started it, I'm stopping it.... NOW!"

"don't sit on your sister's head!"

"let go of her neck, you're gonna kill her!"

"take the pillow off of her face and help her up....NOW!"

"stop crying! WHY are you crying? Well, someone looking at you isn't a valid reason to start crying!"

"why did you hit her?"

"no, you can't move out or run away from home! If I gotta be here, so do you!"

"put the phone down! it is not a weapon!"

"no, you can not change clothes AGAIN! When you start doing the laundry, THEN you can wear 3 outfits everyday. This is NOT the Oscars or the Emmy's and you do NOT need a wardrobe change!"


While I am playing referee, someone (not to name names-Bobby!) retreats to the garage so fast it'll give you whiplash. There I am, left "holding the bag" while he goes off to play with his car. Men! Not that I'm trying to imply that he's a total waste of space. Don't get me wrong. He's an awesome father and husband. He just lacks patience when it comes to the fussing and has this habit to "cut and run" when things get loud around here. So goes the life of a mommy, I suppose.
But there you have it, a brief look into the daily goings on here in McNabb Land.

My jaw is SO sore today. The surgeon was really awesome and I don't have any pain from HIS actual tooth extraction site. The stitches are a little annoying and tender, but I guess that's to be expected with stitches. For those of you curious about what he did during the surgery, here's a brief rundown. My jaw was infected from when the last dentist got hold of me. He had to cut my gum line (at the bottom extraction site) and drain the infection. He then stitched that area before cutting my top tooth out and stitching up that area. He informed me that I have a mouth full of stitches now and will need to come back so that he can make sure that my fractured jaw is healing like it now should. I will probably continue to have pain for awhile longer, but it won't be anything as near as bad as what it was. Praise God! This is almost over finally!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go grab a whistle and get back to refereeing these kids! Hugs to you all:)

After Surgery

Surgery over. Mouth swollen. Hurts to talk. Tooth is gone now. Saying I feel like dying is an understatement. Still numb, but not numb enough. Jaw hurts, but will start to heal now. Infection still present where other tooth used to be (the one that fractured my jaw as it was pulled) Site where other teeth were removed last week opened back up. Feels like lots of stitches were used. So much blood. Ruined my shirt. Hoping my pain meds will be ready soon. Starting to hurt. Surgeon did much better with this than dentist did last week. Helps that I was knocked out though, I think. Very kind and christian surgeon. Comforting. Held my hand and prayed over me/with me before starting surgery. Gave me a BIG discount. Said nicely, this WAS caused by previous dental screw-up. Never going to see that other dentist ever again. This all could have been avoided. But not bitter. Just grateful to have found a good surgeon to fix it for me. Praising God that the pain will come to an end. Ready to finally be able to eat REAL FOOD/not soup. Glory given to God for leading me to the oral surgeon I met today. There are good God loving people in this world. Compassionate and caring. Feels like I met an angel today. And no, that's not the pain meds talking. Anesthesia made me sick. Going to sleep until I don't hurt anymore.

Stuff

If you haven't visited Destiny's Jump Rope For Heart website, please take the time to stop by and check it out. She's very excited about taking donations and jumping rope. This is Destiny's first time participating in the American Heart Association's Jump For Heart fundraiser. If you want to, pass the link along to your family and friends. The more money we collect-the more lives we can save! Be a heart hero today:) No donation amount is too small. All you have to do is click on the link!

Delaney's fever was up and down yesterday. She wasn't acting like anything else was bothering her, so I'm not sure what's up with the fever. It spiked again last night and I had to give her tylenol at around 4 this morning too. Her fever broke for a long time yesterday and we did get to go to therapy. She had Speech and OT. (I tell you, she is doing so good with her therapy. She's learned TONS of sign language in Speech and is starting to make some progress with using sounds. We've not really gotten any new words in a while, but the words that she was already saying are getting a little easier to understand!) When we returned home from therapy, she took a super long nap and her fever went up again. I think we will just cancel everything for today and stay home so that she can rest and feel better.
My dental surgery is tomorrow and I'm starting to get a little scared. Especially considering the pain I've been in since my last dentist visit! I don't think I'll ever be able to get comfortable about going in for dental work again. Dentist=pain. If you think about it, will you pray for me tomorrow?

Jump Rope For Heart

Destiny is taking part in an event for the American Heart Association thru her school. Promoting heart health is very important to our family. As some of you may know, Destiny's daddy (my husband Bobby) has ventricular tachycardia and has had heart surgery in the past. He has been taking medication for his heart since he was a toddler. He also lost a sister at 6 months of age to congestive heart failure. I don't believe I've ever shared this on my blog, but Destiny was placed on a heart monitor when she was only 2 months old due to tachycardic activity with her heart and remained on the monitor until she was 3. We have been fortunate with Paisley, as she has never had any need for heart monitoring. Our sweet Delaney has TWO heart murmurs and was diagnosed with a mild supra-ventricular tachycardia just over a month ago. She is currently being monitored at night and during naps. She started taking a low dose of her medication, Digoxin, just recently and so far, it's made a world of difference for her. As you can guess, we have a strong history of heart illness in both sides of the family. This cause is very dear to us and we would be very happy if you could take the time to visit Destiny's website and help support her in this cause.

A message from Destiny's American Heart Association website:
I am doing Jump Rope For Heart to help the American Heart Association save lives. Jump Rope For Heart helps kids be healthy by teaching us about our hearts and how to take care of them. It also raises money to help people with special hearts.

Some kids have special hearts - and need our help! The money I raise will help pay for education and for new medicines and treatments to be discovered. It could help cure heart disease - for everybody!

You can help too! Will you make a donation? It's fast and easy to do on my personal Web page! Just use any link on this post or click one of the links below. I don't care how much or how little you can donate. No amount is too small. I just want to help save lives so kids like me have a chance to grow up.

click here to go to Destiny's site and make a small donation. Any amount would be appreciated!
To make a donation online, visit my personal page. While there you can also meet some of the kids we can help! Thank you for helping me save lives!

Special Notes :
*All donations are tax deductible.
*You can learn more about Jump Rope For Heart, kids and cardiovascular disease and kids’ health by visiting americanheart.org/jump.

I Overslept

I woke up to the alarm blaring in my ear and a feeling of panic in my chest. Oh no! I overslept! I think I was running thru the house before my feet actually even hit the floor, waking the girls and throwing school clothing at them while I scrambled to put together some decent lunches. I hurried to pack their backpacks and searched for that library book that I KNOW was laying in the table just last night. Breathing a sigh of relief, I ushered the out the door...just in time. Their breakfast this morning? SunnyD and Ruffles. Lol. At least they got to eat SOMETHING, right?
I hate oversleeping. Even if it was only 15 minutes over. Messes up my whole schedule.

I guess the girls weren't suffering from school-itis yesterday. I'm pretty sure that's not contagious. They didn't seem to feel too horrible as they were playing ALL DAY yesterday and the fevers were gone before lunch time. However, Delaney was up half the night with a fever and some crankiness. Her skin was hot to touch and she was shivering. I dosed her with tylenol and just held her in my arms while she tried to get comfortable enough to sleep again. Sometime around 5am I must have dozed off. Yawn. I'm sleepy this morning, but there's so much to be done. If I can break her fever, she has therapy today. If the fever persists, I guess we'll just skip therapy, but there's still all the other things that need to be done. I'll probably try to take a nap today-if she naps. I hope she naps.

Thursday Is The Day:)

I spent the remainder of the weekend mulling over the loan offer from my FIL. I've decided to accept his offer to loan us the money. If he can justify keeping it a secret from his wife then I guess I will just go along with it. He's the one that will have to deal with the repercussions, should she find out. I did tell him that it made me uncomfortable and I feel like it is being dishonest. If she was to come right out and ask me if he loaned usthe money, I won't lie to her. He understands my need to be honest and he has agreed that if she straight up asks I can tell her the truth. That made the decision easier for me to make. I can't intentionally lie to someone. I want to set a good example for my girls. How can I teach them honesty if they witness me practicing dishonesty?

I called another Oral Surgeon this morning and spoke with the office manager. Their office was closed when I tried to call on Friday so I had made a note to call back on Monday. I explained to her about my lack of insurance and told her that my mouth has been hurting for almost 2 weeks now. I told her about my other 2 dental appointments, my 3 extractions last week, and my fractured jaw. I told her that I was dealing with constant pain and could eat very little, mainly soup. I cry constantly and can't sleep. I scheduled an appointment for this Thursday, March 11 at 9:55. It was originally planned to be a consult appointment. I was going to go ahead and get that out of the way so that when I come up with the rest of the money that I need I will be able to schedule for the surgery. After hanging up the phone, I said a silent thank you to God for getting me this far. Just last week, coming up with that much money seemed like an impossible goal. Not even a week later, here I am taking the first steps toward getting my surgery done. Fifteen minutes later, that same office manager called me back. She had spoken with the surgeon and told him about my situation. He has agreed to see me on Thursday and will not only do my consult, but is going to do the surgery for me the same day! They usually have a stict policy of only taking full payments, but he has decided to make an exception for me. He said that 2 weeks was a long time to have that kind of pain and that he didn't see any reason to prolong it just because I was missing a couple hundred dollars for payment. I can pay them the $400 that I have and they will work with me on the balance. Praise God! There is an end in sight:) I am so happy!

On a different subject, my big girls are home with me today. They were feeling a little yucky this morning. Both were a little warm with a low grade fever and neither one of them looked like they were feeling well. I figured I better keep them home and let them rest a little today. I was just hoping they aren't trying to get a virus that's been going around the schools here. I wish I could say that they were actually resting, but I can't. Right now, they are playing in a tent we have set up in the living room. Delaney is tickled to have them home to play with. Funny thing is, the fevers are down and they are suddenly feeling just fine:) Come to think of it, I didn't even have to give them any tylenol or motrin. Maybe it was a mild case of school-itis? Ha! Hope it's just the 24 hour variety:)

Maybe Some Good News:)

I know I said that last night's post would be my last one about my mouth. I didn't want to bore you with my lack of information. I will keep updating you about any progress I make towards getting my mouth taken care of. Today, I've made progress:) Wendy emailed me about a program called Dentistry From The Heart. That's an awesome program that provides dental care to those in need. They hold events in different areas all over the map. I checked into it and they don't have any events scheduled in or around our area in the near or distant future. They did have events in Tennessee last October and December though, so they do have events in my state from time to time. So far, they don't have anything scheduled in TN for 2010. State aid, or TennCare as it's called here, will pay for dental visits for people 21 and younger, but I don't meet that requirement:( But like I said, I have made progress this morning! My father-in-law sold his tractor last week and called me this morning with the offer of a loan. He is going to loan us $400. He said that he wishes he could loan more, but that is all that he can spare right now. I am just thrilled that he can loan us anything at all. I know he sold his tractor so that he could pay off some of his smaller bills. The only catch to borrowing from him is that I can't tell my mother-in-law that he loaned it to us. She would be angry because she doesn't really like me and would not approve of him helping me. I feel bad about being dishonest to her. I do not like to be dishonest and I feel like keeping that info from her would just give her another reason to dislike me. I don't know what to do about that, but I do really need that loan and by taking that money I would only need to come up with $270 more. That will be it. Just $270 more and I can be rid of this horrible toothache! Friends, what should I do? I just hate the thought of being dishonest to her. My FIL said that we have to keep it from her or he can't give us the loan. I'm sure she wouldn't just come out and ask us about it, but I think a lie by omission is still a lie. I try to have good morals:) It hurts me that she would prefer for me to suffer just because she doesn't like me. I couldn't wish pain on anyone. I know I would help her if she needed it. Should I accept the loan? Would that make me a terrible person. When I try to rationalize taking the money it doesn't feel wrong to me. Does that make me sound awful? The tractor belonged to my FIL and he paid for it with his own money. She never paid anything on it, so he says that the money he made selling it is his money to do with as he sees fit. He just doesn't want her mad at him for loaning it to us. In my house, we don't have HIS/HER money. It's always been OUR money. Give me your opinions please. I really want to borrow the money from him. I just don't know what to do.

In other news:
You know that giveaway I blogged about yesterday? The one over at Mimi's? Gues who won? ME that's who! I am so excited! I get a piece made by Lisa Leonard!!!!!

Last Post About My Mouth:)

I spent such a long time on the phone after leaving my dentist. I've called every dentist/oral surgeon within reasonable drive. No luck. Some places charge more, some around that same price, and one wanted me to come in for a consult before they could even quote a price. Not that I have a problem going to a consult, but they refused to accept the x-rays I have already paid for and said that I would need to pay for them to take their own set of x-rays. My line of thinking is that if they want to charge me for x-rays that I already had taken, they probably aren't going to be any cheaper than any of the prices I've already been quoted. Not to mention the fact that the consult fee was $90. I don't want to waste money paying a dentist to take x-rays so that he can tell me what I already know. The tooth needs to come out. Duh! I know that already.
I called M.C.D.S. (the health dept. dental clinic) to ask them about a program that helps pay for dental work, but apparently they only help with adults under the age of 21 or children. I called D.C.E.A. (a program that offers a variety of services to low-income families in our area) to see if they have a program or knew of a program that would assist me in getting the much needed dental work done. I also asked if they could point me in the right direction of a clinic that would be willing to work with me on making payments. No luck there either. The D.C.E.A. is out of funding for our area. They have so many that need assistance with electricity, food, clothing, shelter, and other much more important things than dental surgery. They actually are having to turn some of those people down before they even apply. I wanted to cry for those people that are being denied help. My toothache pales in comparison to losing a rental home or not having food to feed my family. I immediately said a prayer for those that are being denied the help that they need. Will you pray for them too?
I was starting to get a stress headache so I put the phone book down and stepped away from the phone for a while. I know that there's got to be a solution for me somewhere. I just have to think a little more, try a little harder. I would try expanding my search area, but I can't go to another place that is too far way. I'm willing to make the longer drive if I can just find a place that will work with me, but I will probably have to have someone else drive me home and I'm not sure I can find someone willing to drive a terribly long distance. I've checked every number listed between Chattanooga and Knoxville. The cheapest place I've found (so far) is still the place that my dentist referred me to. If only they would make payment plans with me! I also tried calling a dental school (I believe it was Kate who suggested that....thanks Kate for trying to offer a suggestion!) The person that I spoke with practically laughed at me. She said if it was that easy to get dental work done at a low cost then everyone would be trying to doing it. She said that they don't do that. The "dentists in training" get their course hours completed at a dental practice while studying under "seasoned" dentists. The are sent to work with a dentist in that dentist's office. The cost of a particular procedure is based on what that office would charge in their practice. Those students get to help with simple extactions, cleanings, and fillings. She acted like I was nuts for even considering letting a student practice oral surgery on me:( I haven't had any luck finding a teaching hospital that offers that option. My case is complicated by the danger of tearing my sinus during extraction, so I'm not too sure about letting a dental college get ahold of me. I've been praying about everything. That's always the first thing I do when I am feeling discouraged or lost or just looking for guidance. I know that there is a solution out there. I just haven't found it yet. That doesn't mean that I'm giving up though. I'll just have to keep praying and making those calls. With the economy being what it is these days, I doubt that I am going to be able to find an office that will offer payment plans without the use of a credit card. That's the brick wall that I keep hitting. The places that are willing to work with payments want a valid credit card number on file so that they can deduct the payments automatically. I don't use credit cards....don't even have one. I know that my mouth hurts really bad and it's not a very comfortable situation to be in, but at this point, I really just have to deal with it until I can get it fixed. I'm not going to blog about it anymore because I'm sure that it's a boring topic to have to constantly read about. But I'll let you know when I get this problem all figured out:) I have faith it'll all turn out in the end.

Giveaway Going On At Mimi's!!!!!

Mimi over at He & Me+3 is hosting a Lisa Leonard giveaway today for her Free 4 All Fridays giveaway. Head over to her blog and enter. You can win one of Lisa's awesome jewelry pieces! Go sign up now! Telling her I sent ya won't score you any extra entries, but you can tell her anyway. You know, if ya wanna:)
If you haven't read Mim's blog-you're really missing out. She's awesome and a great photographer with three beautiful kids! You'll be hooked on her blog in no time:)

Home From The Dentist.....Again

I'm not really sure how to put any of my thoughts into words at this point. I can't really say that I'm angry at anyone. More so, maybe just the circumstances? I just don't know what to think or feel anymore. What I do know is that I went to the dentist on Monday to have 3 teeth removed. I spent money we didn't really have so that I could make sure that the pain I was having in my mouth would come to an end. He took x-rays and confirmed that those were the 3 that needed to come out. After having those 3 removed, I suddenly have a problem with yet another tooth. Broken, so it seems. Was it caused by the dentist? He says no. It seems that it was decaying and just happened to break after he removed the other teeth. Is he responsible for repairing it? He says no. I'm not angry with him. If he says this is not of his doing....well, I have no choice but to believe him. I can't prove that he damaged my tooth. Went to another dentist and he can't prove that it was caused by anything but decay. Suggested that perhaps that work I had done helped the problem along, but didn't necessarily cause the problem. I'm inclined to believe it. Not really any other choice at this point. The good news is: I didn't have to have it pulled today. The bad news? Well, that's the bad part. That's why it's called bad news though, right? Because if it was not bad they wouldn't call it bad news. My tooth can't be fixed. It needs to come out. It only has one root still intact. There's a massive hole in the side of it, just short of my gum line. It's causing extreme pain and will continue to do so until it is taken out. The worst part? My dentist can't do it at his office. The tooth is right over the place where my sinus' are. He's concerned that pulling that tooth could do damage to my sinus. He referred me to a specialist to have it removed. Someone that is more equipped to deal with a situation like that. Doesn't want to run the risk of tearing my sinus. I can appreciate that. Really. I don't want to do anything that will add risk to my comfort or well-being. The cost of this type of procedure? Might as well be a million dollars. Seriously. The consultation: $73. Cost of extraction: $248. Cost of sedation: $349. Total cost combined: $670! Small price to pay for no more pain (says the nurse on the other end of the phone when I called about pricing). Like I said, might as well be a million dollars. So I asked her if sedation was necessary. Innocent question, I thought. She countered with, "well, do you like pain?" Well, "no, m'am, I sure don't. That's why I'm calling. You know, to get rid of this awful tooth pain." Guess I answered my own question. Apparently, they like to sedate you when the cut your gums open and take a tooth out. Seems like a good idea to me. If you can afford it. I could just cry. Actually, I did cry. Still am, if truth be told. I am so mad. That's really all I feel right now. Anger. I just don't know why I'm so angry or even who I'm angry with. Myself maybe? Our financial situation? The specialist's office for not taking payments and wanting the bill paid in full at the time of service? All the other offices that I've called to get prices? They've all quoted the same prices, some actually higher. Guess I'll just learn to live with a toothache. Anyone want to buy a broken tooth? You pay to remove it and you can have it! (my attempt at humor....pitiful, I know)

Just Mad

I am so angry. The problem is, I don't know who or what to be angry at. A few hours after I published my last post I went to brush my teeth. I brush my teeth ALOT. Call it an obsession if you want. Well, I was brushing my teeth, still in agony over my jaw and the holes where my teeth once lived. As I was brushing the top/back teeth (next to where my top wisdom tooth once lived) I felt a bit of pain. When I went to spit, well, I spit out little pieces of tooth. My back tooth just crumbled and broke. I took a look and sure enough, there's a hole in the side of my tooth. My tooth that looked healthy before I went to see the dentist on Monday. What happened? I haven't got a clue! Did the dentist slip with his drill? Did he damage my tooth and neglect to tell me? Is this something that I did wrong? I don't know the answers to anything. I called the dentist and he told me to come in tomorrow at 10 and he'll take a look. It will probably have to be pulled though. As if I don't already hurt enough! This is just great. Will you please pray that I am ok at the dentist tomorrow and that I don't lose anymore teeth than this one (and the ones I lost on Monday!) I am more angry over the cost that the pain. We spent our entire income tax return on fixing the damage from our roof. I had to take the money from my electric bill to pay the dentist on Monday. I don't even have the money to pay another big fee at the dentist (let alone my light bill now). Please pray that things will work out for us. I just feel so angry!

Cry-Baby

My mouth hurts. It hurts really bad. I'm not usually a whiner when it comes to not feeling well or being in pain. Whining really won't solve anything and it sure won't make you feel better. The last two days though, yeah, I've been whining. ALOT. It hurts. Really hurts. I mean, I'd totally rather have all of my natural childbirthing experiences all over again than have to deal with how much pain I am in with my mouth. No, I'm not even joking. I really would rather give birth than hurt like this. At least with childbirth you can know that the pain isn't going to last much longer. Plus, you get a baby when it's all over with. With this though? No baby, just a dental bill and some missing teeth (and in my case, a broken jaw.) Not nearly as exciting as a baby. I've cried alot the last few days, mostly because of the pain,and partly because I love to talk-and talking is hard right now. Like really hard. It's nearly impossible to talk without moving your jaw. I think my jaw is what is causing most of my pain at this point. The pain was tolerable on Monday at least. That is, until the last little bit of numbness wore off. Then it was BAD. Tuesday wasn't any better. Today? My face is swollen and REALLY bruised. I can't eat, I can't sleep, and the pain pills aren't really doing anything for me. I've actually been whimpering for the last hour just because I can. Yeah, I'm whining. My girls think I've gone crazy. Laney has now started whimpering right along with me. She thinks it's a game:) Paisley calls me cry-baby. (which I think is mean and ugly and it hurts my feelings!) I would never call her that, but I know she's only six and she has probably heard other kids say that.
This too shall pass......

Oh yeah, and I just wanna say, for the record, I'm sick of soup!

Home From The Dentist

I'm home from the dentist. Thank you all for keeping me in your prayers over the last week. I really felt a calm sense of peace pass over me this morning. I was going to try to post an update a little earlier than this, but to be honest, I've just been hurting alot more than I expected and I've been laying down with a blanket over my head since I came home.
My dentist decided to try and just pull my teeth today. He said there really didn't seem to be a reason to cut them out. Apparently, it's cheaper to pull teeth than it is to cut them out. since I don't have insurance, I was all for saving some money. He didn't have any problem pulling the top/left wisdom tooth. I was numb and didn't feel a thing. He moved on to pull the bottom/left tooth. Not the wisdom tooth, just the one directly beside of it. He said it would be easier to get to the bottom wisdom tooth after that tooth beside it was removed. It came out without a problem and so I relaxed completely before he moved on to pull the bottom/left wisdom tooth. He told me that it's trickier to pull wisdom teeth on the bottom and that he needed me to stay really still and just relax. I tried my best. Unfortunately, that last tooth was still a little infected (absessed) and the numbness wasn't as good in that area. He started to pull and I felt my jaw jerk in pain. I was as still as I could possibly be, but that tooth was being stubborn. I felt the tooth shatter and heard the dentist mutter in frustration. Little bits of tooth went everywhere. My gag relex set in and saved me from swallowing the majority of the fragments. He informed me that the tooth had indeed shattered and that it would complicate things. He still had to attempt to remove the remaining pieces of tooth and root from my gums. I felt my jawbone break as he fractured my cortical plate in my jawbone. Yep, he broke my jaw. I could be heard screaming out in the waiting room. It hurt. He tried drilling or grinding the other parts of the tooth out, but in the end he did have to cut the rest of the tooth out. I've been bleeding quite a bit, as I am a pretty good bleeder. I've been in alot of pain since then and sick to my stomach. The taste of blood mixed with the little tooth fragments that I managed to swallow and the emptiness in my stomach has caused me to feel really yucky and I've thrown up several times (I'll spare you the details!) I'm so glad that it's all over and done, but I really wish that it hadn't hurt so much and that my jaw wasn't fractured in the process. At least I won't have to worry about the infection anymore and the pain will end eventually.
Again, thank you all for praying and for all the words of encouragement you offered me this past week:) ((Hugs to you all!!))