The problem rears it's ugly head:
Last time I wrote I told you my MIL was coming to visit and I was trying to get the house clean. Well, I did finally manage to get inspired enough to get my unmanageable house manageable enough to let someone in for a visit. However, while preparing for Grandma's stay Emily began having tooth aches and running a grand fever of 103. Of course this started on a Friday night because you never fall ill on a Monday morning when it is nice an easy to pick up a phone and make an appointment. So, we went through the weekend with cool baths, mouth rinses, gum number and fever medications. (Read little to no sleep for mom and child here.) Much to my relief Monday did finally come but they couldn't see her until Tuesday. (Read another night without sleep here.)

( Brandon is a side note here. Monday I did manage to get his new Social Security card with his bran spanking new last name on it. Now I just got to get his birth certificate changed and he is all set up. All his legal documents will call Cecil his Daddy. Yeah! )

The dentist appointment:
That Tuesday was Emily's first ever dentist visit. Honestly, I had put it off hoping her bad baby teeth would fall out before they were a true problem. She has always hated doctors and has to be held down by multiple people to get a shot. Plus, poor Brandon had a very traumatic dentist appointment at what was supposed to be a great dentist's office that I guess scarred me as much as him. So, I picked one of if not the best pediatric dentist in the near by larger town and convinced her this was going to be like going to Kid's Zone. When we got there I discovered it nearly was a trip to Kid's Zone. It was a very kid friendly atmosphere with toys and video games in the waiting rooms, great friendly and playful staff, awards for good behavior and TVs with headsets playing kid's movies above every exam table.

The diagnosis:
Her x-ray's did show that her 4 bottom front teeth do have the adult teeth under them about to come up. So she should be losing them soon. All other teeth in her mouth need work to be done to them. As they began telling all that would have to been done I sat nodding, clear up infection "yes please do that", extract these molars "yes, I see that needs to be done", resin composite fillings for cavities that can be seen "yes, I hate those ugly silver caps and crowns", have to put silver crowns here because these are weight baring teeth "yes, well that makes sense", this kind of extensive dental work would be too traumatic and take months of dentist visits to do in office we would only do this kind of work under general anesthesia that way it can be done all at once and she won't even remember it being done "OH praise the Lord! YES! Do that." See I want the best for my daughter and I should have gotten her in sooner. So at this point I wanted to make sure every little thing she needed to get done was done. Plus, that is why you pay out the rear for insurance right?

The Bill:
From here the news goes sooooo down hill right to spiraling out of control. Then the shuffle us into a little office to go over billing and scheduling the surgery. Now my husband was on his way back from Oklahoma with his mom in the car when I call him to ask what on earth we are going to do. The bill was going to 4,183 for just the dentist, plus the hospital operating room (around 5,000), plus the anesthesiologist (350). Our dental insurance tops off at 1,000 and will not cover the work she needs for baby teeth (they only cover that for adult teeth)!! Finally after multiple calls to my husband who still in transit it was decided that we'd call them back to set up the surgery as soon as we figured out how to get the funds. I was still in shock when leaving and actually forgot to stop at the counter and pay my payment for that day's visit.

In the Mean Time:
The antibiotics didn't start to help for a few days. She seemed OK during the day but at night the tooth aches and fever would kick in. (Read little to no sleep for mom and child here.) I was thankful to have the prescription pain killer because children's Tylenol didn't touch her pain. Grandma got here Tuesday night to a very tired and stressed out family from the dentist visit and looming debt problem. Thankfully I had made a two week menu and had done the appropriate shopping before she got here so that took the stress out of figuring out what to cook for dinner each night. Cecil took the first week she was here off (even though he still worked from home on the computer as usual, but not nearly as much as he normally does). It was wonderful to have Grandma and Daddy here. I am blessed with one of those really agreeable non demanding mother in laws. So we had a really relaxed daily routine worked out. Coffee and breakfast and talking at the dining room table in the morning. Reading, a puzzle, a movie, sitting on the porch watching the weather, a little yard work or cleaning, may be a craft with the kids,or may be a nap in the afternoons. Then meet back in the kitchen to visit while cooking supper, eating and cleaning up afterwards in the evenings. Crawl in bed when we realized we'd stayed up too late and do it all again . While she was here I got to know her better and shared with her some of my favorite things most of which fell in the realm of food or beauty products. We also shot off a few fireworks before she left. We were hoping to have her here for the 4th but it didn't work out that way. Cecil's brother came to get her on Sunday night. The kids started missing her before they even left the drive way. We think she may come stay with us awhile again in Aug or Sept for the kid's birthdays.

The Solution:
After the initial shock of the huge bill that had to be paid upfront for Emily to get cared for wore off we started thinking of our options. Cecil had already taken out a loan on his 401 when we needed to get Brandon's room basically rebuilt a few years back and it still needs a year and half to be paid off. But he thought he could get a medical hardship withdrawal from it. So I called his Human Resources department at his job and began the work of trying to get that process started. After several phone calls, visits, and faxes between his work, the dentist office and myself it finally got worked out and Cecil went up to sign for the withdrawal from his 401. Here I owe a big thanks to the wonderful woman in his Human Resources department and the woman in the billing office of the dentist. They were both very kind and helpful. So, then we sat on pins and needles waiting to see if the request would be approved and a check sent. When the check finally made it in (on a Saturday evening so we had to wait until Monday to deposit) we called on Monday and asked them to schedule the surgery asap so our girlie could have this all behind her.

The New Problems:
As soon as I get off the phone requesting that they schedule ASAP Cecil calls to say that the bank put a hold on the 401 check because it was so large that we'll have to wait for around 5 days before we can have access to that money. GRRRRRRRRRR! Ok well no problem because soon after that the lady from the dentist office calls and says the insurance company medical department will not let her pre-certify Emily for surgery because they don't cover that procedure. GRRRRRRR! So I called the insurance company and after about an hour and half most of which was spent on hold and after telling the first three representatives that their answer was not good enough to please give me some one higher up I finally reached someone just under a manager that said her manager said, "Yes, for any child under the age of 7 oral surgery in a hospital is covered as long and a doctor says it is for health reasons." To which I said, " and your name, extension and rank are what and this conversation will be noted where?"

The Schedule:
We now have been able to schedule Emily's surgery. She has to have a physical on July 16 in order to have the surgery. Then if all goes well she will have surgery on July 19. She will have 6 teeth removed (4 front top teeth and 2 bottom very back molars), 7 composite resin fillings, and three children's root canals with stainless steel crowns. The four front teeth were a hard decision for us. One option was to have root canals and resin crowns put on them. The other option was to remove them. Our first instinct was the crowns but they are not covered by insurance and was going to cost us 800 out of pocket. Finally the dentist told us that these are teeth that would really only be there for 1 to 2 more years tops (if that long) before they came out to be replaced by adult teeth. Our decision was really did we want to spend that kind of money on teeth that may not be there soon. I feel bad that she'll have that gap for a while but it was what we finally settled on. This will be an out patient surgery at the hospital (not the dentist's office) with the hospital anesthesiologist (not a dentist tech) administering the anesthesia. Being at the hospital goes a long way in making me feel like she will be safe. It should take about an hour for the surgery and about an hour for recovery from anesthesia. They promise that baby teeth do not get dry socket when removed and that there will be almost instant difference in how she feels and eats.