The Tooth

On Sunday morning, the day after Halloween, Vilate woke up with a swollen cheek. Not just a little swollen, mind you, but it was massive. She looked on the left side as if she was Jay Leno with a square jaw and chubby cheeks. It was also pink, so we headed to Kaiser so the doctor could check it out. The doc said it was dental but an infection nonetheless. So they gave us some antibiotics and sent us on our way. ****side note: the doc we saw was my doc when I was a kid - she wasn't with Kaiser then****

We called a member of the Stake Presidency who is a dentist and he said we had done all we could for now and on Monday to call our dentist or him. I got Vilate a new dentist on Monday and we went in. They said it was a real emergency because it wasn't dental and under her chin was starting to swell. The dentist was concerned about her airway and the office staff spent 30 - 45 minutes trying to find us an oral surgeon because they were so concerned about the swelling spreading. Of course at 4:00 it's a little hard to get a same day appointment!!! We came home and I spent the next hour on the phone with the insurance company and an oral surgeon who could fit us in the next day.

So, Tuesday we go to the oral surgeon and they say it is the tooth and we don't need to be concerned about the airway it will be fine. Dumb dentist totally freaked me out for no reason!!!! Oh well. The surgeon says they have to pull the tooth but then the insurance company won't authorize treatment on the same day as a consultation. What?!?!?! The doc has Wednesday off so it looks like Thursday we are heading back. Then they tell me that the insurance won't cover the anesthesia for kids over 6 - Vilate is 7. So I have to pay $225 to get her to sleep - but if I don't I will regret it - Vilate is TERRIFIED of the dentist!! At least she got a note for missing school out of the gig - that was free!!

Thursday we went to the oral surgeon's office as scheduled and they went to look for a vein to put in the IV, but guess what, Vilate's veins are too small! Instead they used an oral cocktail to put her out-of-it. She wasn't sleeping, just dizzy and totally out-of-it. I waited in the lobby and then a few minutes later they came and got me. I spent the next 2.5 hours with Vilate in the room trying to wake up. She cried so much and was so uncomfortable it was ridiculous. Apparently the oral cocktail is harder to wake up from than the IV. No kidding. At one point Vilate was hallucinating that the blinds were attacking her. She was so scared of them. It was the one point of comic relief in the midst of this whole mess.

Now we are back to normal - well as normal as we can be. The swelling has gone, the toothfairy came, and we are finishing up our antibiotics. All is good.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. The kids dressed up on Thursday for their school party. They had a great time in the all school parade and I don't think that they even missed me! On Saturday Faith was invited to go to a friend's house for their festivities. We sure missed her. It's amazing that one child gone made the whole family seem so much smaller. We decided that next year she is required to stay with us...I know it won't last forever, but really I like having them all there!

Faith was the pirate chick; Hyrum and Vilate were wizards; Helaman was a scary scarecrow; Gloria a princess and Nephi was the jedi. Just a few sidenotes about their costumes:

The Jedi costume was made 6 or 7 years ago by my very talented sister-in-law, Robin. All three boys have worn it - Nephi has worn it twice. Gloria insisted on the Barbie costume. I warned her that she had to wear a shirt under it and that it would possibly be itchy - she hates itchy costumes. But we got it anyway, she put it on wore it for 30 minutes then decided it was too itchy - UGH!! I got a shirt for her to put on and her response to the brand new white long-sleeved t-shirt that I bought her was, "Barbie's don't wear those!" She was a real pain in the neck about it! We finally agreed to a short sleeved shirt and it even helped with the itching - imagine that: Mom knows what she's talking about!!!! Vilate and Hyrum were both wizards and were willing to wear costumes we already had if they could have wizard wands - $5 a piece and they were done!!! Helaman's costume was my favorite and, I think, the most creative. He had seen these scary scarecrows with pumpkin faces on Scooby Doo and thought they were cool. He determined that if was a scary scarecrow he could scare all the girls on the playground at school and they wouldn't chase him and try to kiss him - really they were kissing on the playground in Kindergarten! He loved being orange and having a scary painted face and he was convinced that his costume worked - I think the kissing stopping might have a little more to do with the principal coming in and mentioning that the next kissing culprits would have to visit her in her office - but what do I know?!?!?!

We went to Trunk-or-Treat at the church, the kids got loads of candy and then we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Morgans to show off our cool costumes! The best part of the night for me was the Big Hunk candy bars that Grandma and Grandpa had at their house. I had forgotten how wonderful they are! We saw lots of friends at the Trunk-or-Treat and had a great evening! I hope you all had a great Halloween!!!