Boobs, Teeth, and some Cool Kids

My last post...of my 40th year. In two days I'll be 41 and I kind of doubt I'll be inspired to post again before then, so this is it! 41...what a blah number...nothing exciting there, that's for sure!

I saw my surgeon this week for a follow-up visit. Of course, he had to have an intern with him, so I got to show off my goodies to two men, instead of just one! My dr. said called my nodule "pre-cancerous." Isn't that the same thing as "benign"? But it sounds a lot worse. It's like referring to bread as "pre-moldy" or a middle-aged person as "pre-elderly." He also said that the nodule was inflamed, so he was glad he took it out. I wonder if that's why it was so sensitive. I have to go back for another mammogram in 6 months, but other than that, we're done with this thing. Just in the last couple of days, I have turned the corner on my healing, I think. My breast is not quite so colorful anymore and definitely not as sore. I still can't tolerate a regular bra for very long and I'll be glad when I can. These sports bras I've been sporting for the past two weeks really do not do much for my figure! I need my Victoria's Secret!

Oh, and on the health front....this was definitely not part of the plan. Sunday, while chewing gum in church, my crown fell out! This crown is kind of near the front. I call it a fake tooth because that is what it is. The summer I was pg with Sam I was eating a hamburger and all of a sudden, the tooth sheared off. I probably had a filling in there that split it. It wasn't a molar, so there wasn't much left. I remember that we spent over $1000 getting that crown put in. So, I figured I just needed to have the thing glued back in and went to the dentist on Tues. No such luck. There is nothing left to attach the post to. I either have to have a bridge or a surgical implant. We decided to go with the bridge because it's cheaper - $1500 after insurance compared to $3600. The drawback is that it is less of a permanent solution. It may need to be replaced in 10-15 years. But, as I told Paul, I may be dead or raptured in 10-15 years. Or it may last longer. Even if I have to have it done again, I still haven't spent $3600. I'm not crazy about the idea of them having to reshape the two teeth on either side of the gap because they are perfectly good teeth and it seems a shame to mess with them. But, oh well. The nice thing is that I may have my bridge in 2 weeks time. The surgical option would be a 9 month thing - 9 months of not being able to smile too widely.

Of course, the biggest concern is money. We do have our flex spending amount, but we had planned to use that for my surgery. However, if we pay cash up front for this dental procedure they will take 10% off the bill. That's a considerable savings. So I think we're going to pay for the teeth with that and hopefully work out some sort of payment arrangement with the surgeon and doctor's offices. As I told Paul, the worst they can do is sue us. I don't think he found that to be all that comforting.

I had the privilige of meeting one of Ben's classmates on Wed. He is a special needs student, but he functions at a higher level than Ben and attends regular classes with the kids, without an aide. Adjustments are just made for his schoolwork and I know he takes tests orally. Well, I sat down in the wings prior to Wednesday's performance and Jonathan, the classmate, asked me if I was Ben's mom. It turned out that he is quite the chatty young man. I found him utterly delightful! He's obviously not functioning at a normal 8th grade level, but it doesn't matter. He and Ben are only 6 months apart in age. I think it would be neat if they could become friends - if Ben cared about having friends, that is! Jonathan was telling me all about his life and he commented that his dad lives in Florida, but "he didn't want me." My heart about broke when he said that, just so matter-of-factly. I said the first thing that popped into my mind, which was, "That's only because he doesn't know how wonderful you are, Jonathan." You know, it had never occurred to me until then just how fortunate Ben really is to have two loving, invested, and involved parents. I'm not saying that to congratulate myself for being such a wonderful human! It's just something I've always taken for granted - you have a child, of course you stick around around to raise it and you raise it to the very best of your ability, giving sacrificially of all that you have. But not all parents are like that. Jonathan told me about his mother and honestly, she sounds like a real flake. Grandma is raising Jonathan and his younger brother who is also on the autism spectrum, only much more severely. I have no doubt that those with disabilities have harder lives. But how much harder are they when they also have to deal with the reality that their own parents couldn't be bothered to raise them? Makes me so sad!

We've been in shorts and t-shirts all week long - the "warmest March on record" I heard the weatherman saying this morning. I had to hurry up and get the boys' clothes out and sorted when I realized how warm it would be this week. One day, earlier this week, I dressed Sam for the day. I put Tigger overalls on him - very cute, very appropriate for a 4 yr old. Sam looked down over his outfit, then slowly raised his eyes to me and slowly and deliberately declared, "I hate these clothes!" Well, then! Later, he came downstairs dressed in a shiny, slick, basketball outfit of a matching tank top and shorts. I wonder if he is so picky about his clothes because of his older brothers or because of his personality? I remember distinctly that I was laying out Will's clothes every day until he was around 11. Then he decided that he didn't need my help. It's only been in the last year that he has told me he is more than capable of dressing himself on Sundays! I still pick out all Ben's things. David has always been pickier and from an earlier age, but I don't think it was evident at 4. It's sad, though, because Sam has so many cute things and I would love to see him in them! I'm pretty sure that I've moaned about this more than once on my blog, now that I think about it...

Oh, something interesting before I go...I've been reading nothing but Karen Kingsbury for the past few weeks. I read her "R" series of books and now I'm on the next, continuing series, the "F" ones. That's not what she calls them, but each book in each series starts with that particular letter. Anyway, in the R series, one of the characters experiences a uterine rupture. I thought that was so cool! Well, not really, but cool that she was aware enough of things like that to write about it. I think knowledge of ruptures has become more common, but there's still not a wide store of information out there. I know when Ben was little and I mentioned that I had ruptured, people usually gave me quizzical looks. Nurses tended to gasp. Now, I think the public is a little more informed. In the story, the character experiences a spontaneous rupture 3 weeks before her due date and begins to gush blood all over the kitchen floor. Fortunately for her, the baby ends up pressing against the tear which prevents the mother and baby from dying before an emergency hysterectomy happens. I know that 16 years ago when I was pg with Ben the only time I had heard the word, "rupture" was when my ob casually tossed out the possibility when we were discussing the fact that I would like to have a VBAC with this delivery. Of course, she then added, "But that's a one-in-a-million chance!" Yes, well...

Well, I am caught up. This next week promises to be a little easier. I have some projects I need to complete (like figuring out just exactly what it is I'm going to be attempting to teach at the workshop next Sat!) but I have very few places I have to run around to. I'll be home more - and I intend to enjoy it! It's spring break week and it's going to be a true spring (summer?) break!