Dentist & New Boots

I freely admit I have not taken Will to the dentist since he was 2. I just really didn't make it a priority because of all the other appointments and just "STUFF" Will has to do.

Well, I finally bit the bullet. And it was quite the bullet.

So to recap, Sunday - Tuesday we were in the hospital. Wednesday Will stayed at home most of the day, except for speech therapy and some school time. He ended up sleeping at nap time at school and then came home.

First official day of Pre-K. Not into smiling for the camera.

He is wearing a size 6/7 shorts; 48 pounds; 44 inches and size 10 shoes.

Thursday, I had long ago scheduled the Dentist and a fitting for new boots followed by a fun dinner in the Woodlands with family (where his orthotics place is located).

We also had two therapy appointments that were reschedules from the appointments we missed while in the hospital.

The dentist was quite possibly the most traumatic thing I have ever experienced with Will - and we have experienced A LOT. The dentist had everything possible that could distract a child, movies, toys and made the experience as kid friendly as possible. Will quickly saw through all the nonsense they were offering and realized what was going on. He doesn't even bother with accepting stickers anymore. It's like, pfftt, a sticker... please.

This poor guy - a dentist appointment after having just spent time in the hospital with way too much poking and prodding for his tastes. I probably should have rescheduled, but with his therapy schedule and me only taking the first apt of the day (to avoid children in the waiting room and the daily pile up of germs) it would have been months. The hygienist and I agreed to try and go as far as we could with getting his teeth cleaned. That meant me leaving the room because I knew he was using me as a scapegoat.

Watching and listening to him kick, scream and yell for me was impossible. All I could see where his little feet kicking up and down while they basically held him down. Yelling I need a break and them not understanding what he was saying. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

We didn't even get through the entire cleaning, which desperately needed to be done. We have to keep him healthy in all areas including teeth so we don't have to deal with invasive procedures such as cavity fillings. They wanted to sedate him, but that is not allowable with checking in with numerous docs.

I told Neil if I wasn't pregnant it would have been a white wine lunch. It was just too much, but necessary.

They hilarious part, thankfully there was one, once he was allowed to sit up it was like nothing had happened. He was just playing in the room with a firetruck, checking out all the dental tools etc. Like nothing had happened. The hygienist and I looked at each other like what just happened. Total switch flipped.

We soldiered on the rest of the day with speech therapy - he did awesome; physical therapy - it was ok and a special trip to McDonald's where he spilled chocolate milk all over me and him. We went home to change clothes and I decided it was an ice cream kind of day so we stopped for ice cream before driving to his leg brace appointment in The Woodlands.

He was NOT interested in taking photos.

The leg brace appointment went well; we were in the cowboy themed room and ran into another Leigh's friend there too. Will selected the Texas Longhorn themed leg braces. I tried to persuade him otherwise, but he was adamant. Mr. Jason had previously taken Will back to the workshop where they make the boots and Will was anxious to go back again.

So we did. He loved it. His eyes just get big and he gets quiet taking in all the tools. He probably could have stayed there all day. He was promised a special trip back to the workshop when we return in a few weeks to pick up his new boots - the belt sander was a topic of discussion the remainder of the day.

I on the other hand had pretty much had it. I was exhausted from the hospital trip, the emotional, physical and mentally overwhelming dentist trip. His ataxia was over the top which means I follow him around struggling to give him the independence he wants but within arms reach to catch him before he falls. I pretty much cried myself to sleep. It was good to get all that out of my system and I woke up on Friday in a much better place. Sort of.

Friday morning we had an appointment with Will's pulmonologist to go over his sleep study results.... that's a separate post.

Random photo: Will trying on glasses while looking for some new glasses for Daddy.