Loose Teeth Part 2

Last night Annie's front tooth didn't come out and find its way under her pillow. So this morning, I knew it was up to me to yank it out. So after everyone was up, and Annie had finished her g-tube breakfast, I gathered my tools: Kleenex, paper towels and a mirror. I asked around to see if anyone was interested in helping me. They all quickly found other things to do that involved getting in cars and driving miles away.

I was left to face Annie and her tooth alone. I went into the living room, and she looked up at me with her crooked little smile. I sat down behind her on the floor and we examined her tooth in the mirror together. I tried to assess the feasibility of my plan...yes, the tooth looked pretty loose, and this shouldn't be too hard, I thought as sweat beaded on my forehead. I grabbed a Kleenex with one hand and hugged her tight with the other, and in less than 15 seconds, the tooth was out. Mission accomplished.

Now tonight, I only have one problem. Her other front tooth is loose too.

Loose teeth and leap frogs

Well, enough about Bill--he had a latte this morning and a (small) piece of pizza tonight, so I'm thinking he's all better. Now we can get back to the main character of this blogodrama--Annalee.

Annie has sensory issues. She doesn't like her head touched, hair combed, or teeth brushed. She was pretty much like that before her brain injury, only now she screams and thrashes about when I attempt to do those things to her. So her teeth. Really, I need to schedule a professional power wash about once a month, because she usually screams me into submission so I only get to the outside-around-the-perimeter before I give up. But this morning, I thought I should be a little more persistent. Now remember, Annie is 6. She lost her four lower teeth last year sometime, but none of the upper teeth. I have been thinking though, that one of these days, the upper ones are going to come loose, and then I'll have to gingerly sneak into her mouth before she realizes what I'm doing, and try to pry it off.

There was one Sullivan kid who hated to have his teeth pulled so much, he actually left them in there and the new ones just grew behind so that eventually he looked like a shark with multiple rows of teeth. But I digress.

I also forgot to mention that Annie's had a runny nose and been drooling for a couple of days. Not sure if it's allergies, or if she's cutting her 6 year molars or what. So there I was this morning, trying to be a good mom and do a good job brushing my uncooperative daughter's teeth, when the toothbrush hooked onto a loose front tooth. Great. Now, Annie's not only screaming, she's bleeding too. And, because she's drooling, it looks pretty scary. I make a feeble attempt to actually extract the thing, but her screaming increases to ear-splitting decibels, so I retreat to just dabbing and patting with cold wash cloths. As of this evening, the tooth is still there, sticking out at a weird angle, making her look like a candidate for major orthodontia. And, Annie clamps her mouth shut when I get the kleenex out. My fear is that it'll come out while she's sleeping and Lord knows where it'll end up--hopefully under her pillow.

Other miscellaneous news: Annie's been making good use of her Kidwalk at school, and walks up and down the hallways at school by herself now. She's also been scooting around the living room on her rump getting whatever toy might be just out of her reach. Lots of good mobility progress.

Also this week she bonded with a "Leapfrog" toy that sings the ABC's. Up to now, she hasn't shown any special connection to a particular toy since the brain injury. But a few days ago, I brought this frog out of storage, gave it to her, and she immediately bonded to it--not throwing it, like she usually does with every other toy--and then--started talking to it! Not words that I could understand, of course, but she actually looked at the frog and talked to it. So different from her responses in the past 3 years when I've put a doll she used to drag all over the place in front of her, and she'd just ignore it, or look at it without reaching for it or even touching it.

Interesting that it's a frog that she likes...

Jean

"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

Back to almost normal

Well, Bill came home last Friday, and so far, he's slowly but steadily recovering after spending 7 weeks in the hospital. I'm also slowly but steadily recovering after spending 7 weeks on the freeway. Annie's slowly recovering after spending 7 weeks of not being the center of every medical conversation.

My sister, Rebecca, was with us for the last three weeks of our medical marathon, helping cook, clean, do laundry--you know, basically get our life de-messified. Her spiritual gift is organization, although some might mistake it for moderate OCD. My gifts include creating piles of things that need to be organized, which is one of the reasons we get along so well, because I don't mind her digging through my piles to make some semblance of order out of them. One of my kids, however, who has latent control issues took awhile to warm up to his/her aunt's methods. But after Rebecca alphabetized my pantry, categorized the medical supply warehouse in Annie's closet, and sanitized the haz waste site in the laundry room, they were bowing to her skills. But now she's back home in Oklahoma because she missed the ice storms, and I'm back to doing dishes, laundry, and making my own coffee in the morning. I don't think I can cope. Waaah.

Jean

Groundhog Day

Today Bill woke up in his hospital bed again and looked around his hospital room--for the 46th time. And just like Bill Murray, he was wondering when he was going to get to wake up in his own bed, in his own house. Well, the answer is "soon." And the chances of his departing from the hospital are 100%--only later this week.

After three gastrointestinal surgeries, his food is finally going in the right direction--down instead of up--and it looks as though this one finally worked. We're all quite relieved, including his surgeon. We're that family where if something can go wrong, it will. And in Bill's case, there wasn't much that went right this past month and a half, except he kept breathing, which was a plus. But now, this episode is just about over, and he'll be waking up in his own bed soon.

So I asked him tonight, over his chicken noodle soup, chocolate shake and apple juice--of which he had approximately 10 bites total--what God had been saying to him today. He said, "Keep my eyes on Him and don't complain." Yeah, me too.

Thank you for praying us through these long weeks. We are so grateful for you all.

Jean

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2