Guess What's In This Yellow Box.

Can you guess what is in this little yellow box?

Its a tooth. It might not look like a tooth with those long roots, but trust me. Its a tooth. Guess who's mouth it came from? Give up? It came from my sweet, little Finner.

Here's the story.

Tuesday night, Finn told me his tooth was hurting. I know first hand the pain that comes with having a cavity and hoped it wasnt anything major. Finn wasnt crying or going on and on about it, so I gave him some tylenol and he went to bed without incident. At about 1:30 am Wednesday morning, Finn woke up. His tooth hurt. Ruh-roh. I gave him more tylenol, slipped into bed next to him and prayed it would be better in the morning.

It wasnt.

When Finn woke at 6am, any hope that the pain had dissipated was gone. Finn was cupping his cheek and bordering on tears. "Mama, it still hurts. Mama why is it still hurting?" I didnt have any answers for him. Unlike me, Seamus was ready to fill Finn's head with all kinds of horrors. Finn's filling could have fallen out. He might need a root canal for a bad cavity. He could have an abscessed tooth and need oral surgery. None of this helped Finn's nerves or mine. My youngest son is quick to panic and with a brother like Seamus, who can blame him? Although I tried to calm Finn down, no amount of "you can do it" pep talks were going to get him to school - not on this day. Finn had to get into the dentist asap and I was the person who was gonna make it happen.

An important side note: I am irrationally afraid of the dentist. When I get work done, I have to be drugged. My fear is that bad. When the kids have cleanings and/or cavities to be filled, Matt takes off work to go with them, not me. I do all the doctor visits. I do the ER and Urgent Care and lab appointments. I do not do the dentist. I cant. Today, that would change.

A second important side note: Wednesday morning marked our third day without Matt at home. He had been in Virginia with the USMC all week and was not due back until Thursday. He was thousands of miles away. I could not expect him to help. I was on my own. OMG!

Im ashamed to admit it, but the thought of making Finn wait until Thursday entered my mind more than once. In my opinion, his toothache couldnt have happened at a worse time. Between Matt being gone and Wednesday being the one day of the week that I work consistently, his timing was bad. All that withstanding, I couldnt add to his pain. Finn had to be seen by a dentist so I psyched myself out, put my big girl pants on and got him into Dr. Englert's office for his 10:30 appointment.

The prognosis was not good: Finn had an infection in his tooth root and unfortunately his roots are like mine - long and deep. After careful consideration, we opted to extract his tooth rather than put Finn through a root canal. The tooth was a baby tooth. It would grow back. Finn will have to wear a retainer/spacer so that his adjacent tooth wont grow forward into the empty space, but Im ok with that. I told Dr. Englert to go for it and he began working on Finn with diligence and care. Nitrus was used, but just to take the edge off. We were in the office for about an hour and a half and Finn did great! He didnt even realize what had happened until I told him upon completion. Im not joking! Dr. Englert pulled the tooth out of his mouth and Finn didnt have a clue. Now that is a good dentist!

Im happy to report I did pretty good too. I didnt freak out. I didnt have to take a xanax. I didnt show any distress, fear or worry in front of Finn. In the hour or so before Finn's appointment, I convinced myself that this appointment was no differnet than a doctor visit. I could do this! I had to do this. There was no choice. When Finn was finished he went out to the reception room to pick out a prize. Quickly, I turned to the hygentist and said "I pulled it off, right? Didnt I? Could you tell Im a total freak? Did I do ok?" The lady looked at me with surprise and said "You did great, Mom."

I did great and so did Finn. Cross your fingers his healing goes well.

Happy Wednesday night.