Doctors and Dentists

Holy Moly its been a scheduling nightmare lately.

I am smack dab in between two generations.

Dad has 4 or 5 upcoming appointments with his dentist as well as one for his general MD and my girls have had plenty of appointments and more coming up.

Tuesday I took Elizabeth to the eye doctor. She had gotten something in her eye and it wasn't getting better so I had to leave work early on Tuesday. Her eye is fine just dried out from rubbing so we have eye drops.

Yesterday was Elizabeth's 6 month check up with her Dentist. They found out she has 4 cavities. Holy Driller Batman. They need to break it into two appointments. Elizabeth is also getting her 6 year old molars (she is 7) so our dentist wants us to come back in two months so he can coat them with sealant. We did that with her other teeth but counting yesterday's cavities, she is at 5 total. I guess my girl has wrinkly teeth. Or maybe its the prenatal care. Who knows. When her teeth starting coming in they looked so good so I was very happy. Now we are having to do extra processes to keep them as clean as possible. I know part of it is the food choices but I really don't let my kids eat a ton of candy or drink a ton of juice. I guess its just a combo of genetics and just luck. :-) Starting with the next 6 month check up, Elizabeth will get fluoride treatment and every night we are going to use a gargle treatment after brushing and flossing. I told Elizabeth that she has teeth like me. It takes more work to keep them healthy. So our family will be having a nightly party in our bathroom. Maybe we'll add music.

Its a struggle with work sometimes. I am out of vacation time right now due to prior events. I earn it every pay period but the way its been going I am not able to accrue much. So, I am using FMLA for Dad's appointments. Those take longer than the girls appointments do. I need to sit down with the boss today to request MORE time off for Elizabeth's appointments. I also have to bring the girls to their Doctor for their yearly check up and the Eye doctor to have their eyes checked and Ella to the ENT for her ear tubes. I took the whole day off in July and was hoping to hang out and have a relaxing day with the girls. The morning is Ella's 6 month cleft team checkup and then the afternoon was going to be fun. I am now going to try to get some of the MD/Eye/ENT appointments for the afternoon.

I am happy to take Dad to the dentist and please don't tell him its been a struggle for me. He worries about the amount of time it takes me away from my job and doesn't understand what FMLA does. He worries I am putting my job at jeopardy with these things. Thankfully I have a boss that totally understands. And to be honest I have cried a few tears in front of him when I tried to explain about Dad's condition now requiring more care from my brothers and I. I didn't want to cry but it happened.