One of
the lesser joys of having autistic, and dependent, offspring is that one has to
organise, and usually attend all their dental and medical appointments.
I have
sat through and witnessed more procedures than enough, some more upsetting than
others. At times I have had to follow my
mother’s advice and just keep silently repeating the Hail Mary, like some sort
of mantra, to keep myself calm until it was all over.
Being there whilst people, albeit necessarily
and with the best intents, do things to your child’s body is one of the loneliestplaces on earth.
Unfortunately
Thunderthighs has inherited my jaw with wisdom teeth growing at right angles
into and cracking the back molars. This
became apparent during lockdown and there were several masked visits to the
dental hospital and various clinics to discuss and organise extraction under sedation.
From
Facebook Archives.
9 May
2023
Thunderthighs
gets up at 6.30 for an early breakfast and we're out of the house by 8.45 for
his dental appointment at 9.10 to have the wisdom tooth broken molar out.
Traffic
awful and half way along Heaton Road the mobile rings.
Thunderthighs answers because I'm driving.
It's the clinic.
They've just got in and discovered they have a
problem with the sedation equipment.
"Can
you pull in Mum and talk to them?"
So I pull
into the very top of Meldon Terrace, too close to the corner, on double yellow
lines and turn off the engine.
"We
can do him tomorrow in Walker"
So
tomorrow's schedule is now:-
take Ferretfingers
to the day centre
take
Thunderthighs to Walker clinic and witness his tooth extraction
bring Thunderthighs
home
go back
to Monkseaton
collect Ferretfingers on the way home or as
a special trip depending on timing
Unless
something throws a spanner in the works.
Mrs Lasagne Do they do a general anaesthetic Ben xxx
Bentonbag No, it's gas&air to keep him relaxed. Mind you, having successfully had fillings by George
Dupree, he turned to me the other day with "Couldn't I have my tooth out
with an injection like George did." After all the organising and appointments to
get this sorted, surprisingly I didn't hit him.
Mrs Lasagne The
granddaughter’s teeth is
just turning into a nightmare!
Bentonbag I know, I saw her dad last week.
Ms Exlibris Good luck!
Woolerwoman What a day! And another worse one tomorrow. xxx Good thing you're the amazing woman you are.
11 May
2023
Everything
went well with Thunderthighs's tooth extraction yesterday and everything else
on the schedule.
I even
had time to get the boys' prescriptions for extra-flouride toothpaste filled.
8.30 this
morning Ferretfingers had an appointment with the Physician Associate to have
another blood test.
Shortly
after we arrived the computer system crashed, in fact the whole national
computer system they are part of crashed.
The poor
receptionist was forced to write people's names on bits of paper.
The
doctors who were supposed to be doing telephone appointments couldn't see the
names, numbers or history of the people they were meant to call.
When we
got in to the PA there were two black screens on her desk.
"Remind
me what bloods we were taking?"
"Ferratin,
it was left off last time."
"Oh
yes ... Oh what the heck we'll do the lot ... I'll do two yellow and one purple
and that'll cover us."
Then I
asked her to look at Ferretfingers's ankle again and she went to write a
prescription for Fucicide (?), but she no longer has a prescription pad, they’re
emailed directly to Lloyds Pharmacy. She was reduced to pulling a sheet of paper out of the printer under her desk
and make a note on there for later.
"It
should be available tomorrow afternoon."
To err is
human, to really cock things up requires a computer...
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