Enough is Enough.. Isn't it?

I'll let you step on me a thousand times, but step on someone I love, and enough is enough.

Dave went to the dentist today, for his first serious non-cleaning kind of appointment. He was scheduled for two extractions. He went in for two extractions. They charged us for two extractions. When he came out after two hours though, they had only done one of them. Dr. Aaron came up with some complex story of how he told us prior to today that he had said we'd need to see an oral surgeon for the other one, but he never told me that. (Why else would we have been scheduled and charged for two? And why did I just pay for it minutes before he went back for them?). It didn't make any sense to me. It just felt all wrong.

Dave was telling me about his extraction on the way home, through a mouth-full of gauze. Apparently, Dr. Aaron told him he has incredibly strong teeth and bones, and this isn't particularly a good thing. As he was trying to pull out the tooth, it broke. Dr. Aaron proceeded to yank and break fragments out of Dave's mouth for over an hour. Dave said it hurt quite a lot. They sent him home with the same powerful pain killer that I'm on.. but they don't appear to have the same knock-out affect on him that they do on me. That was the fourteenth prescription I've had to get filled this month, and money is starting to be a major stress factor in my daily exsistence. So much needs to be done, and the money just isn't there for it.

I wasn't pleased to hear such a violent sounding story from Dave this afternoon. I also wasn't pleased to have to call back after we'd gotten home and my mind had had time to put together the fact that we just paid for two teeth to be removed, and came home with the second of which, still very much intact. I guess they would have just held on to that money for safe keeping for me, had I not called back to ask them what they'd be doing with it. I kindly had them subtract it from the deductible that we apparently still owe on too.

While we were there for Dave's extraction, he told me that he could always "try" to get that second one out of Dave's mouth if I wanted him to. Try? I told him that if he wasn't confident in his abilities to get it out, there would be no trying. This isn't a practice match, it's pain and blood, and likely, another expensive prescription for me to bring home. Dr. Aaron referred us to an oral surgeon almost two hours away, (the same one he wants me to go to for one of my two root canals). He told me today that I needed to go ahead and get those scheduled since I was still hurting from them. He doesn't "do" root canals, typically, but he said he would do the one for me to save me some money. I'm just not sure I want him to do it now though.

Maybe it's like "trying" to dig out Dave's broken tooth, but I don't know. Now, everything the man says sounds cryptic in my mind. I left the office worried, and upset, and confused, and I've just had enough. I let him hurt me, and string me around for two weeks.. but now he's hurt my baby, and I just can't allow that. He's a very nice man, but something about his dentistry practice sets me off now, and I just don't think I have the nerve, or the heart to go back for my root canal, my other fillings, and even more importantly, for all of Dave's dental work. I know Dave needs his work done quickly, but at what expense? I don't want to have to look for a new dentist. I don't want to make the same mistake twice and find another bad one. I don't want to mistakenly find one that's not in our plan and find we've been charged too much. I also, in turn, don't want to settle for a mediocre dentist, (because there are so few in this rural area even IN our plan). I've been stressing myself sick over this all day, and I just don't know what to do. The changes, the fees, the bad decisions, the pain.. the meds, it's just all wrong. You can ask someone what dentist they trust, and they're inevitably not in your preferred plan. You can ask people about the dentists in your preferred plan, but inevitably.. no one you know has been to them. Catch twenty-two if I ever heard of one.

When I'm finally certain that I can't let this man touch another tooth in our mouths.. my doubt brings me back around. They've taken the x-rays, they know what we need. Our charts are on file. They know the damage they've already done, and what needs to be done to fix it. They know Dave's story and what he needs, and that he needs it quickly. The appointments are all made. Surely, I can't leave now, and start all over again, and have Elaine upset with me because we're not going to have the palatal lift before her visits with him are finished. But.. how can we stay when I don't trust this dentist, and I actually fear what he'll do to us next? I swing from one extreme, to the next, and back again.. but the right answers continue to evade me. My root canals aren't going to wait much longer either. The teeth still hurt like no tomorrow, and the pain meds are drawing low. Something has to be done, and soon.. but what? What?

I think I upset my mother this afternoon through this mess. I was extremely upset, and entirely unsure what to do about it. I was looking for advice, and she didn't have any to give me. I wanted her advice, and her opinions, but she would only tell me that this was my decision to make. I wanted more from her, and my patience were already frazzled. I'm sure I was a little short with her, and I didn't mean to be. Fortunately, she's long since put it behind her, but.. my stress levels are still off the charts. Dave and I were looking up other dentist's in our plan, and out of the short stack.. they almost ALL say they're part of Aspen Dental, and list the same address they list for Dr. Aaron. (I can't even pretend to wrap my mind around that one though, because we've been there three times now, and Dr. Aaron is the ONLY dentist there. It just doesn't make any sense to me). It just looks like our options are painfully few, and still.. I lay my head down tonight, unsure what to do about it. I hate feeling like every odd is against us, and the next shoe is just waiting to drop, and the next one, and the next one, and the one after that, and on and on it goes...

I think I need to put this day to rest for now, before anything else has time to go wrong. Thank You for joining us this evening, as always, and until next time, Much Love, Many Hugs, and Good Night to You All.