flea

Casper tried on size (women's) 5 1/2 tap shoes today, and we all agreed a 6 was what she needed. She's not yet 8, people! So I measured both kids against the wall. Casper is 4'5 1/4 inches, which puts her at 90%ile for her just-shy-of-8, and Dillo is 3'8", which puts him at about 60%ile for 5 and one month. There is no CDC chart for foot size, as far as I can tell.

Well, they're healthy.

Casper and mr. flea are at the ER right now, getting a splint for her broken left thumb. She fell off the monkey bars at after school at maybe 2:30 (early release day) and seemed to have jammed her thumb, and it swelled up immediately. They called me, I called mr. flea who happily was not in the field this week. He fetched Casper and took her home, and our neighbor who's an ER nurse and mother had a look, and recommended we get an x-ray. mr. flea called the pediatrician, who I guess said to go to the ER, since that was where heard from then next. The ER did an x-ray and there is a small break at the base of the thumb, which may involve the growth plate, so they are splinting it for now and will give us a referral to an orthopedist. (My brother has one thumb that is very much shorter than the other; although the family joke is he stunted it playing too many video games, I think he actually broke it skateboarding and nobody realized it was broken, and the growth plate must have been affected. So, we want Casper to have symmetrical thumbs.)

Drama of the moment is mr. flea is at the ER with no cell and no clear idea of when they'll be done. Dillo is still at school which closes one hour from now. mr. flea has orders to call me if he's not walking out the door of the building at 5:30, and I will call Dillo's school and call around our neighbors to see if anyone can go get him.

Poor bunnies. I am not worried for anyone's longterm health, but Casper must be in some pain and a little scared, and mr. flea is obviously worried and stressed out, and Dillo is languishing at school in ignorance of the drama. Poor Casper just got a second crown on Monday, too, so it's like the week of health woes.

I just made an appointment to see the dentist. We took Casper in the spring, but I haven't been myself in perhaps 3 years. They had a cancellation, so I'm going TOMORROW. Eek. Also, one cleaning for Casper was $150, so I expect the damage to be big.

I have a weird relationship with dentistry. I'm not phobic (that would be veejane of the valium) but I certainly don't like going. Since my mother's husband was a dentist, I have gotten most of my dentistry free via his office since I was about 16. He's retired now, though, and he also lives in Boston so I never got to the dentist twice a year even when I did see a dentist.

In general, I have fairly good teeth. I think some of it is genetic luck and some of it is fluoride treatments in my youth, because precious little of it is due to my own conduct. I don't brush as often as I should, and I almost never floss, and as noted, visit the dentist all too rarely. I think I've had 3 cavities total in my life, but I have been having some occasional tooth pain and fully expect them to find either a new cavity or a problem with a filling.

Part of my dentistry avoidance is that I genuinely dislike dental cleanings - the scritch-scritch of the scrapers, the suction tube under my tongue, the hideous taste and grittiness of the toothpaste, the shuddery feeling I get when they use that rotating toothbrush. I actually even dislike the feeling of brushing my teeth, which is one reason I don't do it twice daily. mr. flea uses one of those electric toothbrushes; it makes me shuddery to even think about it.

Part of my dentistry avoidance of late is that I don't have dental insurance, and it's expensive. I filled out the annual renewal of my work benefits today and again decided not to plump for dental coverage since it's $75 a month (for the family - health insurance is only $212!) and has a complicated co-pay structure, plus there's a 6-month moratorium on anything but cleaning when you sign up. And by June 2008 I'd really like to be in another situation. There's a rant in here, but I'm tired, so I'll just give you the simmer version, about how vision care and dental care are part of the big picture of medical care, duh, so why have separate insurances? For example, there are medical conditions that are complicated by dental problems, and some dental problems are indicators of underlying medical problems. And since preventive care in dentistry is a HUGE deal, why not encourage your employees to get cleanings by making them covered at a reasonable co-pay? Just another insane facet of the health care system in America.