I'm really wishing I could click the HUG button on your post more than once!!

I have horrid dental phobia from childhood experiences, so I hear you loud and clear. My daughter was born without adult eye teeth, discovered around the same age. It was necessary to extract her baby teeth in order to install bilateral maryland bridges which is a false tooth that is attached to the flanking adult teeth to maintain space until permanent implants can be installed, usually by age 25. Once we explained the full procedure - that her teeth were coming out to put in something new - she had no problem with it at all. Perhaps asking the dentist what the long term plan will be may be a start toward making everyone feel better. You are wise not to project your fears, one of the hard things about parenting :-)

Warrior Woman
been there, done that

Yes, we had one dentist who did not even have IV sedation available. We waited until I changed insurance andetails got a better dentist. My kids is a bundle of nerves, lost about 5lbs because he wouldn't eat with loose teeth, his gums were getting infected, etc, so they pulled 5 or 6 teeth all at once. Special case for my kiddo, not the norm.

That could be true about the baby teeth. My daughter is missing 4 molars. In her case, they never formed, but because she had super crowded teeth, they pulled the baby molars and let the gaps close. I think she was 10 when she had them pulled.

My kids have been so sick this year. My high school senior has horrible allergies, he is always stuffy and congested. He had a pretty good case of pink eye that lasted for almost 3 weeks. He has had two back to back sinus infections and is probably on the way to a third.

My high school freshman has a whole bunch of problems, she has had abdominal pains since early December. Had an ovarian cyst, that went away but left a lot of pain. She has had 4 ultrasounds, an xray, a CT scan, blood work to rule out glutein intolerance, and now we are trying lactose free. Even though she has been eliminating regularly, the xray showed a large backup of stool in her colon. We are dealing with that with some laxatives. On top of this, she has had a fungus in her ears since Thanksgiving. We have been going to the ENT pretty much weekly since then. Now she has come down with a barky cough that makes her feel like she is going to puke every time she coughs. She is so stuffy and congested. Both are complaining of a sore throat, but are not strep.

We have been to more doctors and more often this school year probably in our last 5 yrs!

My problem is that I am not very sympathetic. I know she hurts, but I can only do what I do, take her to the doctor and try to make her follow the doc directions...she is famous for doing something for a day and then saying it doesn't work, still hurts. She doesn't get that things take time to work. But it is super frustrating to see her in constant pain. She is trying to keep up with her activities, but they hurt to do them.

My son being a senior is a little more contientious about missing school. He suffers through, its a little easier for him, as he only goes in the morning, then leaves to do his co-op at the elementary school. He has missed that a few times, but he is ahead of schedule on that. My daughter, not so much....even though she complains about missing school, she is much more likely to beg to stay home. I honestly think the problem is that she is so over tired that she just needs a day of full rest.

I tell ya its wearing on me....I am trying to be a nice parent, but every day someone is complaining that something hurts. And I cant do anything about it!

Thanks for listening!

Regarding daughter with sore throat...not showing up as strept...I had that all through high school...come to find out...Epstein Barr Virus - Used to be called Syndrome (mutation of Mono). Wouldn't hurt to check that next time bloodwork done. Just a thought...
And so so sorry about all your families medical woes...
SD

How frustrating!
I wonder if you could get a partial day for your daughter, are there some subjects she could do independent study on? It sounds like she's just overwhelmed wtih the symptoms and school work as well.

Stomach issues are the worst, and accompany some really frustrating and potentially embarrassing symptoms. And High Schoolers do NOT want to talk about them! Until that's under control, they might be taking a higher place in her mind than anything else, especially during a school day when bathroom access is a little more limited.

I get the wearing on you bit. The older they get, the harder it is to do anything real about it. At least when htey were little, a few minutes of snuggling would have that placebo effect. (Also wearing, but at least it felt useful)

Can you engage your daughter in finding solutions? Keep a food and symptom diary, or download one onto her device so she can easily keep track of what she's eating and symptoms and maybe see a connection? (I have been looking for a good one, different apps have different symptoms highlighted so look around. I can't find one that incorporates a menstrual cycle, but keeping tabs on that with symptoms might help, too.)

My dd has gluten intolerance and gets debillitating migraines. I figure my role at this point is to help her learn how to function with or despite her symptoms. In high school, it was a lot harder because as much as I wanted her to self advocate they needed/wanted parent advocacy. Grr. Anyway, I tell her that I will support her in trying to feel better if she cooperates. But if she takes dumb chances or put herself at risk just to fit in (eating without double checking things are safe for her dietary needs) I don't want to hear anything about it.

Good news! Took her to the orthodontist and he said to leave them alone. Said if they pull them now then it can cause deterioration in the jaw bone making it less receptive for implants down the line. He also said that it's possible that we can get away with her baby teeth for quite awhile before we have to make a decision, that maybe in time he can use them along with braces to make or close a gap for a bridge/retainer so she can get an implant when the law has finished growing if that's what's needed. So I slept well that night!

I had the same thing. I kept my teeth until I was weel into my twenties. One came out I had the other pulled and a partial with one tooth put in. No big deal.

Shiloh

Thank you.

I have 3 baby teeth still in my mouth that never grew adult ones. They said as long as I take extra good care of them they will last! I just had a baby tooth get a filling recently because they are more susceptible to cavitys. But only having one cavity on 1/3 baby teeth after almost 30 years isnt bad at all :) Best of luck!

My 12yo got into the van, "Ugh! Our van smells like letterboxing!"
I gave her a side eye. She knew her sister and I had just gone to plant a letterbox.
She said defensively, "What? Letterboxing has a certain smell! It does! It smells like," [wrinkles nose], "burned rubber and old people."

She is not a fan (of letterboxing or oldness). Ha! :-D

Hmm, interesting. It smells like discovery and freedom to me!

Exactly! (But also maybe a little like dirt.) :-D

"I love the scent of letterboxing in the morning. It smells like......... VICTORY!!!" ;o)

It smells like whatever you just stepped in.

You guys are so funny!!
Yes, letterboxing has a smell! Smells like dirt, and outdoors and ink and freedom!!

As a side note when we first started letterboxing we used wipes from Costco and we wiped EVERY stamp off (does anyone still do that?!?!?!) as well as 80 little (and some more not so little) fingers. Now EVERYTIME I smell that smell it takes me right back to the woods and sweet success! I hope Costco never stops selling those wipes!

It makes sense. My 9 year old lamented that she was allergic to letterboxing when she got her results at the allergist. She loves boxing, but, among other things, she's allergic to tree pollen, grass pollen, mold and dogs. To her, that means she's allergic to letterboxing.

My pack often smells like mildew because I've replaced old wet boxes I find and put the smelly contents in my pack and forget all about them until the next time I go boxing.

Mildew, mold, and old ink is what I smell.

My kid entered the IKEA Soft Toy Drawing Competition. If anyone would like to vote for her design, it is "Squirrelly" with ID 247618. All you need to vote is a valid email address. Voting is once per design, per day, through December 4. So if anyone here has/knows a kid that entered the competition, post a reply with the design info, and I will be happy to vote for them too.

Here's the link to Squirelly

My girls entered that contest last year, I love it! I voted, good luck!!

sun7flour

My girls entered that contest last year, I love it! I voted, good luck!!

Thanks sun7flour!

There are just 3 more days left to vote! Squirrelly could use a few more votes. I fixed the link (I think), and I won't pester you all again. Thanks everyone!

Good luck......I voted!

Voted. Good luck!

I had to reply. I had epstein barr virus too in High School. I have never heard of any one else having it! It was a lot like mono, I had that at one point too.

this popped up on "Wassa's Random Daily Funnies" widget.
it reminded me of a similar incident.

I was babysitting. The kiddo and I had a difference of opinion and he got mad at me and called me a "tuna fish".
It took me a bit to figure out exactly what he thought he was saying.

Insert your guess here.

_________
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s0n 0f a b!t(h

Ha. From the annals of teaching elementary, in a 3rd grade story:

i go to my cuzin an spenanat

say it out loud

Well, I'm just thankful you spelled "annals" correctly.

I debated, since it could go either way.