DRAMA of Epic Proportions

So, Chloe's first teeth-filling experience could easily be made into a horror film..... a mother's nightmare....... all around DRAMA. (wouldn't be my life w/out it, right?!) I really don't even know where to start. Well, I should first say that Chloe has never had issues w/ going to the dentist. She's had two cleanings in her little life and has done great at both. She was even excited about getting her teeth filled, believe it or not, ha! I tried to explain to her that it's not the best thing to be excited about, "Chloe, mommy is A LOT older than you are and I've never had a cavity; you're only almost 6 and you have two... that's really not good." I guess she inherited Derrick's teeth, along w/ my mom's :( Nice.

ANYWAYS, on to the DRAMA. So she was even excited about getting her fillings, walked all proud into the dentist office, cracking jokes with the dental assistant...... until........ the DRINK. They gave her what I'm now told is referred to as a 'cocktail' of meds; a drink w/ three different types of meds in it. She drank it fine. The assistant told us to go back into the waiting room and wait 45 minutes, the average amount of time it takes for the meds to kick in. So as we walk into the waiting room, I asked Chloe to come out to the car w/ me so I could make a quick phone call while we waited. Literally, we walk out to the car, I dial the phone number and am put on hold, and Chloe says, "Mommmmm........... I think I wet my pants".......... WHAT?!?! So I look at her and her eyes are all glazed over and she's totally out of it, and of course, wet. So I'm in total shock and I hang up the phone and tell her to come inside w/ me so she can finish going to the bathroom; not sure why it didn't dawn on me that if she was too out of it to realize she was wetting herself, she probably wouldn't be able to get out of the car easily, but it didn't. She falls over the seat and attempts to CRAWL out of the car; I finally held on to her and led to her to the bathroom. She did not want me to pull her shorts down, so she is standing in the corner and as soon as she reaches for her shorts, she falls in between the toilet and the wall, which I'm sure to the outer walls sounded like I was beating the child, b/c then she starts wailing (I would've too I think)..... now I'm holding her on the toilet and she is screaming in fury, and then when I pull her shorts up, she asks (in a very temperamental tone, mind you), "WHY are my shorts WET??" I explained to her what happened and that was a baaaaaaaaad idea...... she was then upset b/c I didn't have any extra clothes in the car for her and she didn't want everyone in the office to see that she'd wet herself. Aye aye aye! We finally get to the waiting room, where she is waving her hand in front of her face and looking around the room all...... all........ I don't know, googly-eyed, loopy........ I'm at a loss for words!

The whole ordeal is kind of starting to freak me out, and I was getting worried, since all of this had transpired in a total of only 10 minutes after her taking the meds. I asked the nurse if her actions were normal, and they were all laughing at how she was reaching for 'things' in the air and looking around all loopy....... it really upset me, and they finally said, "Well, really it just makes most kids relaxed and giggly, but you never know what it might do to someone, just like Benadryl has different effects on different people..." Okay, thanks for the awesome help, Nurse Whatever-Your-Name-Is. I'm sitting there very nervous, and after 30 minutes of everything from crying to her asking again why her shorts were wet, to her falling asleep, the nurse calls her name, and then it all breaks out. She starts yelling, "I will not go back there, you can't make me." Chloe is not a yeller for those of you that don't know; yes, she has attitude, and yes, when she sings there might be a few cracked glasses, but she is not a yeller.... never really had a temper either. Until now. She is furious. Yelling. Kicking. The whole nine yards. God help the poor children in the waiting room having to witness the whole event. I drag her to the room, where a nurse has to help me put her up onto the chair. I'm trying to calm her down... not working. I'm trying to HOLD her down...... not working. The fury is scary. Seriously.

Enter Dr. Jerk..... his first words to me, "You're in my spot", like I'm a dummy...... I nicely replied, "Oh, I know, I was just holding her down until you got here." His next words to me, "Why are you here?" Huh?! I thought he meant, why was I back there w/ Chloe, so I reply, nicely again, "Well, she's only five and I want to be back here with her." "No," he says (in a not-nice voice), "what is she doing here, what are we doing, why is she here, what's wrong with her, what's the purpose of this visit?????" Oh no he didn't. My nice voice is becoming more and more not so nice, "Welllllllll, I assumed that you, as the dentist, would know. She's having some teeth filled," and I glance at the nurse who seems to act like this is normal attitude for her boss. (Don't forget that Chloe is still screaming throughout this) So Dr. Jerk prepares his tools, and before he can start, he has to call another nurse in to help hold my daughter down. Two of us holding her down, Dr. Jerk and his assistant working. Chloe is screaming at the top of her lungs, is kicking, squirming, about to break out in some He-Man growl I'm sure, and all I can think is: Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far, far far away from here.... Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far, far far away from here......." No, I'm kidding, seriously I was just aching inside for my baby girl. So then fury breaks out in ME when I hear Dr. Jerk start making comments to Chloe like, "Can you hush? Why are you yelling? I wish you'd be quiet and tell me what's wrong instead of yelling. I don't want to hear you scream and I know my other patients don't want to hear you scream. Why don't you just stop yelling. Why don't you hold still?" Again, OH NO HE DIDN'T. The poor girl is just bawling her eyes out and b/c of her moving, the drill catches her lip, so now her lip is bleeding....... finally I say, "Is there any way we can just stop where we are?" "Nope, thankfully we're done," he replies. Yeah, that's right, you're done buddy. So when the nurse tells Chloe she can sit up, she's crying, "Mommy, MOM, MOMMMM, WHERE ARE YOU???" I kept telling her that I was right there, she is looking RIGHT at me, and does not know it's me. I kid you not. I finally saw her eyes focus and she realized that it was me, so she came to me, then pushes me away, hops off the chair, and lays on the floor. Yeah. "Chloe, babe, hop up so we can go, okay?" "GET AWAY FROM ME!" "Chloe, come on sweetie, you're all done.... let's go home and go to sleep." Her reply? "I AM NOT GOING HOME.......... I'M GOING SHOPPING!" Oh no we're not!!! Okay, maybe we are if it will calm her down, right? So that's what I tell her, we'll go shopping; she's screaming she needs to go to Target. You got it girl, let's go to Target. Not working quite like I thought it would. She was still furious. Trying to lie on the floor each step we take. I finally cannot get the girl up from the hallway floor. I'm trying to pick her up and she swinging arms, legs, pushing w/ all her might. "Dear God, make me a bird, ........." What really upsets me at this point is that there are four nurses sitting there watching me........ a little help here!!! Finally one nurse has mercy on us and offers to open the car door for me if I can carry her out there.... what a hand, thanks. I literally drag the child out to the car and fight her to get the seat belt on, shut the door, start to walk around the car..............

My driver side door opens and Chloe jumps out of it, and starts running, luckily the nurse catches her and so after five, did you get that, FIVE, attempts, I finally talk her into staying in her seat belt (after threatening to put her in Jax's car seat, who by the way, THANK GOODNESS was not with us!). Whew. We are in the car. On our way. I'm breathing hard. Very hard. And I think I might be crying. I'm not sure. Or laughing. Whatever. We're in the car. So I decide that I need a drink (that very large Coca-Cola as mentioned in my first post!), and go through McDonald's. Chloe tells me that she needs pancakes. Sure; I place our order and as I'm paying look over and the child has blue lipstick (for play only, which she had put into her purse) all over the bottom half of her face. (for the record, normally Chloe is very talented at her lipgloss) "Wow, that looks...... nice", I tell her, to which she shoots me a 'look'. No prob, onto the Coke! Chloe takes one look at her pancakes and says, "where are my biscuits and gravy???" I was so not about to tell her that she'd ordered pancakes, and only say, "Oh man, they must have forgotten them.... we'll stop at Braum's, okay?" That was fine w/ her. On to Braum's; as I set the bag down to pay, I specifically tell Chloe NOT to touch it until I can help her. Just as I'm reaching for my change, I hear a loud scream and look over to find hot gravy all over Chloe's lap.......... CAN IT GET ANY WORSE????????? She cries through the clean-up, and I do too. Enough already. Perfect timing for my husband to call and check on us, huh?! Let's just say that was a short phone call. Let's go home. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, WE'RE GOING TO TARGET, AND I NEED NEW SHORTS BECAUSE YOU STILL HAVEN'T CHANGED MINE AND THEY'RE STILL WET AND IT'S GROSS"........... okay, so I take a chance and decide to drive the extra 30 miles to Tulsa for a Target run. Thankfully, she falls asleep two minutes down the road and I can breathe. Aaaaah.

We make it to Target and my body tells me to turn around and drive home, since she IS sleeping, and I'm just not ready yet for another round. BUT, something tells me that if we get home and she has not been to Target, there will not only be another round, but THREE, ha! I hesitantly wake her up, and as I'm cringing in fear, she wakes up all chipper and asks, "Are we at Target yet?" "We sure are, sweetie!" And what happens next? My sweet girl asks, "Why are my pants wet? Oh yeah, I forgot...... can we get some shorts for me, Mommy?" "We sure can, sweetie!" And the rest of the day is smooth as silk. No joke. She is back to herself. A few times she said her jaw was sore (from Dr. Jerk trying to keep her mouth still). Once she asked why her lip was cut. And several times she said, "Mommy, please don't make me go to that dentist ever again; he was mean"..... to which I reply each time, "We sure won't, sweetie!" And all is well with the world once again. Well, it was after I bought her a new outfit, new shoes, a new bathing suit, and a cool new toothbrush, anyways ;)

Don't worry, I wrote a letter to the "pediatric dentist" and his staff........ NO I did not cuss them out, I'm a CHRISTIAN! I did however make certain that they understood how poorly their service and attitudes were towards my daughter, made certain they knew we would not be back, and would also be letting others know about their poor treatment..... just let my voice be heard. I also called to request exactly what the concoction was that was given to Chloe, gave the info to the pharmacist I work for, and made note of it in my wallet w/ her insurance card to ensure she is never to receive that again. I really should have looked further into it before authorizing it to be given to her, but I didn't. Horrible mother....... why didn't I??????? Ugh, it's makes me so sad to think about. THEN, I am reminded by my boss of a young boy that died a few years ago after taking a concoction from the dentist and then taking a pain killer and an antibiotic when he got home......... UGH, I felt way worse after that, thanks. Bad, bad mommy. I will never forgive myself, don't worry. She'll never have it again. I really think she would've been fine w/ some tylenol and maybe a numbing agent on her gums..... maybe??? Or maybe I should just start taking her to an oral surgeon and let them put her all the way out, ha! KIDDING!!!! All I know is that she was just fine when we got there; like I said, she was excited! Boy did it change!

ANYWAYS, that's our dental nightmare...... hope Chloe's teeth don't continue on this path b/c I'm not sure that I'll ever get her back into a dentist again. Lord, help us.