Crash & Crown

What a day...yesterday, Monday, the last day of November....knew it was going to be a full, hectic day for us all as our first day back to life after the holiday week away... in addition to that, our dental insurance is changing effective 12/1 (today), and we only found out about it late last week. Ethan was already scheduled for a filling and crown later in the week, and I was scheduled for my check-up/cleaning later as well...I had called first thing in the morning to see if they could fit us in on the last day of our coverage, and they both could...with my apt at 3pm and Ethan's at 5pm.

It is also conference week at Ryan's school, so they are out at 12:15 this week. AND, we were the first conference at 12:30 Monday.... David really wanted to go and his work scheduled allowed it, so we both went in his car to Ry's school. The conference was great...Ry is right on-track for where he should be, good behavior and social skills (which at this age is just as important as anything else!). We are heading home after the conference with the 3 of us in the car, and we get into an accident...probably the worst I have been involved in (and please G-d, it will always retain the position!).

We were pulling out to turn left across the 5 lane road (2 lanes each direction and a middle, turn lane). There is also a bank entrance directly across from us, and there is a car turning out of there. David is driving...there is a car making a right turn at our road and another car in the other lane going straight. Once David is sure the person is really turning right, the person at the bank is out and gone and the person in the lane has passed, he starts to pull out and make our left turn, only the car turning right had blocked a small car in the other lane, and that car hits us.

Crumpled the whole front of David's BMW (that's how crumple zones work I guess). Both airbags deploy and smack us in the face. The car fills with smoke, but I think it was from the airbags, but all I know is that I can't breathe...and I immediately think of Ryan in the back...David did the same, and we both jump out and open the back doors...I unbuckle him and David pulls him out. He was dazed a bit, and had some marks on his neck where the seat belt had caught him, but he was fine. He was pretty concerned about all the pieces of daddy's car that were in the road, but a nice lady came out from the McDonalds on the corner and gave him a toy. Today is he perfectly fine - kids bounce back so well.

David and I feel pretty beat up, but also pretty lucky. The car may very well be totaled, there will be the hassle of not having a car and dealing with insurance; David got a citation and the accident will be his fault, but no one had to go to the hospital. A few seconds difference, and the impact would have been on the driver and Ryan's side doors instead of the front, driver's side. I cringe to imagine the 'what-ifs', but they are abundantly clear....and Frightening! We were also travelling at relatively low speeds....I just cringe to think about it all.

The weird part of the day, is that it was just such a near-miss with something much worse, but since everything was 'fine', our day went on as normal. I felt very much like I did right after I lost my mom. I felt like I should have on a pin that said, 'be nice to me, I was in an accident today'. I went to my dentist appointment, it was fine and normal....and then took Ethan's to his.

He did so amazingly well! This isn't his first dental procedure(s) outside of cleaning. When he was 4 or 5, he had to have 5 small fillings (to remind you, he has poor, thin enamel on his baby teeth and that makes him prone to cavities no matter what we do). Well, that previous dental work was a nightmare...we had to do sedation with him then, and he just cried the whole time! This time, he was determined to be brave (a nice by-product of being in Disney last week and riding the coasters). That and the fact that we explained the whole thing to him in a way he could wrap his brain around (that the cavity was a bad guy invader, and that the dentist along with the help of a filling were the good guys to get the bad guy out of his mouth, and we let him see some of my fillings). Well it worked! He needed a crown on his back molar (they had filled it before and there was a new cavity under that filling, and we decided to do a crown on the tooth next to it as well versus a filling...so, now he has two crowns. Before you wonder, why would you crown a baby tooth?? I asked the same thing....these back molars will be with him until he is almost 12, so that's another 6 years, and you really risk the health of the permanent tooth if you do nothing to stop/prevent the decay....fillings just aren't an option when it is such a huge surface of the tooth as the filling needs something to bond to on all sides...so, that leaves crowns. They don't use the pretty white ones either since it is 'temporary', they are stainless steel. So, not that you can see that far back easily, but now he has shiny teeth....David joked that he will have a 'grill' in there (like the gangstas wear in hip hop :) Not a single tear or cry!!! They had to numb him and use a shot (which they were great to never use that word or let him see it), and he did have some nitrous on his nose when helped, but he was fully aware and just so brave!!!

That was our day....enough packed in for the whole week if you ask me! Hopefully, the rest of the week will be very boring! We have karate all week, and the boys may get to test for another belt stripe. We also have to get busy decorating and shopping a bit....only 11 more days to Hanukkah and 24 until Christmas!!!