To St. Louis and Back in 24 Hours

I had an easy drive to St. Louis and Lucey was a perfect angel. I decided against bringing a movie for her to watch hoping I would not regret it. She did great entertaining herself. Thank you for your prayers; I could feel them.

I was up at 5:00 getting organized and getting the three boys out the door. On Monday's, everyone has a different depart time. This being the last week of school, it has been hectic with midterms, projects and papers and Christmas parties. My drive started with freezing drizzle. The temperatures warmed as I drove across the state (It was 19 when I started--it was almost 60 in St. Louis). My first stop, Mom and Dad's. I picked up Mom and we headed for the mall to meet my girlfriends and their kiddos. I have known my sweet friends for all long time...Renee, since Junior high and Jeanne, since Sophomore year in High School. It really is so neat that we all have little ones close to the same age. Without sharing our ages...we are on the older side of Mammahood. I know....you can't tell! :-)

Maybe it's because I come from good genes! My Mom looks very young for her age. Lucey and Nana have a special bond.

Lucey needed some time to stretch her legs after that long drive. The girls look like stair steps. Ian is taking a little rest.

The kiddos saw Santa. As Lucey would say... "Sampa Sauce." Renee's kiddos sat right on his lap with no problem. Lucey stood beside him pointing out the colors. "Red," "White" and so on....she did not want to sit on his lap. She is very hesitant around people she does not know.

The trip to the dentist went as I thought it would....she screamed through the entire exam. It was heart breaking. This trip was for a second opinion. I was told by the first dentist that Lucey has an injured front tooth and root. That's not a problem since there is no abscess. I was also told that she has two cavities. In order to fill the cavities, we would need to book an operating room and she would have to be sedated. That's complicated by the hole in her heart. We don't know the true size of her hole because she cried and wiggled through her heart ECHO (ultra sound). We would have to pay out of pocket for the O.R. and Anesthesiologist etc....I became overwhelmed so I chose to take Lucey back to where her Craniofacial team is--St. Louis. The dentist was so sweet and loving with Lucey. He confirmed my "Mom Intuition" that Lucey does not have cavities. I am upset that the first dentist, with a laser tool said her cavities were deep. There is something about that man that I did not trust...he was also so rough with Lucey and made her lip bleed. I have to stop.... I can't go there with my thoughts right now....I'm grateful that Lucey does not have cavities or that they are small and no need to worry about them right now. I'm grateful that we can slow down. After hearing about the cavities from dentist one....I started thinking that we needed to gather her team so when she is sedated she can have that ECHO, CT Scan, her lip repaired (her upper and lower lip do not meet on her right side) and possibly her ear remnant removed. We would need to make decisions that we are not ready to make yet. Dentist #2 told us to come back in May when we are there for her team appointent (when Lucey sees all her specialists) and he will check her teeth again. He was so compassionate. That is exactly why we are keeping her health care there in St. Louis. We will continue to move but Lucey's care will remain in St. Louis.

Again, thank you for the prayers. I feel like a heavy burden has been lifted off my shoulders. I'm working on the anger I have towards dentist #1.

After Lucey's appointment, Mom and I spent some time in the car together...it was dark and rush hour traffic. I dropped Mom off said hello to Dad and Sammy and then it was off to my sisters. I passed up her exit so I spent more time in the car going way out of my way..turning around....etc....I did not get to her place until 7:00. Thankfully my little nephew was still awake and he and Lucey had about 45 min. of play time. They were so cute together...again, another blessing for me. My sister and I have children the same age. At our ages! :-) They are early risers so we were up before the sun...the kiddos played some more before I had to hit the road at 8:00 a.m. We had a great trip home.

I'm thanking the Lord for all the blessings....