Did I Ever Mention The Hole In My Head?

I am very tired today. Last night I wasn't able to sleep very well and my husband and I ended up talking until around 3:45am (and when I say talking, I do mean only talking). We laughed a lot and it was really nice. We used to do this all the time years ago and he called those warm moments in the dark "slumber parties". We would be dragging around the next day dead on our feet, but we were happy.

I told him last night right before he went to sleep that I didn't care how tired I would be today because it was well worth it. He agreed.

This morning I had to be up at 6:00am to be at the dentist by 8:00am. I think that even after my husband fell asleep I slept very lightly because I was scared to miss my appointment. I was very happy to go to the dentist because I was finally going to get the crown that I needed for my tooth. I've never had a crown before and wasn't looking forward to the drilling, but I didn't care because the hole in my head would finally be fixed.

Months and months ago my dentist told me that I needed a crown. He warned me saying that if I waited to do it that it would start hurting and then I might need to have a root canal. I put it off because I didn't have the money. I got to the point where I couldn't put it off any longer because it hurt and became sensitive when eating and drinking hot/cold things. I still didn't have the money and was trying to figure out what to do. My Mom called me last week and asked if I had gotten my tooth fixed. I told her no and she said that she would send money to pay for half of it. I was so thankful. With her paying for half of it, I would be able to get it done. I could give the dentist the money she gave me to pay half of it now and then pay the other half when I went back to get the permanent crown. That would give me another month to save money for it.

When I arrived at the dentist they said that they wanted to take an x-ray of my tooth prior to working on it. After taking the x-ray the dentist said he couldn't do the crown today because he needed to refer me to another dentist to get an evaluation to see if I needed a root canal. He said that the root pulp of my tooth is damaged now and I may need one. It was so embarrassing, but I just looked at him and couldn't help crying. Tears started to fall and I tried to stop, but that made it worse and I cried more.

I couldn't believe that my dentist didn't do root canals and that he was going to refer me to someone else. Even though he warned me that this could happen, I was hoping so much that I wouldn't need a root canal in the first place! This will cost even more money.

The dentist they referred me to is on vacation this week. He is busy when he gets back next week and doesn't have an opening until November 6, which is two weeks away. That appointment is only an evaluation which means I will need to pay him $60 for the appointment to find out if I need it. If he says I do, I will then have to schedule another appointment to get it done. Who knows when that will happen. My tooth is hurting as I type this and I am sad to wait that long.

I cried in my car all the way to work because I don't know how I will come up with the money for the root canal. I didn't know this about root canals, but basically you get the root canal and then have to get a crown on top of it which means I still need to pay for the crown, but now there is an added cost for an evaluation and the root canal.

My Mom gave me $200. I am going to have to come up with at least $400 to $500 more.

I really don't know how I'm going to do this.