Quick note before I continue on with the real frustrations of the day…..the shedding has begun. It started yesterday and is staying at a constant speed. I am avoiding combing my hair too much. Every time I put the wide tooth comb through it, it fills up. When I took a shower, it clogged the drain. It is still at the point that the average person taking a quick glance at me will have no clue. Granted it isn’t something I was looking forward to but it was not the major concern of the day.
No, instead my focus was on something far more important. Finding a dentist.
I got up this morning with a very positive outlook. I just knew that if I really worked at it I would be able to find a dentist that would either take Wisconsin Well Woman MA or would have a kind heart and work with me.
I started at a little after 9:00 a.m. this morning. I stopped at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon.
Times in between ranged from positive hope to not quite so much hope to “there has to be someone out there” to crying to depression.
I am really no further ahead than when I first started this morning. All of the people I talked to were nice to me and heard me out. Many were appalled that no one mentioned the dental/chemo connection prior to my first chemo. But the conversations kept ended up the same. They just couldn’t help me. They either don’t take Wisconsin Well Woman MA or are booked for months ahead (the normal was 7 months) or they are not taking on new patients or can’t help me because I don’t have money up front. Not one of the dentists took my number, which would have at least given me a ray of hope.
I did get a small glimmer, if you want to call it that…….a dental school said if I call at 8:00 a.m. every morning, they will put me on the emergency standby list. They really wanted to help me, but they, too, are swamped. The emergency list would be no problem and I would gladly do it but they are an hour and a half away. So I just don’t know how well this will work out. Hubby and I only have one gas guzzling not-so-good-condition vehicle that he needs to get to work in. Due to the kindness of a good friend though, I am going to try to work out the vehicle situation tonight and borrow a vehicle for a while.
Even if I get the vehicle situation worked out, I wonder how many mornings I will have to call before I get in. Will it be too late by the time I do? She said the list is long and the cancellations are few. If I do get in, I know they are not going to be able to do all the work I need in one sitting. Plus, I am supposed to have a blood draw 24 hours before I see the dentist to make sure my counts are high enough. That too could become a challenge if I am on an on-call basis.
What a day. A day of frustration. An edge of fear starting to creep in……..
I will start the calls again in the morning.
For those of you wondering what to do with your lives…… you just might want to consider becoming a dentist. I doubt the need for them is going to end any time soon. I heard plenty of stories today on how the patients per dentist numbers are way out of sync. And look at the good you would be doing for mankind at the same time!
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