Friday fragments

Had the permanent crown put on Thursday morning.

Despite the fact that the dentist I go to understands me and knows almost enough about my history to blackmail me, he still rushed me a bit.

I wasn't quite numb when he started to remove the temporary crown from my tooth.

I yelled. Loudly.

He stopped.
Apologized all over himself.
Profusely.

And we sat and chatted for another 15 minutes or so to give the novocaine time to really work. He had no other appointments scheduled for Thursday, he had planned to take the afternoon off to attend a dental convention.

When I told him how boring that sounded, his enthusiasm for his work started to really show. He waxed eloquent about new computer systems and equipment and learning new stuff.

After all that, my crown was cemented in place.

But.
I had to call on Friday morning to schedule another appointment to get it adjusted, unfortunately.

It's too close to one of my teeth and is bothering me when I bite down on that side.

::sigh::

I scheduled it for Wednesday. That's the only day I had available.

I see the surgeon on Monday about my knee.
PT on Tuesday.
Dentist on Wednesday.
PA on Thursday about the shoulder.
PT on Friday.

I'm falling apart.
Or, for the optimists among you, I'm getting put back together.
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Saw Shawn on Friday.
Did some new exercises.

Some of them caused me some pain and popping and ouch-ing. So we have not added those particular ones to my ever-growing list after all. He says that it's not because things weren't done right in the surgery, it's just that I'm not quite ready to do the exercises yet.

I trust him, but it's hard to be 100% confident in my eventual full recovery right now. Especially since as I write this on Friday night at 10:30, the shoulder is still bothering me from today's session.

I know, I know. Waaaah.
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I have two new kids in my program.
They arrived by plane two weeks ago to live with their mom. It was sudden. I don't know the story. I don't really need to know it, of course, but it's human to be curious, right?

The older one is 9 and ALL boy. Can't sit still, can't stop running in the room, can't keep his hands off other people. He's good natured about it, but has no self control or discipline.

The little one is a girl. Barely six. A tiny, elfin little person with blue eyes and dark hair. Enchanting. Ethereal.

And if you move too fast next to her, she cringes. I don't know their past, but just that makes me angry at the adults who were taking care of her before she came to live with her mom.

She's very shy and hangs out on the fringes of the group.

I am not attempting to draw her out yet, (okay, in a subtle way I am. I talk to her a bit, find reasons to smile at her or say something... I'm trying to be available and accessible without scaring her) but I have already found a few things she loves. Fuse beads. New markers. Lyssa made some new line drawings of baby animals for me, and I brought them in Friday afternoon.

Ella* spent the last part of the day tracing them and drawing elaborate scenes around them.

Did my little heart good to see her enjoy those simple pictures.

Then, I turned on some dance music. The kids started dancing, and Ella joined in. It made me feel really, really happy to see her forget to hang out on the fringes.

It made me feel glad to be there.

I love my job.