Marathon Man is one of my favourite movies but I have my own reasons to be uncomfortable at a dental clinic. I knew taking the little guy would be a challenge, although probably more so on his second visit.
Sokcho does not have a children's dentist (I am not sure how to spell pede**** and would hate to choose the foot doctor from spellcheck) so we had to go to Gangneung. My classes last week were simply introductions and handing out class info: the syllabus, what text we would use, and so on. I felt it would be possible to do both activities on one day. It was, but it made for an exhausting day.
We took a bus to Gangneung and the driver, as about 50% of them do, thought he was driving a sports car and raced and weaved through traffic. KAlex quickly threw up, even after being dosed with Gravol before the trip. After emptying his belly, he slept the rest of the way. As an experienced traveller, I had seen this coming and our clothes remained clean, although KAlex did smell a little like fish -from breakfast, for the day.
At the Gangneung terminal, in the time it took to cross the terminal, he was back in high spirits, dancing to music from a coffee shop as we left.
The dentists did not ask, "Iz it safe?". They were friendly and took good care of the little guy. Still, the chair had restraints and I was instructed to hold KAlex's knees through the ordeal while the dentist and three assistants did their work. After filling two cavities, we were free to go and the little guy even mustered enough energy to wave goodbye as we left.
He fell asleep in the taxi to work and I deposited him in the staff office on a table in the care of the secretaries while I bought some lunch. When I had returned, the secretaries had not moved - they were still studying the little guy, who had not moved either -not one muscle. I actually put my hand on his chest to feel for motion. Man, that was one tired little guy.
I gave him forty minutes to rest before waking him. He was quiet and unhappy for an hour. During that time, we went to a class and I told them what to expect and KAlex was coed over. He did not respond much, just played with his dinosaurs in a corner next to the whiteboard.
After the class, we had some time and he recovered. He could eat no food because of the freezing he was given for the dental work but he sucked down some yogurt drink and seemed satisfied.
Soon he was running, playing and smiling. At this point, as noted in an earlier post, he began romancing the women on campus.
After two more classes, where he was roundly admired, we were ready to go home. The taxi ride to the terminal seemed fine but the little guy was sick again soon after we got out of the taxi.
Again, he recovered quickly. He ate some pastries and fed some to the pigeons -making him happy but probably not the terminal staff.
He fell asleep before we left Gangneung and slept all the way to Sokcho, which was nice. He was awake but wanted to be carried all the way from the bus stop to home, which was not so nice.
Now, he has another cold. I think we really wore down his energy on Friday, leaving him susceptible to illness. I think I'll be brushing his teeth on the hour, every hour from now on. That sounds less annoying than making another trip like that!
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2 comments:
I still think you should hold Alex over the driver's head during the trip and remind him that wild driving leads to vomiting in small children.
The first and (last time) Saylen and I went down there, they shot him abouta half-dozen times with an ancient x-ray while sitting on my lap (and no protection for either of us). All that to be told that they really had no idea why Saylen's teeth were chipping, other than that they were probably weak.
We took him in to a pediatric dentist while we were in Winnipeg, and she gave him a very comfortable exam and told us that it was very clear that his teeth were not lining up properly, and that it probably wouldn't be more than a cosmetic problem until his adult teeth come in.
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