Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Micah and Braces and Vegas

Even after having three kids with braces, thanks to the great dentist linealanoie.com, I never had to go to an orthodontists office for a consult. Until today.

After years of hearing Micah's speech go from being clear as a bell to being less and less intelligible, his dentist felt it was time to move him up to the next step. So today happened.

This ortho place was quite a show. A marble three bowl teeth brushing station, xboxes, TVs, and the testing equipment was amazing. Full face X-rays, and a whole head MRI machine where we could view his skull, brain, spine, sinuses, even his pipes going down his throat, all of it on a screen. And get this, the radiologist they use lives and has his office in Las Vegas. They just email the files, he views them, and emails out his report. I confess I was running a tally of the costs as each new tool was used.

The end result for Micah was as bad as we expected. Maybe a little worse. Jaw mis-aligned, bad overbite, locking jaw, and so on. Sigh.

He will need braces and "elective" surgery, then braces again to pull his jaw forward. Let's just say it won't be easy. Then following that he will have to relearn many things with his new face, including speech therapy.

And we will need God to be God again for us and for him. For Micah in the process, and for us in paying the bill. There is no insurance where this will take us. Not even for the surgery.

I teasingly offered Micah $5000 tonight if he would just forgo the process and live with it. Wisely he asked for double that. I'm thinking it over. I'd still come out thousands ahead.

I'm not really worried about it yet. It's just a number, and the way God has taken care of us in the past gives me confidence in the future.

It's a big deal for Micah, and for us as a family. Today was just another step on that journey.

I'm curious to see where it all leads.

7 comments:

  1. well with puberty comes braces, I guess! Goodluck almost grampa!! Ps, check out tdays starphoenix 4 pics of the snow engl got. Luv Gaylene

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  2. Is surgery really necessary? My jaw was always badly aligned and locked up all the time (and clicked all the time, and hurt and ached and all that jazz) and regular massage therapy fixed it for me. Now I don't have to go regularly, and it's still fixed.

    I'm just saying, it might be cheaper than surgery...

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  3. Ouch, on several levels. Thinking of you guys.

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  4. J: I know but your top teeth at least extend over your bottom teeth. His aren't even close to doing that. And his speech is continuing to deteriorate. It's really hard to talk when your mouth is doing those things.

    And yeah, a phone call this morning confirmed that insurance won't cover any of it. What's the point of insurance if.....

    G: Hi Gaylene, you reading this on the bus on the way to work??

    T: Thanks Toni. I'm really glad we came when we did. It might have been a lot tougher to do it after yesterday. :)

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  5. I think it's time to put the boy out to work.
    How much could you get for him on a neighbouring farm?

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  6. Adopt him out to someone in Saskatchewan where the surgery is still a covered service. :)

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  7. Thoughts and prayers for you guys.

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