She said, He said

I'm going to skip a few things to get you all caught up. So the following is from April to now.

I saw Dr. Gagnon, my maxillofacial surgeon, in April. I had been fighting an infection for a month, and I was absolutely miserable. I've taken antibiotics for my constant infections so often, that it seemed I had built a resistance to them. He tried to convince me to let him pull all of my teeth. That was the only way I would be able to get rid of the recurring infections.

How does a woman, at 35, go completely toothless? Sure, most of my apprehension was over how I would look with no teeth. I've been told all my life that I'm such a pretty girl. I have gorgeous, big blue eyes. Don't know how many times I've heard, "You would be so beautiful if your mouth was fixed." (As if I was happy with the way my mouth looks.)

A much bigger concern of being without teeth, was how it would effect my speech. Some people already have a difficult time understanding me. I constantly have to repeat myself, especially over the phone or at a drive-up window. I have to battle my fistula to pronounce some letters, so having no teeth to press my tongue against when I speak, could only make it so much worse.

I fought Dr. Gagnon on pulling them that week in April. I had no confidence that I would find that special doctor who was willing and able to create a new mouth for me. For all I knew, I could go 5 years with no teeth. How do you eat? How would I speak properly? How would I look? How many times would I be asked, "What happened to you?"

So Dr. Gagnon's assistant, Jennifer, said she would make a few calls to Kansas City, specifically to the University of Kansas Medical Center. She seemed hopeful that someone there would be able to help us.

The following week, she contacted my mom with a number to call. She was given the name of a doctor who had the capacity to make a special set of dentures. Mom called the number she was given, but the name of the company didn't fit. It turned out to be an organ donation center. Mom was confused, but asked if there was such a doctor there by the name she had been given. There was. However, the doctor only took patients if another doctor spoke directly to him. You can't walk off the street and be seen by this doctor.

Now, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, well than your doctor must have called him for you, right? No. Why not? I have no idea. The forces seemed to still be against me.

However, that center did give my mom another number to call. They in turn gave her a different number to call. This went on and on through out the afternoon.

Mom grew weary and became frustrated. She was now experiencing the same dilemma I had been battling alone for 5 years. Trying to get people to listen, understand, and help. She didn't give up though. She kept calling each new number she was given.

Finally, she reached Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri. She explained my whole situation to the lady on the other end of the phone. Told her about my birth defects, my fistula, my infections, and exactly what we were looking for and needing. The lady set an appointment for me with a doctor at 1pm on Friday, June 1st.

Kansas City is a three hour drive from where I live. So mom, my daughter, and I packed a few snacks and hit the road that morning. Traffic wasn't too bad going up. I got a little turned around, but found the hospital. Once we arrived, we discovered I had to register, which took about 20 minutes as they were training a new employee. So I was officially late to my first appointment.

They called me back, so mom and my daughter went with me. The nurse asked what I was there for. I looked at mom, because I didn't even know the doctors name that I was supposed to be seeing.

She explained to the nurse why and what we were there for, but the nurse said we were in the wrong place. They went back and forth, about how mom had explained my whole story to whoever she made the appointment with, but it didn't seem to matter. The doctor that I had been "scheduled" to see didn't even work on Fridays. Never had!

I started crying, seeing past broken promises dancing around my head again. Oh, how can this happen again? Why can't anyone help me? Why is it so hard to find the miracle doctor I need?

The nurse felt bad that we had driven 3 hours to get there, for what seemed like nothing. She said "Give me a minute, let me see what I can do." Soon a tall, handsome, Dr. Myers walks in the room. He wanted to hear my story. So mom and I went through it quickly......my path to find a much needed specialist, the let downs, my pain, my setbacks.

He looked at the X-ray, looked in my mouth, and said there was a doctor who worked there that had the ability to do what I needed done. However, he only took patients directly referred by another physician. Dr. Myers wrote the referral on the spot for me.

The doctor he was referring me to, only works two days a week. So I would have to make another appointment to come back. With my job, you have to put in for a day off at least 3 weeks in advance, in most cases. Even then, it has to be approved, so your not certain you will have it off. You can call always call in, but it counts against you. More than 3 call ins, and your at risk for losing your job.

So we scheduled my next appointment for 3 weeks out on June 28th, and prayed I would be able to get it off. I did.

Find out what happens June 28th, in my next post.