You get what you pay for...

which means bluh. Having Svend in school has had to be our greatest "trials" ever. Yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and YES it's coming into view, but man it's been a tough road. I've been having these horrible pains in my mouth and ear for 4 weeks now. It started with a sore throat and earache. Svend had the same thing and went to the dr. They said it was a virus....so I didn't go. Then, my mouth started hurting. Everytime I get a sinus infection, my teeth hurt, so I began sudafed. 2 weeks into it I noticed a filling had come out alittle bit. I went to the dentist where she fixed and found another one and "fixed" it as well. She confirmed what I'd thought about my sinuses and told me to stay on the sudafed. After that the pain got worse. I took myself and the 3 kids to the ER one morning b/c it was so horribly bad. She didn't take x-rays, just went off what the dentist had said, then proscribed antibiotics/pain meds. 3 days later it was worse than ever. I went to my dr who gave me more antibiotics and steroids. By Friday night I thought I was going to die--BTW, it's ONLY AT NIGHT! Svend gave me a blessing on Saturday. I wanted him to command the "whatever" to leave my body. I was a little mad that he didn't. Sunday night I knew I had to try the dentist again. She told me I needed a root canal... FUNNY! Since she didn't NOTICE THAT 2 WEEKS PRIOR!!!!!!!!! UGHHHH!!!!!

So, I went for a second opinion who confirmed it but said never to go back to the original dentist. She had done horribly filling my cavities and repairing my filling. I went to the endodontist of his recommendation where he confirmed I did need a root canal and HOPES that this stops the pain. He then looked at the reason I needed one....well, the filling that our "public aid" dentist fixed (the one I was told NEVER to go back to) wasn't done well and she hit a nerve with everything...or something like that. So he re-affirmed...never go back there!

The new dentist (the great one, that I paid $$ for), was wonderful. Though, he did make me cry. I'm sooo emotional these days--of course when you haven't slept more than 3-4 hours a night for 3 weeks that tends to happen.

So back to the reason of the trial of Svend's schooling.... yes, it's no secret we are on public aid. I don't know how a student and family could survive without it. So many non-students think we're soaking the system...if they only knew how much in debt we are to the government (yes, they are the ones who "give" us the loans and we pay them back to with interest). Anyways, we have enough to survive and we've been blessed to budget carefully enough that we have a little extra sometimes--which is a HUGE blessing...b/c it seems that whenever we have a little extra, something comes up--like a huge car repair, or a root canal, or something else. So we've been blessed.

I have learned so much these last 3 years. A lot of it has to do with judging. Everytime I swipe my "food card" I talk to the kids about daddy in medical school...or like today when I was at the dentist whose going to be out of pocket, I explain our situation b/c of med school. It's a mental boost for me I guess. But the other day I was in line at the grocery store and the clerk had just taken someone's money card and after they left he commented on how he hates when people abuse the system. Well, then came me :) He was pretty rude when he handed me my receipt. Yes, it's true, some people REALLY do abuse the system--okay, A LOT of people do. But in today's economy, there are more people I'm sure on public aid then there have been. Some may drive nice cars and have nice clothes b/c they didn't sell everything they had before applying for the aid.

And trust, me, it's no walk in the park. "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR" as I really learned this month when it comes to dentists that take public aid. It's frustrating that the "Abuse" is on both sides of the fence. Okay, I think I'll get off my soap box and stop now. Hoping tomorrow comes soon b/c my mouth is about to explode and I need to go have another screaming session in the kitchen with the pillow over my mouth... sweet dreams!