Sometimes I suck at life

and parenting in particular. Mr. Mature has six, count 'em 6, cavities. I have brushed his teeth and taken him to the dentist since he was an infant. He has always gone with me when I've had to go to the dentist. He loves it there. He loves brushing his teeth, and I've never had to fight him to do it. So imagine my horror when, today, the dentist informed me that my kid had so many cavities, and one so bad that it requires a root canal and a fucking crown, that she didn't feel she could treat him in the office. Instead, she feels he needs to have all his dental work done at once. In the hospital. Under sedation. Yeah. She wants to put my kid to sleep to fix his rotting teeth. And all for the low, low price of $3k.
I feel like an utter failure. He's only 4. I don't understand how this happened. Well, that's not entirely true. I know how it happened. He has my horrid teeth. They are very close together and difficult to clean in the back. Any guesses where the cavities are? Yep, you guessed it, in between his teeth and in the back. Which is exactly where all of my issues have always been with my teeth. My parents didn't take me to the dentist when I was a kid, except for when I broke my front teeth out while being an idiot. The result? I had completely rotten molars and an abcess when I finally went to the dentist at 13. I had to have four root canals, two crowns, and what seemed like a hundred fillings. I lived in the dentist's office for months and probably paid for his vacation home in the Bahamas AND his kid's college tuition with the work he put into my mouth. As he was repairing my teeth, the dentist lamented not only the condition of my teeth, but their make-up as well. My teeth suck. They are too close together in the back and the enamel is weak. He called them 'pithy' because they are soft and porous. And this festering cesspool of a dental nightmare is what I passed on to my son. Awesome.

A post for future explanation

Why, WHY do people I can't stand feel they are entitled to a 'drop-in' visit? Mr. Mature's birthday party is tomorrow. If you can't make it, so be it. That doesn't entitle you to suck up all of my Saturday with your inane drivel and passive aggressive shittiness. For the record, I hate you as much as you hate me. Since you've stopped pretending, so will I. I don't want you in my house! The only reason I'll open the door is because that little boy still thinks you are a nice person. Some day, when cheap toys and Wal-mart outfits lose their mystique, he'll see you for the fucked up mess you are. I. Can't. Wait.

A little late, but as promised

The health update.
I'm about to turn 30 and my body is falling apart, or threatening to. It's highly annoying. It seems as though this summer was spent either in a doctor's office, an lab, or travelling to one or the other. I have been having trouble iwth my right ear. I used to have very accute hearing. Even with my back turned, I could hear my students' whispers from across the room and repeat what they had said. Now I just hear the hushed buzzing of secrets, but not the actual words. And there is a constant pressure in that ear, like someone is sticking their finger in it and pushing hard. Sometimes it hurts, mostly it just pisses me off and distracts me. It annoys me and concerns me. So I went to the doctor. She threw lots of scary words and referral slips at me and sent me on my way. I had to have an MRI and then go see an ENT. The end result, nothing. The MRI showed nothing that shouldn't have been there. Good news is, I do, in fact, have a brain. The ENT did some hearing tests, a physical exam and then shrugged his shoulders. He said something like "yep, you've lost some hearing on the right side. It's definitely not as good as the left. But there's nothing physical causing it. That's just weird. I don't really know what to tell you other than come back in a year so we can monitor your hearing loss." Gee. Thanks. So, here I sit with my retarded ear. Now my jaw is starting to hurt on that side, so I'm thinking maybe TMJ (which the ENT did mention but said he was pretty sure I didn't have it.) So I may go back to the doctor and ask her about that. We'll see. I'm a little sick of seeing her face, as I'm sure she is of seeing mine.
While I was there for the ear thing, I mentioned my stomach issues. I have a very grumpy tummy. It hates me, in fact. It hurts at least daily, usually more than once a day. It feels like the right side of my abdomin is trying to claw its way out of my body with a teaspoon and fire. I also have issues with food. When I eat, I usually have a five to 20 minute window before I'm going to have to run for a bathroom, depending on what I've eaten. I've suspected for a while that my gall bladder was unhappy. So, upon giving her this little nugget of information, she scrunched up her face at me and tossed some more scary referral slips at me and sent me to have an abdominal ultrasound and referred me to a gastroenterologist. The ultasound showed I have small gall stones, but that's allegedlly normal given my age and the fact that I've had two midgets. Apparently exercising your uterus can cause gall stones. I still haven't figured out how that works, but whatever. The gastro was a very nice man who can't tell time. I sat and waited in his lobby for the better part of an hour, trying to entertain 2 kids because he (or his underlings) had forgotten about my appointment. Nice. The short of it is that he believes I will have to have my gallbladder removed at some point, but before he hacks up my tumtum, he wants to be sure there isn't something else to blame, since the stones are so small. So I get to have a scope shoved down my throat and more scanning and poking and prodding done of my innards in the coming weeks. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Whatever. I just want this feeling to stop. It sucks recycled ass.
So, there ya go, the health update I promised. Lovely, wasn't it? :)