Sorry

First and foremost I need to say I am sorry to all the stay-at-home-mom's who may see this. If I have already stopped you on the street and apologized, you get a 2fer. I used to believe, with all the conviction of somebody who has never been there, that stay-at-home-moms had a great deal. Play with the kids, watch TV, go to the park and sometimes do a little housework. OK mom's, done laughing? I was WRONG!! Oh so wrong.
I have worked as a bricklayer, heavy lifting and long hours in the heat and cold. A nurse, more heavy lifting and long hours with the addition of cleaning (and sometimes dodging) various bodily fluids and occasionally fending off angry family members and confused patients. And the one I thought was the worst, life coach for developmentally disabled adults with behavior problems. Still more heavy lifting, still dodging fluids and solids (sometimes while driving), still fending off clients with the added fun of angry citizens. Only in that case I was out in the world with no back-up.
When my wife became pregnant and we decided I would do the Mom thing because she had a better job with better insurance, I jumped at what I thought would be a vacation. Again, I was wrong. At a "real" job you get to go home after your shift. My job is waiting for me when I wake up in the morning and my shift does not end until after bedtime stories are read. At a job you are responsible for your work. At my job I am responsible for a life. At Farmer's Market in La Verne last year I let my daughter Emma dangler her feet in the fountain in front of the University, I should have seen this coming, she jumped in. OK it's a warm night she'll be fine, until she starts screaming her foot hurts, BLOOD! Did she step on a rusty pipe? The next thing I know I'm running down a crowded street with a screaming, bleeding three year old in my arms. Funny, nobody asked what the hell I was doing. It's good to be six foot seven inches and change when one is in mama bear mode. Everything turned out fine, she stepped on a piece of glass and I disinfected and bandaged the cut when I got to my truck. Now she loves to hear the story of "Emma's fount ion", I think she earned the right to have it named after her. At least in our house.
So, once again let me say how sorry I am for thinking mom's have it easy. This is absolutely the hardest damn job I have ever done. And the most rewarding one that I wouldn't change or trade for anything.

The Terrible Tooth

Like many adults I am afraid of the dentist. But unlike most I am terrified of the dentist, but at least I admit to it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a coward who faints at the site of blood. In fact, I like to consider myself as fairly tough. I have survived two knee replacements and one hip replacement surgeries, numerous dirt bike crashes, job site accidents, including one where I tore my lower leg open on a water pipe. It was just like in anatomy textbook, I could see the bones, muscles and yellow blobs that turned out to be fat. YUCK. That time I simply put the flap back, taped my leg closed with duct tape (there is a use that's not on the label), cleaned my tools and then drove back to Glendora fron Northridge. And not one but two bouts with MRSA. The round MRSA scar is on my side, I show it to people and tell them it is a mistake to teach your woman to shoot. They get all wide eyed and ask if she shot me, i just smile and say yea but she missed, that's from a infection. So far everyone has laffed. I have a lot of scars and a story to go with every one. Some have more than one story, the truth and the one that's fun to tell and I hope fun to hear.
Having a wife, two daughters and enough school loans to pay for a very nice car, money is tight at my house. But a abscessed tooth is a perfect way to get a infection in a prosthetic joint which could cost me one of my new knees, hip, a leg or even my life. So when I first noticed a pain in my tooth in December I naturally figured (hoped) it was refered pain from the tooth opposite, which had a large cavity. The dentist soon assured me that not only do I have a huge cavity but a infected root-canal in the tooth opposite. I had a root-canal redone a few years ago, it cost $400, hurt like hell and lasted less than a year. I like walking around even more than chewing so I opted to have the offending tooth pulled. Sure said the dentist, it will cost $700. After I got up off the floor I explained to him what he could kiss for $700. My mother-in-law and wife go to a dentist in Mexico, I know what your thinking, I thought the same way. So I went with them to show them what a mistake it was to go to a third world country for dental work. I went in there like Lee Strobel (The Case For Christ) would go into a church, I used to be a nurse so I looked at their techniques, autoclave, diplomas, asked a lot of loaded questions and finally became a convert. This particular dentist was not only very professional but incredibly gentle and patient with my phobia. Needless to day now I'm a regular patient. It is a long drive but if I can get the mother-in-law to drive...not so bad.
Because I was afraid, needed a passport and simply did not have the time I waited from December to July to get things fixed. When I said the first infected root canal hurt like hell I was lying. This hurt like HELL, the other was a stubbed toe. After 3 hours, a gallon of anaesthetic and lots of reassuring words and distracting stories it was still killing me and would not come out! Finally I took hold of the armrests and assured my 5 foot 6 inch dentist there would be no repercussions from his 6 foot 7 inch patient, just do it. And he did. I swear that tooth had roots like mammoth tusks.
The moral of the blog is of course not to let things go no matter how scary and more importantly, do not judge a book by its cover. Or a dentist by the city he practices in.
If anyone is interested my dentist's E-mail is DrSolorio@ DrSolorio.com