WELL, *THAT* CAME AROUND TO BITE ME ON THE BUTT

Kendrie -- Day 214 OT

Blaine -- 9 weeks until we find out if the radiation worked

When Kendrie commenced the long-term maintenance portion of her chemo protocol, she began taking a nightly chemo drug that couldn’t interact with food, and especially couldn’t interact with dairy products. This posed a problem for us, as all three of my kids were accustomed to drinking a glass of milk right before bed, and had done so for years. Blaine and I were actually relieved for a concrete reason to break the nightly milk routine ---- most nights they didn’t drink it all before falling asleep (WASTEFUL), I was sick and tired of finding congealed, putrid, rancid sippy cups underneath the beds (DISGUSTING), and mainly, I just didn’t want to make the milks every night anymore (LAZY).

So we proclaimed that if Kendrie couldn’t have milk before bed, neither could the other two. The moaning and wailing and begging that ensued was bothersome for a while, but eventually everyone got used to the new rule, and I haven’t had to throw out a nasty, revolting, spoiled sippy cup for the past two years. (Nasty, spoiled Tupperware, housing biology experiments in the back of my fridge, is another story, but no cups.) Blaine and I patted ourselves on the back at our clever thinking and resourcefulness. Outsmarted those kids once again, yes we did, and right proud of it.

Fast forward to today: Brayden began Phase I of her Orthodontic Regimen (Did you just hear that pathetic groan? That was Blaine’s wallet!) and had spacers placed between her teeth, in preparation for next week’s visit, which will be the start of twenty-two months of extenders, and bands, and tightening keys, and Lord only knows what other kinds of modern-day oral torture the poor girl will have to endure. And that's before she even GETS the braces!!

As we were leaving the office, the dental technician gave us a hand out about the spacers and how to take care of them, and gave us one last minute piece of advice: No gum, or sticky, chewy candy of any kind, otherwise the spacers will pop right out and she’ll have to get them re-done. “For how long?” I asked, thinking of the bag of piñata candy Brayden got at a birthday party yesterday (more on that to come later) and how I would have to confiscate it as soon as we got home. “Oh, the entire two years” replied the technician, with a sympathetic smile. “Her candy and gum chewing days are over for quite some time.”

We got out to the car, and Brayden turned to me and said, “Well, if I can’t eat candy or gum, neither can Kellen or Kendrie, or that’s not fair.” I sort of snorted, and said, “You expect them to give up candy for two years just because *YOU* are getting braces?” and she came back with, “We all had to give up milk at bedtime when Kendrie was on chemo and *SHE* couldn’t have it!”

{crickets chirping}

Damn. I hate when they’re right. Outsmarted by those kids once again.