just skip the anesthesia. he's tough.

My oldest son had his wisdom teeth out today. While I worried and waited, I got to thinking about managing his pain and remembering the aftermath of my brain surgery two years ago. I made a bunch of notes for a blog post about this and then thought to do a search of this blog. It turns out I wrote a post on exactly this subject almost a year ago. 

Sigh.

Can I blame these lapses in memory on the brain surgery or just on aging? Or stress?

My son's procedure went well and he is now very stoned and asleep in his room. To pay for all this we had to put 1800.00 on our credit card.

This is mind-boggling to me. Why is this not covered by public health care?I know the historical reason why (the first wave of Medicare was supposed to be followed by dental care and a Pharmacare program. That never happened.) but doesn't it cost the province much more to hospitalize someone whose wisdom teeth have become impacted?

Dental care is a real "don't get me started." Ask anyone who knows me.

Fortunately, my private insurance will cover most of the cost. However, it only covers part of the cost of anesthesia. What would have happened if we had been unwilling to pay the difference? Our 16 year old son would only have been partially anesthetized while they yanked out his wisdom teeth? 

This mystifies me.

And it's only a small taste of what we'd experience if we didn't have socialized medicine.

Gratuitous photo of my handsome son, with all wisdom teeth still in his mouth

happy new year!

Today is the first day of school in these parts. We all had mixed feelings about it. Summer went by way too fast for me and I think we all revelled in the things we did (a week at the cottage, an overnight in Montreal, a few days in New York) and the things we didn't (lots of sleeping in, watching movies, reading books and hanging out). I'm very conscious these days of how quickly time is passing.

Last year, I wrote a post called "new beginnings" and here I am again. For me (and I suspect for many people), the first day of school will always mark the new year, way more than that first day in January.

Daniel is in Grade 6.

Sacha is in Grade 11.

This is obviously not a first day of school photo. But that was never going to happen.

Summer is over.

It's time to get begin the new year.