This is the latest post in the series of William, Grace, and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.
At the end of last semester, William was complaining of ankle pain. Over the New Year's holiday weekend, he began to complain of intense tooth pain too.
He had an appointment for a cleaning on the first Tuesday of the year, so we kept that appointment, and he was able to show the dentist the tooth that was causing him pain. She did not see any decay, but surmised that the enamel had just worn so thin it was sensitive. So, she recommended a cap, and of course this tooth was not one of the ones on his treatment plan (from the previous week.)
They didn't have an opening that day, or the next, but they had him at the top of the list, so we ended up scheduling him for Thursday. They did have some cleaning appointments available for the twins that afternoon, so the 6 of us, plus Avia spent the day in Okemos. We were all pretty cranky and tired by the time the twins finished up. But it is nice to have 3 dental appointments marked off in one day!
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On Thursday, his first appointment was with the orthopedic center. Avia came over to watch the girls so that I could take William alone.
The tech ultimately decided to fit him for some inserts that can be put into his boots. Hopefully they will help alleviate some of his ankle pain.
His dental appointment was back to back with his orthopedic one, so we headed straight there. He did well for the dentist, but he did not like that his face was numb where they had worked.* We ran a few errands, and when his mouth was awake enough to eat, I had him show me his new "robot tooth." = )
He'll have 3-4 of his baby teeth capped by the time all is said and done. Sadly, in the x-rays they took, his adult teeth are already showing signs of weak enamel. She is recommending that we cap the adult teeth as soon as soon as they rupture. She showed me where his jaw bone is underdeveloped in the areas where he already lost teeth. This of course is also affecting his adult teeth as they grow in.
This makes me incredibly sad. The Strensiq has done so much for our children, and it has helped them lead such normal lives. I know that they have this horrible condition, but it is so easy to forget. It isn't fair that William has done nothing wrong and has to have all kinds of dental work before he's even in kindergarten. I was so hopeful that his adult teeth would be spared, but it seems like that will not be the case.
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His next appointment with the dentist is not until this end of February, but he is on the waitlist for cancelled appointments to try to get him in sooner.
The next big appointment day for us is at the end of this month. We're driving back up to Grand Rapids to see the ENT and get hearing tests done on all 3 little ones. We'll also be heading to the hospital for them to get the DEXA scans that we did not have time for in October.
The following week William will go into the orthopedic doctor, who will assess him to make sure that the inserts are ample, and will ultimately determine whether or not he'll have to have surgery on his ankles.
The final "initial" appointment we have on the calendar has been pushed back to march and is with the craniofacial doctor. He comes to Lansing once a month, and we were able to swing 3 appointments on one of his trips to town.
Hopefully all of these upcoming visits yield happier news than the dentist.
later days
*we were fortunate that he was able to use only laughing gas for this appointment. If he'd had problems, they would not be able to sedate him in office thanks to his HPP, so we would have had to schedule a dental appointment at the hospital. In that case, they would knock out all the areas at once, which is nice for our schedule, but much harder on me emotionally. = )
<what happened previously
what happened next>
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