Braces

Scott is mad at me. I should actually say I hurt his feelings so he’s upset with me.

Anyone who knows us understands that Ethan and Scott really don’t get along. Scott just can’t or won’t (not sure which it is truthfully) understand that there are many times when we have to give Ethan a little more attention and understanding and lots of extra patience. Ethan gets very upset with Scott quite a bit. I am often a mediator between the two, calming one or both down. It’s very mentally exhausting.

Today was Ethan’s consultation with an orthodontist. Scott picked up Ethan from school and then picked me up at work and we all three went to the ortho. In public those two try hard to get along and turn their bickering into a form of teasing, they both laugh about things but you can still see a glint of anger in both of their eyes’.

Today was no different. We got through the consultation and decided to go ahead and have Ethan get braces. He did fine during x-rays and Scott did the normal ribbing, don’t move, don’t smile, don’t don’t don’t. When we say don’t do something that is normally when Ethan does do the something. It’s like he can’t stop himself. All during x-rays Scott would say don’t smile and Ethan would get a huge grin on his face. Ethan, don’t move. He would flap his arms.

I was doing ok up until the impression time came. We have tried to do impressions before and Ethan ended up gagging and then got so upset about gagging that he threw up all over me. At least it wasn’t all over the dental tech that was trying to get the impressions done.

When the tech started mixing the goo to take the impressions Scott started in on Ethan about not gagging or puking. One jab after another. I finally asked Scott to stop it, there was no need to get him all riled up about this and have him psyched out about puking again. Scott just stared at me and finally said I can see I’m not needed here. And then he walked back to the waiting area and watched Monster’s Inc.

Ethan managed to get through impressions with very little gagging. The tech had Ethan laying down almost flat and he immediately started with the noises. I asked if he could sit up, that it might be easier for all of us. Once I got her to agree to try that it was smooth sailing. The dental tech even thanked me, I think she was panicking about dealing with Ethan. I had made sure to let them know he is Autistic so they would know to have extra patience with him.

When I set up the appointment the first thing I said to the receptionist was that Ethan is Autistic and please tell me now if someone there can’t handle it so I can go elsewhere. I told her that his very first dental experience was a bad one, with name calling and a dental tech that even smacked Ethan’s hands. She assured me that there would definitely be none of that and what a horrible thing to have to live through.

I am very sure that I will be happy with this orthodontist. They were all very nice and patient with us.

When Ethan and I got in the truck after the appointment was over I did apologize to Scott and explained why I asked him to stop. I just did not feel the need for Ethan to get upset and make himself throw up on purpose when it could be something that we avoided.



We took Ethan back to school, Scott brought me back to work, I asked Scott if he would bring me a sandwich for lunch because I’d forgotten to make my lunch this morning, I got out of the truck when he never answered me and he proceeded to drive off without a word to me.

Scott’s mad and/or hurt, Ethan’s worried about getting braces, and I get to fork over only $1650 for braces.

Thank God for insurance.