Insanity...

So, I have a few interesting dental issues going on, lately.

Myself...

I was eating some pistachios a while back and cracked a tooth. Hurt like all get out, but eventually the pain subsided and life went on. Then I was flossing one evening and out comes a huge piece of tooth...broken below the gumline. Hello, Mr. Bridge. Yeah $1500 worth of work...after the tooth is pulled. Then there's the root canals I still need done (two of them) at $200 each and then the crowns for each at $800/ea.

Anyone feeling the palpitations of minor financial panic, yet?

Yeah.

Then let's move on to...

Bartleby...

Let me just paste what I sent to PAWS of Austin:

Hello.

I have a dog that is needing serious dental care and I'm afraid that the prices I'm being quoted to get some teeth cleaned and pulled along with some antibiotics are well outside my reasonable range to handle.

Do you know of any facilities in the Austin area that can handle this kind of work without breaking me financially? My dog has a gum infection and a couple of teeth that need to be pulled and I'm worried that his already weakened jaw (from a previous break - prior to my adoption of him) will not withstand this infection for long...as well, he's started having sinus issues and I'm concerned that the gum infection might have spread to his sinuses. At the very least, I'd like to get him on a round of antibiotics to help with the infection until I can save up for the prohibitive cost of the dental work. Do you think this is possible? Are there pet denists around Austin who might do this kind of step by step thing? or let me make payments per month or something?

I'm really worried about my sweet pup.

Thanks for your time.

Yeah...palpitations moving on toward potential panic attack.

Then we deviate from dental work a bit - though not fully.

Loki...

Needs a deep cleaning to avoid winding up where Bartleby is. $350. Plus he has these masses growing on his skin that are not cancerous and are pretty typical of cokerpoos. They don't hurt him, though the one near his eye will cause him problems eventually - but one on his leg really needs to be removed. They get snagged by the clippers when I trim him and I feel so bad about it. The removal of these requires surgery - I've been too scared to even ask for an estimate.

Valkyrie...

Is golden except for her wheezing from time to time that really seems to be allergies. Though she could use getting a once over on her teeth.

All of us - need our annual checkups (and they need their shots). My insurance covers my checkup....but theirs is going to be painful - particularly including their preventative meds.

I need a paper bag to breathe into - I think I'm going to hyperventilate...

Thought my potential bonus this summer would go to paying off debt. It seems it's already been spent elsewhere, however.