monetary, emotional, and moral dilemmas

By the end of today, I will have spent almost $4000 on Bean's medical costs, in less than one month [ouch]. Her recent IC flare-up, the resulting emergency room visit and overnight stay, the annual check-up right after that, and now as part of the dental cleaning [involving sedation], they found that she had "resorptive lesions" on three teeth [a genetic condition in which the enamel is absorbed back into the body, exposing the root and causing pain and potential tooth fracture]. Only treatment: extraction surgery. It's not the same as decay, which can have the treatment put off for a while...it's something that should be done as soon as possible. And since it's full surgery, it's not cheap.

The timing is rotten...one of those "if I'd known, I wouldn't have done x, y, or z" situations. It's not just the money [though that's a hard one, especially since I'm a "single income household"]...there's also the time factor. While Will is awesome, and has gone above and beyond with pitching in, I'm still a very self-sufficient person, and it's hard for me to just let others take over things that are my responsibility. So I'm juggling work, the cats, and a thousand other things that need my attention...and sadly, it's not enough. So trying to prioritize and just let some things fall away, which sucks, and hurts my organized, retentive, "I can do it" soul.

Keep trying to remind myself: breathe in, breathe out. [Sighing is breathing, right??]