Fighting Blindness and Helping Orphans - and a great dentist

Look at my neice Lucy's beautiful blue eyes!

Sadly, Lucy is gradually loosing her eyesight. She's lost most of her night vision, her glasses keep getting thicker, and she's learning braille in school so she can be ready for what might come.

There are some great doctors and researchers who are making strides in their research to help children like Lucy. But that costs money - lots of money. And children like Lucy don't have a lot of time. So my sister Shawni is working hard to raise money to support research for BBS (Bardet Bidel Syndrome - the syndrome Lucy has that causes blindness and many other heartbreaking issues like obesity and kidney failure).

You can help raise money for this vital research and help the many, many children who have this syndrome by checking out all the great fundraising offers that readers of Shawni's blog have created. Click on the link below to see what's offered (some great Christmas gift ideas!). Included is a chance to purchase the Power of Moms' Alexander's Amazing Adventures program at a great discount (and the proceeds go towards BBS).

Great Gifts/Chance to Support BBS Research for the "I Love Lucy" Project

And for those of you who live anywhere near Ogden, UT, we'd LOVE to have you join us for this year's Children for Children Concert. Our kids and their friends will be sharing some musical numbers and putting on a little Nativity play as a way to raise money to help other children. We'll be donating the funds we gather to the "I Love Lucy Project" for BBS Research to try to save Lucy's eyes (and those of so many other children with BBS) and to One Heart Bulgaria (we always support this organization that provides warm blankets and healthy food to destitute orphans in Bulgaria where I served my mission).

This year's concert (the 7th Annual!) will be held Monday, December 16th from 6:30-7:30pm at a community center near us. Let me know your email address in the comments if you'd like to have your children participate or if you'd like to just come and watch!

Here's information on some past concerts in case you're interested:
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2008/12/children-for-children-and-joy-school.html
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2009/12/concert-success.html 
http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/almost-snowed-out-concert.html

And while I'm making announcements for Ogden-area people, here's one more. I've been through lots of dentists in the different places we've lived and have had a hard time finding one that really works for us here in Ogden. But I finally found a really great dentist here - Dr. Healy. Yeah!

A while back, I visited a dentist who freaked me out by telling me that pretty much all my fillings needed to be replaced, I needed 2 crowns, and my gums were receded to the point that I needed gum grafts. NOT good news since dental work scares me and since dental insurance won't cover much until you've had it for a full year and I'd just barely got the insurance. I visited a couple other dentists with the kids and they were OK but seemed to be always encouraging more treatment than really seemed necessary. One dentist told me that one of the kids needed a filling in a baby tooth that had a tiny tiny cavity. He said that maybe 50% of dentists would recommend that the filling be taken care of right away and 50% would just put a "watch" on it. I'm conservative when it comes to medical and dental treatments so I think I'd side with the 50% that would put a watch on the tooth. But despite the fact that he'd stated that the need for the cavity was 50/50, this dentist really pushed for the cavity to be filled. We declined and decided to look elsewhere.

Anyway, at long last, I found a dentist who is thorough but conservative and who is great with adults and kids alike. His hygienist was gentle but thorough (the last time I had a cleaning, I was in pain for days!). After being examined by Dr Healy, I was told that my gums were pretty normal for my age and that I should simply floss well and use a soft toothbrush, that my fillings were holding up fine but that they'd keep an eye on them, and that I needed one crown (he showed me the xray showing decay under a very large and very old filling and consulted with me on the options there - the crown really seemed to be the best option).

I have to admit I get pretty stressed out about dental work. Those shots in the mouth and that drilling just makes me so uncomfortable and nervous. Plus this whole crown thing seemed scary - drilling down my tooth and prepping it for the crown, figuring out what sort of crown would be best. But Dr Healy explained every little thing to me, answered all my questions thoroughly, told me exactly what to expect, and took great care of me, meticulously working very close to the root of that sad old tooth and sparing me a root canal.

I've now got a nice crown in my mouth that matches my other teeth perfectly and feels great. Such a relief!

I don't often endorse specific services, products or people on this blog, but since a good conservative dentist can be hard to find, I wanted to let local people know about Dr Healy. He's on 12th Street near Washington in Ogden and he really does a great job.

* While Dr Healy is a sponsor of my blog, the experiences and opinions stated here are entirely genuine.