OK, wait So it's all becoming a blur, but I ended up needing a root canal, my Dentist, well my Dentist at the time, he is no longer my Dentist doesn't do root canals but calls in someone else. No problem, this other person comes to his office and the work is done there, well if we want to call it work.
Over 2 hours with mouth jacked open him fumbling around, blah, blah, blah, long story, lots of discomfort - read pain, and I am trying to block it all from my memory. Well after the root canal I must wait a bit then go in for the crown, another REALLY bad experience that makes my stomach go all squishy when I think about it. Then I break the tooth that had the root canal and my dentist wasn't available. Add to that, later when I told my Dentist I was having discomfort in the tooth that had the root canal he told me I couldn't be having any discomfort because I'd had a root canal, EXCUSE ME?! Well that was pretty much what ended our 5 year relationship.
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OK, so I've got a new Dentist, dr Ernesto, who I am liking pretty much. He has done a few cleanings, and when I started having some serious discomfort in the offending molar he took an xray of same offending molar in which he identified a small pocket at the bottom of one of the roots that is infected. Mr Specialist Root Canal guy blew it! Thank You so very frickin much!
Anyway, dr Ernesto indicates that to fix this will require an oral surgeon as they will have to go in from the side, blah, blah, blah, or another root canal - I can't even think about it, my hand is starting to shake and I can't keep correcting my typing mistakes or I'll give up on this and go read a book.
So, I have this ground down nub of a molar that has had a root canal but is now infected, I have to do the antibiotics to get the infection down. dr Ernesto has indicated to me that he has spoken with new specialist dentist's office and that they understand what's going on, especially helpful since my spanish isn't really good enough to go through a big long explanation. And I do feel better knowing that new mr specialist dentist knows my history.
So I get to mr specialist dentist's office today, well actually yesterday, which is really quite lovely, and big, with lots of people in pastel shades of medical garb, all smiling and happy, and lots of little cubicles (6 or 8 I believe) where dental work gets done. And the dental chairs face a bank of glass behind which is this awesome aviary, I'm gonna like this - I now have aviary envy. I start by trying to explain my spanish isn't so good, he says his english isn't so good, we have a laugh, ha, ha, ha!, then I tell him how afraid and nervous I am about dental work, he says him too!, we have another laugh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! This is where the laughing ends.
We go and do a full surround xray, when we get back to the cubicle and I am asking him about his conversation with dr Ernesto he gives me this look! He doesn't know who I am talking about, or anything about me. So now first thing I start to wonder is am I in the right place, I called and made the appointment myself, did I call the right place? So I try to explain some more, I pull out the trusty iPad and pull up some emails between dr Ernesto and me, still doesn't know dr Ernesto or me. GREAT! So he starts to talk fast, and I can see he's not happy, and he's talking fast, and I can't understand, and I see that bad things are about to happen so I ask if we can call dr Ernesto. So I call dr Ernesto, on my cellphone, thank you very much, I explain to Dr Ernesto the situation and he asks to talk to mr specialist dentist, they go on and on, and start talking about where his office is, what his hours are, yada, yada, yada...
Then my cell dies because it is out of pesos! So then mr specialist dentist starts in at me, and I am trying to explain that my spanish isn't good enough to either understand or explain everything, and he says, I think, that what has happened before doesn't matter because he will make the determination based on the xray and his experience, blah, blah, blah, and now I am starting to get scared, and he's yelling, well talking quite loudly, more people start coming in to the cubicle, I say I have to leave, he says I owe him for the appt, I start to tear up, he's getting louder, and saying something to the effect that he can't treat me if I have no confidence in him, yada, yada, yada. He does this mexican hand wipe thing that means something is Done, Finished, Over!
I have a stronger fight than flight instinct, and I am really pushing down on the fight response because that doesn't always prove productive, satisfying yes, productive no, so my flight instinct is telling me get the hell out of here.
I'm still trying to apologize because my spanish can't handle the situation, and he's just glaring at me, so now I am mad, afraid, scared, upset, and REALLY need to get out of there, so I turn and start walking out, and just kept walking...
I went directly to dr Ernesto's office, just a few blocks away - I am trying to explain what just happened - how could he, mr specialist dentist, not know about me or what's going on since he, dr Ernesto, had called him. Well, seems dr Ernesto had relayed my info to the receptionist. ummmm, the receptionist?
yeah, well, I think I may be looking for another dentist, for sure I am looking for an oral surgeon! That or I could just get this damn tooth removed and be done with it!
So here I am, up at 4am writing a blog because all I can think about is the drama, what did I do wrong, what could I have done! Well, in 6 years here I damn sure should have better Spanish than I do and that really would have diffused the situation. I mean, if we could have communicated effectively I don't think any of this would have escalated to the state it did!
So for those of you thinking you can live here without learning Spanish, well, good luck with that. It isn't working out so well for me!