Dentist

Dentist

We picked up Roys glasses on Tuesday and they seem to be working out fine for him. We also purchased a licuadora (blender), an Oster brand, so hopefully it will be a good one.

Yesterday morning I went to the dentist. I had been told that he spoke english, which I thought was good as my spanish fails when things get too technical. I waited for a few minutes in the waiting room and then was ushered into the room by the dentist himself. He began speaking to me in spanish and I explained why I was there. We discussed it for a minute until I couldn't understand a couple of words, then he just automatically switched to english. Pretty funny. He asked me if I wanted Novocaine and I told him yes. I told him in spanish that I am very afraid of dentists and in english he replied, "me too", and we both had a good laugh. Apparently there were two old fillings that needed replacing, hmmm... the other dentist said 3. So he began to drill. There was a bit of decay starting under one of the fillings he said; but not too bad. He put in medicated temporary fillings to deaden the sensitivity that was present and told me to come back on Saturday. He very nicely told me that he would not need to drill on Saturday as he just picks out part of the medicated filling and then puts the permanent one on top of that. Pleasant news for me. All in all a good experience. He worked quickly, gently and hopefully did a good job. Who knows?

Differences from a dental visit in Canada: 1. no long wait in the waiting room. 2. no extensive xrays 3. no assistant hopping up and down and doing the little things for him 4. cost of 2 fillings--$800 pesos or about $80.00 (400 pesos each--$40.00).

The novacaine always zonks me out, so I spent part of the afternoon having a nap. I didn't feel up to my spanish lesson so Roy went up the hill and told the teacher that I would be back on Friday.

Today we have a day off, no appointments or grocery shopping or anything.

Friday I need to pick up the new lenses for my glasses and wait for them to put them in the old frames, then back to the bank and later in the afternoon my spanish lesson. Between new glasses, dentist and rent the cash from Monday is gone. Boy, that was quick for down here. It usually lasts for about 2 weeks. Saturday morning it is back to the dentist. After that we should be good for awhile on the medical side of things.

Medical costs this week: New lenses for me and complete set of glasses for Roy--2900 pesos (about $290.00 dollars). Two dental fillings for me--800 pesos (about $80.00 dollars).

Eye Examinations

Eye Examinations

We decided yesterday morning to try the fishing. There was no wind and it was a beautiful morning to just sit and relax and look at the view. Roy caught one right away and then we sat with no bites for the rest of the time. We saved the one that Roy caught and gave it to Ciro when we got home. The breeze started to come up, so we headed to our friends restaurant for a bit of breakfast and visiting. I had been looking to borrow the book, The Zone of Tolerance by David E. Stuart and someone had kindly said that they would loan theirs to me. They had dropped it off at the restaurant, so I wanted to pick that up also. A nice morning.

This morning we headed uptown intent on having eye examinations. Roys arms are getting too short and I thought that my glasses needed an upgrade. We stopped at one place and were told that the doctor would be there in 10 minutes or so. Instead of waiting inside, we stepped outside and a fellow stopped to chat with us, we chatted with him until the lady motioned to us that the doctor was there. The doctors english was quite good and the examinations were painless. As we expected Roy needed reading glasses and we decided on bifocals so that he doesn't have to take them off everytime he gets up. Cost of his glasses--bifocal lenses $450 pesos (about $45.00), frames $450 pesos for a total of 900 pesos (about $90.00). Not too bad. Mine did need upgrading and I decided to keep my old frames as they are in good shape yet. Cost of my lenses were more as they are a little more involved, and I got the transitional, coated ones for 2000 pesos (about $200.00), which is about 1/2 the price that I paid for them in Canada 4 or 5 yrs. ago. Roys should be ready tomorrow and mine should be ready on Friday.

We then stopped at a dentist and I got an appointment for a filling on Wednesday. One of my old fillings has been bothering me, so I thought I should get it taken care of before we head over to the Baja in May. I decided to try another dentist this time, just to have a comparison. The receptionist said that a filling is 400 pesos, (about $40.00) so we will see on Wednesday.

We then headed to the bank and then over to a computer store to look around before heading home. We accomplished what we set out to do, and had some interesting conversation while doing it.