Las noticias un poquito malo.....

Our appointment with Dr. Eva Urena, DDS was set for 1130 hours Tuesday, so having 213 miles (one way) to drive, and Google Maps estimating the drive time at 3 hours and 21 minutes we left at 0630 hours from Riverside giving ourselves at least an hour more travel time than we needed.  The drive south to Los Algodones was uneventful and we arrived at the border parking lot ($6/day) at just after 1030.  As I have reported previously it is a four block walk from the parking lot to Dr. Urena's office, and it takes less than 15 minutes to make the walk.

We arrived at the office a little before 1100, but it turned out my teeth cleaning appointment was scheduled for next week when TLE would return to have her new crown installed.  They did have a time slot available so I decided to have my teeth cleaned this week instead of next week, and I'm glad I did.  We had both figured this trip would just be routine....TLE needed to have molds made of her mouth so the crown can be made, and I just needed a routine cleaning......

I went in first and TLE followed a few minutes later......unfortunately there was nothing routine about either of our appointments.  On TLE's side there was more bone and gum growth around the new implant than was expected and they could not do the molds....instead Dr. Urena had to perform some minor surgery to trim back the bone and gum meaning TLE's return trip would not be next week, but in about a month to allow for healing time.  On my side the cleaning went routinely, but an examination of my gums indicated there is a small abscess developing around the root of a root canal I had done when I was 13 years old, and then redone around 20 years ago.  Since the root is 'dead' there has been no discomfort.....I had no idea anything was wrong.  Sooooo....the result is I am on an 'antibiotic' regimen for the next week, and will return when TLE does next month to have a consultation with the root canal guy across the street.  

At first I was really down, but overnight I realized that this is why you go to the dentist at regular intervals to be sure nothing bad is happening, and to prevent bad stuff from happening.  Other than having a few crowns installed over the last 20 years on teeth that had very large fillings when I was young, I have really had no problems.....not even a filling that I can remember in all those years......I just have been going every 6 months to have my teeth cleaned and flossing and brushing daily.

We passed back into the USA through U.S. customs after a quick stop at a Los Algodones pharmacy to fill our individual prescriptions and were back in our car on our way home by 1230 hours.  We stopped for about half an hour at a Starbucks about 6 miles from the intersection of the 111 with I-10 before continuing on home arriving about 1630 just as the sun was setting.

It was a long, long day with some not so good news, but that is life whether you are a nomad, or live in a 'sticks and bricks' home.....this is why you go to the doctor, dentist and optometrist, right?  By deciding to have my teeth cleaned Tuesday and not a week from now (which would not have happened as it turned out) I found out earlier than later I had an issue that needed to be handled, and waiting another month would not have been a good idea.

Thanks for stopping by!