Trip to the Dentist in Fort Apache

Etong mga ipin ko magaling ang timing, tuwing nasa byahe ako at saka naman nakiki-agaw pansin.

I woke up on Saturday morning with a faint pain on my upper left cheek beside my nose. Sunday morning, that portion became swollen. I took Ponstan and put hot compress for about 20 minutes just before I hit the bed. I woke up Monday morning with the left side of my face with bigger maga reaching my left eye. Magang-maga talaga.

January 22, 2018 Monday
I phoned Kuya Junior in Sacramento. I must see a dentist daw asap because the infection was too close to my brain. “Hindi sa tinatakot kita pero hindi mo pwedeng pabayaan yan dahil masyadong malapit sa brain. Delikado pag malapit sa sinus”.

I asked a Filipino, Boying, for a referral to his Filipina dentist but she only holds clinic every Wednesday and Friday daw. I Googled dentist and several clinics came out. I picked one that is near Lowe’s and Pier 1 Imports only because I am familiar with the area.

The one who answered the phone was accommodating. Although the only slot available was at 3:30 pm, when there was a cancellation she phoned me right away so I could come earlier at 10:30 am.

I took Uber to Fort Apache where the clinic is located.

The Uber driver told me the dentist could not do anything for my situation. He said this happened to him twice and he instead went to his doctor and not to the dentist. This guy had been to Isabela a few years ago supposedly to marry a young Filipina nurse he met while vacationing in Acapulco, Mexico. He visited her and stayed in Isabela drinking and having fun all day. Before he left, he contacted a private investigator to do background check on his fiancee. He reported to him after two weeks that she actually has a Filipino boyfriend from the same province. She just wanted to come to America. She was able to get a visa to Mexico but not to the US. I told him she’s a nurse, she doesn’t need him to be able to work in the US. She could apply legally for an immigrant visa and she could bring her family.

This guy is a retired police chief 280 miles south of Las Vegas where the native Indians are. He is 60 years old, has 8 kids from 7 different mamas, 6 grand kids, and his new wife is as young as his daughter. He moved to Las Vegas to be closer to his daughter who is a doctor of medicine and his son who is now working as a private investigator.

“I love women”. He was legally married six times. He said “if I can I would like to have a wife from different heritage in different countries in one roof like a king”. I asked him if his own father also has several women. No daw only his mama. “He is different, he loves only my mama. When she died, he was sad”.

We reached the clinic in 15 minutes from Flamingo to Fort Apache.

The clinic looked new, clean, nice and modern.

There’s a painting job being done.

They made me fill out a form in an iPad regarding my medical history.
After that a young Filipino named Eddie led me to a room. He took two x-rays of my left cheek and both showed an infection.

Eddie is 21, born in Guam and hasn’t been to the Philippines. He doesn’t speak Tagalog. He told me he keeps reminding his mom to bring him to the Philippines. He still has relatives there.

After the x-ray Eddie took my blood pressure by strapping a small cordless gadget on my right arm. Ooops 156/93 very high kasi I was nervous. He gave me a small bottle of water to relax me.

He then led me to another room. Both rooms are sparkling clean and modern.

A puti American dentist came. He didn’t look at my mouth he just looked at the high definition photos of my marching teeth. He pointed to the part above my tooth where my gum infection was. He said I have to have a root canal and a crown.
I told him I am travelling in a couple of days. He said I must see a dentist as soon as I am back in the Philippines.

The dental clinic didn’t charge me anything. I was expecting to pay somewhere between $49-$80. Libre daw because I didn’t have a cleaning. But they did two x-rays, inabala ko sila, naki-inom pa ako ng tubig. Nahiya tuloy ako.

I asked the receptionist how much the root canal and crown are. Nay ko po $3,000+ P150,000???

The dentist gave me a prescription for 7 days antibiotic. He said I must take two right away to relieve the pain and the swelling.
I walked around the small building trying to see if there’s any Walgreens or CVS that’s walking distance.

There’s Walmart, aha merong Home & Pharmacy. I was lucky.

I crossed the parking lot. It was very pleasant to walk. It was sunny and cold, not too cold.

One of the things I get to do here in Las Vegas is walking.

Almost there

Hola I’m here

Found you. The pharmacy is on the right side.

The pharmacist named Joss told me my prescription would be ready at 11:05 am. That’s perfectly fine. There’s a McDonald’s right inside Walmart. I still have to eat anyway before I could take 1,000 mg of antibiotics.

The place is so clean and looks very new. Mabango pa. Valentines na pala.

This is the nicest, newest, cleanest, Walmart I’ve ever been to so far.

Starbucks’ loyalist is back in Manila.

I walked to the McDonald’s on the other side of the building. Pharmacy is on the right side, McDo is on the left.

I ordered Chicken Mcnuggets

I took home at least a dozen sachets of salt. Does this qualify as stealing? I needed tons of salt to mix with hot/ warm water to help cure my toothache and infection.

Parang I only ordered McNuggets, I didn’t say meal. Kaya pala medyo mahal.

That Filipino guy has plenty of tattoos. He’s got big numbers on his arm. That gave me a very good idea. Itong asawa ko while here, everyday na lang he would ask me what my T-mobile cellphone number is. Eh actually kanya itong T-mobile I am just using it. “Tart, ano na nga ba number?” In one day siguro at least 5 times he would ask. Alam ko na, patatuan ko braso nya telephone number ko para “O hayan tingnan mo sa braso mo”. Kumpletuhin ko na sa left arm naman nya address namin, birthday ko, anniversary namin, SS number nya, lagyan ko na ng directory.

Dito sa America wasteful. I didn’t ask for catsup they gave me four. What am I going to do with this ayaw ko catsup with McNuggets.

While I was eating I observed this cute little boy. He looks exactly like his grandmother. She said the dad which is her son Michael also looks like her. They sent Michael to college in Missouri thinking that it would be best for him to be away from home so he could learn to be more independent. Before his freshman year ended, he came home with a baby, at 19 years old.
That baby is now 6 years old and this little one is his second child.
The mom told me she regretted their decision to send him to Missouri for college. They should just have kept him in Vegas. Her second and youngest son who’s only 12 years old wants to be a lawyer and they have made a vow that he would just study at UNLV and he promised never to get married or have children while still studying. I told her it’s not yet too late for Michael to go back to school. He’s only 25. He can study while working.

I went back to the pharmacy to pick-up the capsules. The pharmacist asked me if I had taken amoxicillin before or if I have any drug allergies. My usual answer to this question is none that I know of.

I paid $4. I couldn’t believe it kasi sa atin mahal ang antibiotics and the last time I got sick here di ba I had two rounds of antibiotics? They each cost more than $30.

I might get pregnant daw. One does not get pregnant by herself.

I couldn’t open the bottle. Meron itong trick. Ayun, ganun pala.
Tama kaya ito? How sure I am that the pharmacist didn’t make the mistake of putting something else inside this bottle? Baka nagka palit, ibang gamot ito.

When I told Edmund about my tooth infection and swollen face:
E—–“kasi ipabunot mo na mga ipin mo”.
A—-“Eh di nagka bungi-bungi naman ako”.
E—-“Hayan ka na naman. Tapos lagi ka na lang nagkaka problema tuwing nasa byahe ka”
A—–“I don’t want to wear dentures”.
E—–“Eh di wag kang mag-dentures, basta ipabunot mo”.

Ano naman kaya hitsura ko pag walang ipin?