Out With the Old

Headed out to the Pain Cave this morning, I saw our rock lady Jan struggling along the walkway. Now dependent upon an oxygen tank, she was on her way to the doctor's office for some kind of breathing test.

Life can change on a dime. From no problems with breathing, just her knees, she's had her knees repaired and now this.

That's why I take nothing for granted, generally prepare for the worse, as I did when I headed out yesterday for the dental office to have two of the old metal fillings removed and temporary crowns.

Just in case I died from the pain in Dr. C's chair, I made sure the unit was clean, dishes were washed, and I dressed cute in case the afterlife was what I've seen in the new comedy on CBS "Ghosts" where the ghosts are stuck wearing whatever clothing they died in.

On the way to the dental office, I looked for but did not see the Urban Geese when I drove by the Library. Returning a few hours later, having survived the dental procedure, I circled the block looking. Still no sign of the Canadian Geese.

The geese have either moved on or ended up the main dish on someone’s dinner table. Hopefully it’s the former, not the latter.

Arriving at the dental office five minutes early, I was called to the chair right away.

THEN, there was a long lag time before he got to me and long lag times in-between various stages of getting two temporary crowns. Gave me plenty of time to observe and listen.

After observing and listening, I've concluded that I need to find a new dental office, but good luck finding one with the old values, one I can trust.

What brought me to this particular dental office was a recommendation. I came, I saw, I’ve been coming back some 20 years. During that time, I’ve seen very few staff changes. Actually, only three — a hygienist who moved back to Hawaii, and two hygienists who retired after 30 and 35 years with this office.

Now, all of a sudden, it appears it's out with the old, in with the younger, fresher, new.

ALL the faces have changed, including McDreamy, whom they tell me is "on leave, not expected back".

Sounds like an oxymoron to me because "on leave" denotes coming back, while "not expected back" denotes gone for good.

So which is it?

I think what's happening is McDreamy, and the previous team have been pushed out, replaced with a team which appears to be comprised of all young people, and they are being vague as to where everyone is because they want to keep the established clientele, don't want to lose our business.

Everyone there now seems nice, friendly to us clients, appear to enjoy their work, their coworkers and I've no problem with the hygienist, but I don’t trust the dentists — not the one (Dr. S) I asked not to be pared with last visit and not the one I ended up with (Dr. C).

Back when McDreamy was working on me, he was working on ME. He'd chat at me, tell me about his family. While yesterday, when Dr. C was working on me, he'd get up, bounce from chair to chair, client to client. I felt like a piece of meat on a friggin assembly line.

Listening to his conversation with the woman in the chair nearest to my station, I heard "crown", then I heard "root canal".

Off in the distance, I heard the other DDS discussing "crown/root canal" with a patient.

Reminded me of when, back in 2006, I’d taken a car in for service and heard the service manager come into the waiting room and tell woman after woman after woman they needed something that would add approximately $500 to the bill.

Seeing the pattern, I told myself if he came in and gave me that line, inasmuch as I'd been thinking of purchasing a new car, I’d take it as a sign it was time to buy.

He did, so I did.

I declined the work. Wanting a female to get commission for the sale, saw they had a female salesperson, I walked over to her, used the car being serviced as a trade-in, drove away with a new car.

I saw the same pattern at the dental office yesterday when, sure enough, once the work was completed, Dr. C said he’d seen a lot of decay when he’d removed the metal filling, had cleaned it out but a root canal might be in my future.

I didn’t say anything out loud in response, but my inner Anne Marie came out. I heard myself saying to myself that This MoFo thinks I'm stupid. I'm not having any G’Damn F’ing root canal!

When asked if I wanted to schedule the additional work when I came back for the permanent crowns, I paused to think it through and felt pressured when his assistant kept saying she needed to know so she could schedule his time. She wouldn't give me time to think, just kept saying she needed to know for the doctor's schedule, so I said I wanted to think about it and scheduled myself to come back in two weeks only for the permanent crowns.

Until the Universe leads me to where I am to be insofar as a new dental office, I’ll go back to the hygienist for cleanings but the plan is to have nothing to do with the dentists.

And btw, I passed on the nitrous oxide because, if it wasn't going to give me a 60's buzz, I didn't need it. Two numbing shots dulled the senses just fine.

As far as plans for this weekend, the price of gas is dictating my activities.

No more driving out of the area for entertainment purposes. Gas will be used for essential travel, like to/from the dentist, a trip to the medical center for a blood pressure check the doctor recently requested and possibly a trip to the nail salon next week.

This weekend will be catching up on recorded TV programs, working on that needlepoint project, and keeping an eye out for Karen.

Returning to my unit from the dentist yesterday, I happened to look out the patio window and there she was.

Rarely seen in the wild, Karen was standing outside her unit glaring up at the Talker's unit, no doubt irritated by some sound and probably wishing bad things on the occupants.

Before I could grab my phone and take a photo for you, she'd slunk back inside.

So, adding to TV and needlepoint is being on Karen Alert, waiting for an opportunity to catch her outside, giving the upstairs unit the evil eye.