Starting Over … Again

Happy New Year!

How’s it been so far?

A rainstorm came rolling in late Friday, and it literally did not stop raining until yesterday afternoon. Just long enough for a little someone to come knocking on my door to give me a hug.

I was peacefully multitasking — working on that needlepoint project, while simultaneously catching up on recorded TV shows when, all of a sudden, I heard a little "knock knock knock".

"OH NO!" I heard myself say, because I instantly knew who was at the door — Talker’s granddaughter.

She gave me a hug. I gave her candy and off she went.

At some point, Talker is going to ask if I mind the intrusion and, truthfully, I kinda do; but she’s a child, and beside their being some kind of unknown cosmic reason she feels the need to hug me, the fact is I’m not about being unkind to a child, so I’ll grit my teeth and lie to Talker — "Oh No. I don’t mind at all".

Putting patio decorations away on New Year’s Day did not go as planned because the steady rain left the patio and decorations drenched. Decorations will need a few days to dry out, but I don’t think there will be a few days, as rain is expected off/on until Saturday.

In fact, I was lucky to have made it to the new dentist — the all-female office, and back before the weather turned dark, gloomy and more rain came.

That all-female dental office had a cancellation, called to see if I wanted to come in today, rather than tomorrow. It meant I had to miss this morning’s workout, but I was anxious to have them look at the tooth the other dentist (let’s call him Bozo) said had a vertical break and needed a crown.

Guess what.

There is no broken tooth.

I have no need of a crown.

There is a slight grove in the tooth, but not a break.

There also were not the cavities Bozo said needed filling.

I was suspicious of that in the first place because I couldn’t understand how it was the dentist Bozo replaced had just done fillings a few months prior, and now Bozo was finding more.

Like Judge Judy always says, "If it doesn’t make sense, it’s usually not true".

It’s looking like this new dentist is going to work out. She and the hygienist did everything right, said everything right, including saying I still have a lot of silver in my mouth but no problem unless there’s leakage, which is contrary to what Bozo had to say and the Bozo he replaced had to say and the Bozo that took over Dr. McDreamy’s patient list had to say.

I had to start all over again — x-rays, client information form, yada yada yada.

Unlike the last three Bozos, the new dentist was thorough — did the periodontal probe to measure depth of gum pockets, took photos of each tooth, even showed me the x-rays as she discussed what looked good, what might need work.

No pressure. No frightening theories.

So, thus far, I am relieved and happy with this office.

Hopefully, this is the last change in dentist I’ll have to make in what remains of my lifetime.

I'm hoping I won’t outlive her, as I’ve done with past dentists/hygenists, and she won’t sell the practice or retire, because I don’t want to have to start all over yet again.

According to the hygienist, the dentist is in the process of buying her own building and moving the practice to a different area, because where she is now located has changed drastically.

I believe it about changes in the area, because I know the area and was pretty shocked at what I saw.

Arriving early, with time to kill, I drove around to see what I could see and spotted a lot of unhoused people.

Never saw that before in this particular downtown area.

Deciding to park in the CVS lot, a few blocks away from the dentist’s office, sit in the car, read Fawn of Grey Gardens, I'd barely become settled when I heard a voice come over a loudspeaker saying, "This property is under 24-hour surveillance. No loitering is allowed".

Having seen no other Black people in the area, I thought the message was directed at me — that security was watching, saw I’d parked but not gotten out of the car, so I played it off — got out of the car, went in and bought a few things I didn’t need to buy — because I don’t need any more clutter, but they were cute and half price.

While in CVS, I overheard a worker say some guy he had asked to leave just took a swing at him and the police were looking for the guy.

Leaving CVS, the voice again came over the loudspeaker — "This property is under 24-hour surveillance. No loitering is allowed" and I saw an unhoused person on the lot turn round and walk away.

So, it wasn’t about me. It must have been for an unhoused person the camera had spotted on the property while I was sitting in the car.

The dental office is located in an artsy fartsy district previously known for its comic book store, art galleries, art walks, etc.

The actual building the dentist is located in is beautiful — reminds me of buildings one would see in film noir, like the famous Bradbury Building, with the old stairs, elevators, ornate wood and ironworks.

Problem is, the unhoused have taken over the area, making it unsafe for businesses, visitors.

The building itself is locked up at night, but the unhoused have somehow found a way to bypass the lock, been found sleeping in the lobby.

It’s an epidemic, is everywhere, a growing social problem, and no solution in sight.

At any rate, my search for a new new dentist has come to a close. Now if I could just find a physician that gave a damn.