More than a root canal
You may recall we interrupted out last posting when Mrs. T returned from the dentist. Here is the adventure that she had. (Apologies to our neighbors who have heard all this already.)
Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. (NB)
I had told my friends that I was getting pretty good with Spanish. Not that I spoke correctly or fluently (I would never claim that!), but that I almost always could get my point across. When I limped home from my planned root canal Chuck piped up, "Your Spanish is not nearly as good as you thought! You went to get your tooth fixed and they fixed your leg instead!" Oh Well.
What happened was this. I was sitting in the dentist's office minding my own business and thinking of the film "Marathon Man," (R does not like to visit the dentist. dt) when the men came to install a new glass door. We had watched them remove the old door on a previous visit. I was watching in a desultory way as they attached the bottom part. They were trying to attach the top part when the glass shattered. A shower of glass pellets fell on my right leg. Ouch!!
I was looking at my leg in surprise when after the shock of pain the red came. First a drop here and there then a trickle, another trickle, and suddenly my whole leg was covered with blood. About this time the lady sitting beside me started to shout. "OH NO!!! THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! LOOK AT THIS!!" I turned to see how she was faring and saw two tiny drops of blood on her leg. I looked down at my own leg, where blood was dripping steadily into a small puddle on the floor. "OH NO!!" the lady started again, I turned to her and gave her what Dan (I wasn't there. dt) describes as my sad cow look (isn't he poetic!) thinking I may have to sit here bleeding but do I have to listen to you too? She immediately shut up.
I looked at my leg again, I thought of my first aid training. "What should I do?" I wondered. I saw no blood gushing, no arteries, good, I thought. I should sit still, I thought and not move or get excited so the blood will flow slower. I started Yoga breathing. "When I breathe in I am calm," I thought. When I breathe out I … The breathing out thought was supposed to be "When I breathe out I smile." But frankly I did not think I could do the smiling. "When I breathe out I am still calm," I thought.
People were scurrying here and there. After a short Spanish discussion I did not try to catch, one of the dental assistants rushed out. "Hold her leg up!" Dr. Adrian, the dentist, commanded. One bent beside me and carefully lifted my leg to a horizontal position. She began to gently brush the glass off my leg. YEOUCH!! "STOP!!" I yelled. I knew she did not speak much English. "Vidrio es aqui!" I explained. I could not think how to tell her that some of the glass was still stuck in my leg but whether she could figure out what I meant by saying glass is here or not. In any case, she stopped.
"When I breathe in I am calm," I thought, "When I breathe out I am calm." A person swept some glass off the floor. They brought a five gallon bucket and put a sofa cushion on top of it so I could rest my leg on that. The receptionist (who speaks English fairly well) told me they had sent for a doctor and he would be there soon.
"When I breathe in I am calm," I thought, "When I breathe out I am calm." Dr. Adrian's brother, Dr. Mauro, who is a regular doctor had his office about a block away. Before long Dr. Mauro came. "Are you in much pain, lady?" he asked. "OH THIS IS SO AWFUL!!" screamed the lady sitting next to me. I stopped right in the middle of yoga breathing and turned to give her my official patented If looks could kill glare. She shut up immediately.
Dr. Adrian took the other lady firmly by the arm and pulled her away saying "Why don't you stand over here so the doctor has room to help Rebecca." Then he gave her a few good hard slaps. Just kidding about the slaps but it was a lovely thought. Dr. Mauro came closer, "Are you in much pain?" he asked again.
"No, es muy malo, pero vidrio…" I stopped, trying to think how to tell him that some glass was still stuck in my leg.
"Speak English, Lady," Dr. Mauro said. I felt an immediate urge to kiss him. You may have been wondering why I was trying to speak Spanish to a doctor who was speaking to me in English. All I can say is I was stressed. So I explained to Dr. Mauro that although it did not hurt too badly, I knew there was at least one piece of glass still stuck in my leg.
"I don't think this is quite as bad as it looks," Dr. Mauro said comfortingly. I looked at my leg, it looked pretty bad. "First I am going to spray this anesthetic on your leg, it will sting," Dr. Mauro explained. It did sting! But then it began to feel numb. Dr. Mauro was using Dr. Adrian's stuff. One of the dental assistants was helping him. "Now I am going to spray some antiseptic on you leg," said Dr. Mauro. And he did. "Lady, you have been very brave, but I don't want you to be brave now. I am going to wash your leg and I want to tell me any time it hurts." So Dr. Mauro slowly washed my leg looking for pieces of glass that were still embedded. He found three. Then he carefully taped together the biggest wounds. There were about fifteen. But none of them were deep or needed stitches. (Thank God for safety glass!!)
By this time it was time for my root canal. "Do you think you still want a root canal today Rebecca?" Dr. Adrian asked.
"After all this a root canal is nothing," I replied.
"WHAT ABOUT MY LEG?" my seatmate demanded. Dr. Mauro looked her over disdainfully. "You can follow me to my office I will look at you there." So after my root canal was over my lag was wrapped in an elastic bandage and I was ferried home.
Dan was quite impressed and has recorded my recovery in photographs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157612563682656/
Well, Mrs. T has been visiting Dr. Mauro almost daily for inspection of her cuts. She had improved enough to go scuba diving yesterday. But boogie boarding is still not in the offing. As you can see her wounds were indeed impressive; she looked like she had been hit with buckshot.
You may note the pictures of the impressive iguana that
And we now are using Skype here. If you have a Skype name, let us know. And for those of you not in the
As always, you can read previous postings at:
http://www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/
Best wishes to all.
Dan and Rebecca
Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment