Me + buses = Epic FAIL every time!
I thought I was being very clever looking up the bus timetable and planning my own way to Sunshine Plaza this morning, so that I could arrive on time for my 8am dental appointment.
I got the Bare-chested Chef to drop me at Civic at 5.35am so that I could catch the 6.05am bus, which would get me to Sunshine Plaza at 7.20am. It would be a thirteen minute walk from there to my appointment, so I figured I could grab a coffee somewhere beforehand.
Well, 6.05am came and went, and there was no sign of any public transport so I looked up the timetable again only to discover that the timetable was from 2011!! I found the current timetable and there was no bus until 7.10am which would get me to Sunshine Plaza at 8.17am!!! It meant that I would miss my appt completely.
So I calculated that if I got off the bus at Sunshine Coast Airport and caught a taxi, if all things went to plan, I would only be about 5 minutes late for the appointment.
Of course Murphy's Law dictates that all things do NOT go to plan.
It was 7.57am, there was one taxi on the rank and the driver told me that he could get me there in six minutes. I felt that this was a good sign. Until the first red light .. and then every red light for the entire journey! At 8.07am, the receptionist from the dental surgery phoned me to ask if I was still coming. It was 8.14am when I walked through their doors, after paying $28 for the taxi ride!
I had a nice taxi driver though who told me how he had his amalgam fillings removed about four years ago and his health had improved so much, he took up surfing again. He was 62!
Anyway, my dentist was very understanding after I apologised profusely and she didn't try to rush the appointment. She took photos of all of my teeth and gums from every angle and then took an x-ray with their special machine that emits lower nasties than a regular x-ray.
She then showed me every photo, one by one, explaining what needed to be done with each tooth and in what order she would do it all. She showed me the x-ray and pointed out all the problems in the gums.
I have cracks in two of the teeth with the amalgam fillings and cracks also in the fillings which are dangerous to my health. I have five amalgam fillings altogether. She explained about the gum disease, which she stated is advanced, but they could fix it and as long as I continued my healthy lifestyle, it would keep the disease at bay. She said it was probably hereditary (my Mum had to have most of her teeth removed at the age of 16 because of gum disease).
She advised me to use coconut oil to clean my teeth and not to touch mainstream toothpaste.
She gave me a dental plan for the first two hour appointment which is in two weeks time, when she can do a good amount of the work in one hit.
She was amazing. I REALLY REALLY liked her. She was not judgemental and she was calm and caring and answered all of my questions in a very respectful way. She is going to make allowances for the fact that I will be travelling so far and try to do as much at each visit as she can.
I am actually looking forward to my next appointment with her! Believe it or not!
So I left the surgery feeling very happy and satisfied that I had made the right decision to see Dr Kluge.
As luck would have it, there was a coffee shop nearby with a very friendly barista who made a perfect extra large latte for me.
I walked on to Sunshine Plaza where I was about to partake in some retail therapy when Vegan Chickie phoned to tell me that they were coming to the plaza and that I wouldn't have to catch a bus home. The day was looking up!
I forgot to mention that I have had a problem with my right eye for the past few days. It felt like some kind of infection in the inside corner of my eye, where some hot oil had spattered from some chicken I was cooking one night, but it had deteriorated overnight and I was in quite a bit of pain this morning, so I decided to visit the Optometrist to have it checked ... if you know me, I don't seek professional help unless I feel like I'm in trouble!
So I was able to see a very young optometrist at OPSM almost immediately. He spent quite a bit of time looking and poking and touching and prodding and shining lights in all different directions and puffing air into my eyeballs and asking me to read letters and dripping orange dye into my eyes.
In the end, he had no idea what it was but was concerned that the pressure in the sore eye was a bit high. He decided that I should see a specialist - Opthalmologist - as soon as possible, so he made the phone call and got me in at 1pm today!
A bit more retail therapy to fill in the time, then a coffee while Vegan Chickie and Chicklet ate ice cream (Chicklet's berry sorbet was delicous!) and soon the Bare-chested Chef dropped me off at the eye specialist.
I gave them my details and sat down at about 12.50pm. Some young kid called me into an office and asked me a heap of questions, filling in a card as we talked, asking me to read some letters on the wall, checking the pressure in my eyes (he said they were perfect) and then told me to have a seat and Dr McKee would call me shortly.
At 2.10pm I asked the receptionist how much longer I was going to have to wait.
She went searching for my card and quite obviously couldn't find it in any of the doctor's cubicles, but told me that I would definitely be next if I could just take a seat again.
I watched as three of them searched high and low for my information card. Five minutes later I was called into Dr McKee's office.
I have to say that for the 90 minutes that I sat there, I could physically feel my eye improving and by the time I sat in his office, the redness had gone and the pain had subsided to 'just noticeable'.
He used his machines to check both of my eyes and asked me some questions, eventually deciding that he could see nothing sinister in my eye and that the inflammation looked very much like an allergy to something. He began to write out a prescription for steroid drops saying that it would help with the inflammation.
I asked if my eye would heal itself without the drops and he said 'Yes'.
I replied 'Don't bother with the prescription then, thanks very much.'
Then he handed me some drops to help with lubrication. He said 'you don't have to use them and they have nothing in them to hurt you, but just in case you need them.'
So $110 later, I walked out at least knowing that there was nothing sinister lurking in my eye.
It was the busiest surgery I've seen for a long time. There were 27 people sitting in the waiting area for the entire time I was there. When somebody left, someone else took their place. All but one of them was over 65 yrs of age.
The Chicklet family had bought the groceries during that time .. I promised to cook a baked dinner before I left, so we had a baked lamb with sweet potato, turnip, potato, yellow squash, beans and cauliflower with home made gravy. It was quite delicious, considering how uninspired I was.
After dinner it was bath time for Chicklet and then story time - my last night of stories before I head home tomorrow.
I've packed my complete new Summer wardrobe in my suitcase and will be ready for Adoring Husband when he arrives tomorrow to pick me up. I have no idea what time he's coming and as it's now 9.30pm, he will probably be sound asleep, so I will be pleasantly surprised when he lands on the doorstep at whatever time he chooses to do so.
I really need to rest my eye now. It's feeling very tired and a little painful, so I believe that sleep will be the key to it's recovery.
Nite all.
