No Stock Ma’am.

Everyone here is so polite, especially to foreigners. After being here 3 months now I pretty much know what food I like to buy at the market and what foods I prefer to buy in the Supermarkets. They have 4 really big supermarkets with almost anything you could ever need or want in them. However I often encounter my favorite wheat crackers are not on the shelf, “No stock Ma’am” Or maybe I can not seem to find any avocados at the market, “No stock Ma’am” even occasionally the only brand of rasins I have found without spiders or beetles inside will be out of stock. I have learned to live with this. Not a big deal. I just check back the next week and usually they have stock again.

This past week, starting Monday at 2pm I had the worst toothache. If you remember, I had complained about this when I first arrived but prayed for healing and havn’t had a problem since. Well, I prayed and had people pray for me, yet the pain became worse and worse. This week I had been teaching interpreting seminars everyday. Not fully aware of what was going on around me the pain slowly overtook the entire right side of my body. I would weep at night because of the pain. Tylonal and Advil didn’t help at all. Finally, Thursday I decided I would go to the dentist, something I swore I would never do in a third world country.

During my interpreting seminar I was called to interpret at the hospital for a woman who is Deaf and in labor. So, instead of heading to the dentist I went to the maternity ward. They have 3 rooms here in the OBGYN unit. A check-in room, a labor room, and a delivery room. All which look the same but with different specialist for each section. The women are all laid out next to each other knees up ready to give birth. I don’t need to give all the details but needless to say it didn’t help any of my already existing anxieties about giving birth. And I am not sure, but I think the screaming mothers and babies made my tooth pain even worse. Another girl whom I had trained this week was able to take my place interpreting while I went to the dentist.

Once I arrived at the dentist he explained to me that my dentitst in American had put fillings over the top of infections that hadn’t healed and that is what was causing the pain. He needed to drill out the old cavities and refill them. While he was at it he decided to drill out an old Mercury filling I got when I was probably 13 because mercury is bad for me. That didn’t cost extra.

The problem came when he began to drill. I sat up, in pain, and requested Novocain. “No stock Ma’am” WHAT? How can there be no stock? This is a dentist! This is not the cracker section in the grocery store! “Do you have anything for the pain?” I exclaimed half crying out of anticipation of what I knew was to come and half crying because I was already in so much pain. “Acetaminophen” Now, I know that is the generic form of Tylenol. That didn’t help me BEFORE he started drilling my head. I declined and we began a four hour painful process.

I was able to sit up every 5 to 10 minutes and hold my head in my hands and weep because of the pain. I told him several times I wanted to go home and that I wanted my mom. He continued to apologize, I am sure you are surprised to know that didn’t help. All in all the procedures cost about $13. The medication for the antibiotics however, were much more expensive.

It is now 3 days after the appointment. Yesterday I had a terribly high fever and stayed home all day and slept. I am feeling much better today and will take some time to prepare my house and buy some fresh fruit since Josh arrives in just 19 hours!