Rhonda Bracey: At Random

We drove to Perth on Friday for my appointment with the oral surgeon and the anaesthestist at St John of God Medical Centre, Murdoch, Day Procedure Unit. What I remember of the afternoon:

• Hospital gowns haven’t improved. They still fall off, ride up, etc. However, the staff here give you a bathrobe so that helps a bit.
• The logistics of getting a person admitted, through to discharge are quite amazing. The number of people you deal with is impressive, and each one of them confirms your name and DOB.
• Anaesthestic drugs are quick! I got the small jab for the cannula (?), followed by the good stuff. I remember saying that the light above the operating table was going funny and next I knew I was waking up in Recovery. It probably took less than 10 seconds for me to go completely under.
• After surgery, my head and half my face were swathed in a balaclava-like stretch mesh net. My face was swollen and half my mouth looked like it was sliding off my skull! The idea of the net is to hold the ice pack against your cheek. My husband said he got a real scare when he saw me!
• I was out of hospital by 5 pm and we were on the road to Mandurah soon after. We stayed overnight in Mandurah and I had two ice cold sorbets for dinner. I was under strict instructions to have soft, sloppy, cold things like ice-cream.
• I was given antibiotics and strong painkillers on discharge from the hospital. I took two painkillers that night — just in case. But I had no pain at all.
• Next morning all the swelling had gone, and I felt great. No pain. Except for the gap where my tooth was, and some stitches I can feel with my tongue, you wouldn’t know I’d had surgery.
• Swishing hot salty water around your mouth is unpleasant. I have to do it four times a day, and it doesn’t get any easier. At least I don’t have to swallow it.

So far, it’s all good!

I drove up to the city on Monday for my consultation with the oral surgeon (see my Expensive date post for why I needed to visit the oral surgeon in the first place). Yes, the tooth has to come out.

The good:

• My appointment was for 11:45 AM. I expected to wait at least 30 minutes as that’s the norm with every medical specialist I think I’ve ever seen. But no. Right on 11:45 he came out with his previous patient and I was called in.
• The oral surgeon is a nice chap. Very warm and friendly. Looks you in the eye. Treats you like a human.
• He had a cancellation for this Friday, so I was offered that spot for the surgery. It was that or February 2010. I took Friday.
• He had no problem with my request to be totally knocked out for the surgery, though he did say that under local my brain wouldn’t process the sounds I was hearing. Um, I think it would!

The not so good:

• The consultation was $100 and his fee for the surgery will be $450. The anaesthestist’s fee will be around $435, and then there will be the hospital fee. My medical insurance will cover parts of some of these bills, but I’ll still have to pay the rest. Add in the cost (time and money) of driving to the city twice in the one week, plus an overnight stay in Perth after my afternoon surgery.
• Driving to and from Perth in one day (about 5 hours round trip), including a visit to the oral surgeon and a potential client is tiring. Having to come back again on Friday is a pain, but it has to be done.
• Having mouth surgery means a certain amount of pain plus eating only soft foods for a period of time. No steak for me for a while…

This is only the second stage of the process (the first was the temporary filling done on the day I bit into that date). In some months (after the gum has healed) I need to decide if I want an implant or a bridge. If it’s an implant, that means more surgery; a bridge would be done by my dentist. Whatever I decide means more trips to Perth and a lot more cost.

They say that as you age, your health starts to go. In our case, it’s our teeth! No-one mentions that. BTW, my husband has to return to Perth next Tuesday for his new crown — another trip for him plus an overnight stay.

Maybe the tooth fairy will help with the costs!

How many opportunities do you give a new business to ‘prove’ themselves? I’m about to give a new business in town one more chance.

After receiving their flyer in the letterbox, I called them last week. We  made a time for them to come around ‘on Tuesday afternoon’ to assess our garden/landscaping situation (I want fire hazards removed), and to discuss with me what I want done and to give me a quote. I waited, and waited, and waited. At 6:30 PM I called the guy. No response. So I called his wife’s mobile — she answered.

She apologised and then called to her husband (I could hear her side of the conversation). Obviously he had totallyforgotten about the appointment as she said something like ‘You remember? You made the time when we were at so-and-so’s place last week…’ then she must’ve put her hand over the mouthpiece as I didn’t hear any more until she came back on the line to apologise again with the excuse that they’d been helping someone move house today.

She didn’t actually say that he’d completely forgotten about the appointment, but I suspect that’s the case. I was ready to give them quite a bit of work too (other gardening stuff after the fire hazards are dealt with). Now I’m not so sure.

We’ve rescheduled for tomorrow morning ‘after 8:30 AM’. So we’ll see if they turn up. If they don’t, that’s it. They will have lost my business.

Not a good start when you’re trying to build a new business in a new town…

Finally! While we were in NSW, the local fire authorities did a controlled burn of the bush block behind our house.

My local contact reckons it’s been 20+ years since it was burned, based on some of the rubbish they found on the block when they burned it. That’s a BIG fuel load. I feel a little safer now, though if fire gets into the crowns of the trees…