Today was not a good day. Deb had a very bad day in the chair.
Initially, she was examined and the dentist confirmed that things looked pretty good. We were looking at beginning the process of replacing her temporary teeth with permanent ones. We walked over to a little pharmacy to fill a prescription for antibiotics, and then walked over to the Pizza Hut for lunch. Deb wanted to pick up a few things at a grocery store, so we did, and then lugged everything back to the waiting room.
Deb went into the dentists chair around 2:30 pm, and got out around 6:30 pm. She was shaking and hurting when she got out. We got a taxi and went back to the Alta. She took a pain killer in the office, and it was beginning to take the edge off of the pain by the time she got into bed.
I've been watching T.V., hunting for English language shows, and worrying about her.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Waking up
Waking up in Costa Rica is a real pleasure. While we are very close to the equator, we are high enough up that the weather is mild. In the morning, the temperatures are cool. The air is humid, but not sticky hot.
San Jose sits on a plateau surrounded by mountains. Moist air comes up from the tropical parts, hits the cooler mountain air, and builds clouds all day. Most afternoons, the clouds build to the point of raining. Everyone accepts that it may rain for an hour or three, and deals with it.
We have very few bugs, and all of those are interesting, not blood sucking mosquitoes I've seen some huge beetles. But nothing dangerous or annoying.
In the morning, the birds are singing, and swallows swoop around in front of our veranda.
This morning, Deb was up and had coffee made. She is feeling pretty happy about getting to the end of this process of fixing her teeth.
San Jose sits on a plateau surrounded by mountains. Moist air comes up from the tropical parts, hits the cooler mountain air, and builds clouds all day. Most afternoons, the clouds build to the point of raining. Everyone accepts that it may rain for an hour or three, and deals with it.
We have very few bugs, and all of those are interesting, not blood sucking mosquitoes I've seen some huge beetles. But nothing dangerous or annoying.
In the morning, the birds are singing, and swallows swoop around in front of our veranda.
This morning, Deb was up and had coffee made. She is feeling pretty happy about getting to the end of this process of fixing her teeth.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Returning to Costa Rica
We have returned to Costa Rica for the second part of Deb's dental work.
She has been eating with a set of temporary teeth that are place holders. Her implants have been settling in and we are hoping that this trip will end with a mouthful of permanent teeth. On our last visit, she had a cap put on a canine tooth, as a temporary measure. Over the last couple of months, this temporary cap has fallen off repeatedly. It has become looser and has become a source of irritation and embarrassment. We really want to get that fixed.
She has been eating with a set of temporary teeth that are place holders. Her implants have been settling in and we are hoping that this trip will end with a mouthful of permanent teeth. On our last visit, she had a cap put on a canine tooth, as a temporary measure. Over the last couple of months, this temporary cap has fallen off repeatedly. It has become looser and has become a source of irritation and embarrassment. We really want to get that fixed.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Hotel Alta and La Luz Restaurant
We like the Hotel Alta .
The Hotel Alta was recommended very highly by medicaltourismofcostarica.com as one of the better hotels to recuperate from dental work. It's located in the Santa Ana area which is a suburb of San Jose. Nestled in the mountain, the rooms are terraced, and each one has a gorgeous view of the valley below and surrounding mountains.
Our room has 2 queen sized beds that are very, very comfortable. Even with having extensive dental work, I've been able to sleep very soundly. The pillows, sheets, are soft and high quality. There is the little coffee pot, furnished with Britt coffee, creamer and sugar for our java fix before we go for breakfast. The Alta offers laundry service, so next time we come, I will not pack as many clothes. My blouses were pressed, and all items were cleaned and neatly folded.
The hotel was described as a restaurant with a hotel attached. The restaurant is La Luz and provides a nice variety of dishes served by professional waiters who all speak English as well as their native Spanish. They are quite accomodating to dental patients, even rustling up oatmeal for me when my mouth was too sore to chew anything. They make a fabulous fruit punch drink (kind of like a smoothie) with fresh fruit. I recommend you try it when you come here.
They do not charge extra for room service, and as a dental patient, I did use it more than a few times, as chewing and eating was not always good viewing for other restuarant patrons, nor comfortable for myself. Eating on the veranda offered the privacy I needed.
The owner, Michael, is very friendly and helpful. He makes a point of greeting people and asking about their stay. One evening my temporary fell out and he offered to drive us to the farmacia later in the evening, so I was able to get some fixadent until I could get back to the dentist. This reflects the genuine caring he has for his guests.
Spending two weeks in one hotel, could be boring, but I have not found that to be the case here at the Alta. We have privacy, yet there is an openness that is inspiring and so easy on the spirit. No one is intrusive at all, yet everyone is friendly and approachable.
I look forward to returning to the Alta.
The Hotel Alta was recommended very highly by medicaltourismofcostarica.com as one of the better hotels to recuperate from dental work. It's located in the Santa Ana area which is a suburb of San Jose. Nestled in the mountain, the rooms are terraced, and each one has a gorgeous view of the valley below and surrounding mountains.
Our room has 2 queen sized beds that are very, very comfortable. Even with having extensive dental work, I've been able to sleep very soundly. The pillows, sheets, are soft and high quality. There is the little coffee pot, furnished with Britt coffee, creamer and sugar for our java fix before we go for breakfast. The Alta offers laundry service, so next time we come, I will not pack as many clothes. My blouses were pressed, and all items were cleaned and neatly folded.
The hotel was described as a restaurant with a hotel attached. The restaurant is La Luz and provides a nice variety of dishes served by professional waiters who all speak English as well as their native Spanish. They are quite accomodating to dental patients, even rustling up oatmeal for me when my mouth was too sore to chew anything. They make a fabulous fruit punch drink (kind of like a smoothie) with fresh fruit. I recommend you try it when you come here.
They do not charge extra for room service, and as a dental patient, I did use it more than a few times, as chewing and eating was not always good viewing for other restuarant patrons, nor comfortable for myself. Eating on the veranda offered the privacy I needed.
The owner, Michael, is very friendly and helpful. He makes a point of greeting people and asking about their stay. One evening my temporary fell out and he offered to drive us to the farmacia later in the evening, so I was able to get some fixadent until I could get back to the dentist. This reflects the genuine caring he has for his guests.
Spending two weeks in one hotel, could be boring, but I have not found that to be the case here at the Alta. We have privacy, yet there is an openness that is inspiring and so easy on the spirit. No one is intrusive at all, yet everyone is friendly and approachable.
I look forward to returning to the Alta.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Some Sight Seeing
Deb woke up Tuesday morning feeling a little better. She had kept taking pain meds during the night and that helped her sleep better. Once we were up and breakfasted, she felt ready to do something.
We decided to visit a wood worker who does artistic boxes from tropical woods. His work is beautiful.
Check out his site at: Biesanz Wood Working
And he has been working to re-forest Costa Rica. We looked up his address on the internet and went to the front desk to get a taxi.
Taking a taxi to a shop seems pretty simple. (Insert mocking laughter) Unless you are in San Jose. It seems that streets are unmarked, buildings don't have numbers displayed, and even taxi drivers call for directions. According to legend many directions refer to landmarks that have disappeared over the years, but all of the locals know where they used to be.
We got three different addresses for this place, all of them ended with something like, 'then drive 500 meters past the old church...' The distance ranged from 300 to 800 meters, and the actual church sat at a five way intersection.
But we got there.
The place has a nice front room filled with displays of beautiful wood working. I wanted to touch everything because it was so beautiful. Then we were offered a tour of the back lot, which had been an old dump. They have reforested it with tropical and medicinal plants. Just out the back door, they have a slice of rainforest . They have specimens of a wide variety of plants including a spiny palm tree. Our guide explained that the fruit of this tree is only found in Costa Rica and he likes it very much. He was very concerned when I got close to it. I spotted a huge spider and wanted a picture. As I maneuvered around the tree, he was really worried that I might brush up against the spines. I believe that the spines have barbs on them, and I would have had a trip to the hospital to get them out. But no harm done. Then we got a tour of the work shop.
I have read about techniques of making boxes and green turned bowls. But they have raised this to a new level. They have a room filled with partially turned blanks that are curing, waiting to be turned into finished bowls. Some of these are more than ten years old. In addition, they make boxes and other things all out of tropical wood. They are careful to only use fallen wood, because so many species of hard wood have been depleted. They handed us a piece of ironwood so that we could feel the density of wood that doesn't float. The workshop is a place where production of wood objects occurs. It was dusty and filled with ugly powerful machines, and pieces of wood going from chunks to finished silky smooth items. I loved it.
We bought ourselves a couple of little items. They will be shipped for us, and we are anticipating getting them next week, at home.
Deb had another session at the dentist that afternoon.
We decided to visit a wood worker who does artistic boxes from tropical woods. His work is beautiful.
Check out his site at: Biesanz Wood Working
And he has been working to re-forest Costa Rica. We looked up his address on the internet and went to the front desk to get a taxi.
Taking a taxi to a shop seems pretty simple. (Insert mocking laughter) Unless you are in San Jose. It seems that streets are unmarked, buildings don't have numbers displayed, and even taxi drivers call for directions. According to legend many directions refer to landmarks that have disappeared over the years, but all of the locals know where they used to be.
We got three different addresses for this place, all of them ended with something like, 'then drive 500 meters past the old church...' The distance ranged from 300 to 800 meters, and the actual church sat at a five way intersection.
But we got there.
The place has a nice front room filled with displays of beautiful wood working. I wanted to touch everything because it was so beautiful. Then we were offered a tour of the back lot, which had been an old dump. They have reforested it with tropical and medicinal plants. Just out the back door, they have a slice of rainforest . They have specimens of a wide variety of plants including a spiny palm tree. Our guide explained that the fruit of this tree is only found in Costa Rica and he likes it very much. He was very concerned when I got close to it. I spotted a huge spider and wanted a picture. As I maneuvered around the tree, he was really worried that I might brush up against the spines. I believe that the spines have barbs on them, and I would have had a trip to the hospital to get them out. But no harm done. Then we got a tour of the work shop.
I have read about techniques of making boxes and green turned bowls. But they have raised this to a new level. They have a room filled with partially turned blanks that are curing, waiting to be turned into finished bowls. Some of these are more than ten years old. In addition, they make boxes and other things all out of tropical wood. They are careful to only use fallen wood, because so many species of hard wood have been depleted. They handed us a piece of ironwood so that we could feel the density of wood that doesn't float. The workshop is a place where production of wood objects occurs. It was dusty and filled with ugly powerful machines, and pieces of wood going from chunks to finished silky smooth items. I loved it.
We bought ourselves a couple of little items. They will be shipped for us, and we are anticipating getting them next week, at home.
Deb had another session at the dentist that afternoon.
Session 4 - Back to the grind
After a couple of days off, they started in on Deb's other side of her mouth. We both hoped that this would be less traumatic, but again we were disappointed. Deb has had less work done on this side, but she felt worse after it was done. Once again, the dentist had a hard time numbing her up. And the teeth he was working on were in rough shape, possibly infected.
During the ride home, she was crying from the pain. We had given her some pain pills, but they take 30 minutes before they begin to work. During that time she was hurting.
I don't know if it was worse pain, or if she hadn't braced herself for it. But she was miserable.
We have some stronger pain meds, but they make her nauseous. Deb hates throwing up and so she won't take them. I've been trying to get her to take them with a full stomach but she is leery. She has to balance her pain with the side effects of the pain meds. All in all, Monday was not a happy day.
During the ride home, she was crying from the pain. We had given her some pain pills, but they take 30 minutes before they begin to work. During that time she was hurting.
I don't know if it was worse pain, or if she hadn't braced herself for it. But she was miserable.
We have some stronger pain meds, but they make her nauseous. Deb hates throwing up and so she won't take them. I've been trying to get her to take them with a full stomach but she is leery. She has to balance her pain with the side effects of the pain meds. All in all, Monday was not a happy day.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Two Days Off
After such a hard time with her front teeth, Deb had two days off. We spent the weekend quietly. We did make one trip to a local strip mall that has a nice art supply store called Art Depot. We picked up a couple of things. One of them was a plastic container for Deb's pastel colors. When we opened our luggage, we discovered pastel powder had spilled out and smeared some clotes. No harm done as it washed out, but we realized that we had to pack pastels in a better way. Deb loves her pastels and seeing them jumbled around was not a happy moment. Now they are neatly packed away in a plastic box with a clasp and batting to hold them in place.
We have our next appointment at 3:00 pm, Monday
We have our next appointment at 3:00 pm, Monday
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