Nov 18, 2007
That first week seemed pretty busy and it was. This second week has been quite a bit more languid. I'm going to start this page off with some health and wellness items.
(Just filler for a slow week)
Last winter ('06) I had a tooth worked on, on CZ. I've always had silver fillings called 'Amalgam' and they may contain a small amount of Mercury which is a concern to some of you I know. One of my amalgam fillings had came loose and I had it replaced on CZ with a ceramic inlay for $130. The inlay was a snug fit and in time the outward pressure started a crack in the tooth. Then, during the end of that Summer back home I bit down hard on a frozen almond in some ice cream and completed the crack. Over the next month or two the nerve died. Not too painful but the dead nerve material became infected and an abscess developed which made the tooth's socket tender.
Note: As I type this (6:30 AM), a strong smell of Marijuana smoke just wafted in through my second story hotel window. Boy, someone is in for a very long day!
Back to the tooth: In this X-ray the cracked tooth's root is on the right in the green circle. Notice the slightly darker area around the tip? That is a low density area, called a halo, where the infection is located. As the bio-matter grows and expands it creates pressure in the tooth socket and finally it brakes out as a boil on the gum. This process is often quite painful but in my case not so bad. Below the X-ray is is a picture of the boil.
I had two dentists look at the abscess StateSide and both recommended a Root Canal (both women). I emailed these pictures to my dentist on CZ who did the inlay and she prescribed antibiotics for ten days and then have a look. Last night I chat with a dentist here in PDC and she said 'No pain, no problem. Wait and see what happens. I can always get a root canal ($200)' So that's where that's at. What's with all these women dentists?
Shingles
I got ahead of my self again because of the distraction of last nights visit with the Dentist. In June I thought I had a zit in my scalp and then two. Within a day I was diagnosed at the VA with Shingles. . . . Zowie !!
Give this link a read:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shingles/DS00098
I came out of that real lucky. My only postherpetic neuralgia was in the eyebrow and that's now gone away. I've read elsewhere on the web that postherpetic neuralgia is the second most frequent motivation for senior suicide. If you'd like to hear a dissertation on gratitude just ask ME !! If you are over 50 and concerned, there is an immunization available; Ask you health care provider.
Zenker's 'Di-ver-tic-u-lum'
For an awfully long time I've had occasional trouble coordinating breathing and swallowing, and sometimes just swallowing. I finally complained at the VA hospital and they had me drink a barium shake while they watched on a digital X-ray machine. Here are a couple still frames of the movie;
This description from the Mayo site may help:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/swallowing-problems/zenkerdiverticulum.html
The VA in Minneapolis is a teaching hospital with residencies for University of Minnesota school of medicine graduates and because of the high standard of the VA's work, the hospital is quite popular. I had to wait a month to get in to ENT for the staple job repair. While an eminent specialist supervised and coached, young Doctors with four years of GP experience in the field, did the work.
Officer, I believe this lad's been drugged.
I just laid my head down for a minute and next thing I knew I was in the post-op ward.
This is a video of the repair:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAsaUbM6-j0
So, here I am 6 weeks later and fully recovered as many local restaurants can attest.
Actually I torqued that abscessed tooth eating ice cream to sooth my raw throat during the first week after surgery and while I was also still taking the percocet. I wonder. . . . .
Thats enough on health, Fast-forward to today in PDC.
One of the beach front hotels has a popular open air restaurant and bar on the sand and it's been overseen for years by a parrot named Chuckie Bird. I stopped by to pay my respects.
While I was there visiting Chuckie they were working on one of the beach cabanas and I noticed this hand made hacksaw. Great design in that as you push the saw forward the blade is pulled forward by the top frame member. As you grip the handle it then also tensions the blade preventing it from twisting and binding in the work. Quite often simpler IS better
On the way home from a meeting the other night I passed this Chinese semi buffet. They charge a buck a dip for almost a dozen different items that all looked quite appetizing. You pick, they dip.
Down on 5th, the pedestrian only shopping Avenue, one restaurant had these fresh from the sea lobster on display. No cowering in the corner after a week's stay for these guys. They were all thrashing elbows and knees. One was climbing half out of the tank but he couldn't hold his breath long enough to make it over the side.
This is absolutely the last time I go to the $5 buffet for a wile. The food is just too good and tasty to be served all-you-can-eat. They had a macaroni salad today that was to die for. I asked the owner if his lovely cook was married, he smiled and said she was. Her husband must weigh a thousand pounds.
A pal of mine's wife wrote last week asking about a hotel they were interested in. It is behind that 'Pallapa' with the thatched roof
You can only access from the beach, there is no street entrance.
This is the view looking in from the beach.
These blue jugs are at the entrance to the lobby.
This is a view of the beach to the North seen from the roof of the Alhambra Hotel, next door.
Ive been looking all over town for a clamp-lamp for the headboard to read by and ended up finding one at a huge new Office Depot. On the way to the store I passed a little fenced compound filled with
VW dune buggies and some kit-cars. Amongst the kit-cars were these two fiberglass beauties. I first saw the design in Puerto Vallarta (on the Pacific side) six years ago and have yet to find out where they are made. Wouldn't they make a great looking electric cars?
This is a 'before' shot of the Hacienda Agua Azure (Blue Water Ranch) hotel where I'm staying. They are in the process of remodeling the facade. The entrance to the main lobby is in the center
This parting sunrise is a leftover from last week.
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