The time has arrived for appointment with Dr. Garcia for my dental implant. To say my anxiety is high would be putting it mildly! My appointment was rescheduled from yesterday to today at 12:00, which only allowed me another 24 hours to stress.
We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast before going to Los Algodones. Either the Yuma Cracker Barrel's food is extremely bad or I have just grown very tired of Cracker Barrel. Our breakfast was ok--just nothing special today. Possibly it is my nerves playing havoc with my appetite!
We left Yuma and drove to Algodones. We headed in the direction of Dr. Garcia's office. Larry did not go with me last week to his office so it was up to me to find my way. We walked for awhile and I decided I was lost. I dug out Dr. Garcia's card about the time a guy stopped to ask if he could help us with directions. I gave him the card with the address and he directed us to Avenue B and tried to tell us which building the office was located in. I knew it was not the right building but as we found the proper street, I found the building. I was very uncomfortable roaming this area as it is not in the most popular area of Algodones.
We walked into the office and sat down to wait. I am VERY agitated by now and just trying to think ahead about when this procedure will be over. I have complete confidence in the doctor's ability but just stressed because this is something new to face.
The office girl called me and I made myself walk into the operatory. Dr. Garcia came in and froze the surgical area. I was shocked to find that the area was immediately numb and I have never had Novocaine work this quickly. Within minutes he started my surgery and I kept thinking--so far so good. I heard a few 'crunches' but no pain involved. Before I knew what was happening, he was stitching the area. I wanted to ask if that was it! It took less than 20 minutes for surgery and I was walking out to the waiting room. I could not believe I was done--no pain whatsoever! This was nothing compared to having a tooth extracted. All I had to do now was calm my anxiety that had been building for the past 3 days! The human mind can differently make you sick!
Larry asked me how bad it was and when I told him it was a 'piece of cake' he looked doubtful. I told him he should go ahead and have the implants done that he has been talking about for 2 years. He immediately refused. While I was paying for my procedure he decided to ask the doctor to look at the area where he needed implants. The office girl told him to wait until the next patient was finished and the doctor would see him.
They called Larry in and the doctor xrayed the area for implant and determined his bone support would allow the implant. Larry is missing the molars on his lower left but Dr. Garcia told him 1 implant would allow a larger crown to be placed to fill up most of the area. I was very surprised that Larry agreed to have the implant because he was not very agreeable when he walked in. They scheduled his surgery for tomorrow morning.
When we got home, the rest of our sunscreens had been delivered and they actually appeared to fit everything very nicely. Attached to the wiper blade was a birthday balloon from Judy, Ken and Jan from across the street. They are such great people and we've all become pretty close in the past couple of weeks.
My Novocaine was wearing off quickly so I took a pain pill and laid down for awhile. I didn't have so much pain as just a little discomfort. I finally got up and took some Ibuprofen and laid back down. I slept for about an hour and when I woke, I had no discomfort to speak of. I kept waiting the entire day for the pain to come but had nothing other than a little sore area in gum.
We decided to go down to Daybreaker Cafe to grab something light for dinner. I had no problems eating dinner and when I went to bed I still had no pain. I would have to say the implant was no worse than any other dental procedure I've had previously. The stress I had built during the past few days was defiantly wasted energy!
Wednesday February 15, 2012
We left for Los Algodones at 8:15 for Larry's appointment with Dr. Garcia. Today we found his office without a problem and arrived before the doctor. When Dr. Garcia arrived we went in and as we were waiting, I could tell Larry was a little agitated worrying about the surgery. I told him it was not going to be as bad as he expected but I don't think he was buying my story.
The doctor called him in and as with my surgery, he was done in 20 minutes. When Larry came out I could tell he was relieved to have it behind him. We paid for the surgery and the office girl scheduled our appointments for next year. We told her to schedule for February 2013 so she called Dr. Castro's office to coordinate Dr. Garcia's appointments with her office. She set up appointments for both of us for the same day with Dr. Castro. Dr. Garcia will place the post into the implant area and then we will see Dr. Castro to take impressions for the crowns.
We left Dr. Garcia's office and decided to get across the border before the crowd hit. We walked over to border line and it was very short since it was only 10:15am. We cleared customs and headed to Yuma. We stopped and picked up cash at the ATM to pay for our sunscreens placed yesterday.
We found Speciality Sewing and dropped off the payment and then drove back to Frye's and picked up a few groceries and some chicken from deli for lunch before heading home.
I was setting outside later when a couple from the resort stopped to ask about our sunscreens. As we talked, Larry came out to meet them. Their names were Doris and Nick and they are from Michigan. As we talked, the subject of Mexican dentist's came up and they asked for recommendations from us. I gave them business cards from both Dr. Castro and Dr. Garcia. When they left, they asked us to stop by their 5th wheel to visit when we had time.
We watched the news and weather and talked about going to San Diego tomorrow. We've been wanting to make the trip since we arrived in Yuma. The weather sounds a little cool and there appears to be rain moving in. As we talked, we decided to go anyway since we are due to leave here next Thursday. We would like to look for a place to move over to San Diego before we are due in Mesa on March 1.
Thursday February 16, 2012
Snow in mountains going to San Diego
We woke up at 4:45 and got ready to leave for San Diego. It is quite cool this morning so hope the weather warms somewhat as we travel west. We drove to toward El Centro and it started raining. We stopped for gas and breakfast and as we drove out of El Centro about 20 miles, we started climbing into the mountains. The farther we drove, the colder the temperature and the harder it rained. When we reached about 3,500 feet, the rain started turning to snow. We drove about 10 miles reaching about 5,000 feet and the snow was heavier and eventually turned into a treacherous drive through the mountain road. The roads became covered with slushy snow and slick enough that there were several vehicle off in the ditches. A snowplow was traveling ahead of us and helped to clear the highway ahead. I could not believe how terrible the weather had turned. We continued over the mountain and started descending about 25 miles east of San Diego. By the time we drove into the city limits, the sun was out and the temperature got a little warmer. We drove for awhile and stopped at a gas station to buy a city map.
We drove along the ocean and passed Sea World and stopped several times to take in the beauty. This whole area is like a beautiful painting and seems to have a wealthy population as most of the houses are very nice. The houses along the beach area are amazing with big glassed views of the ocean. I could pick out about a hundred houses along the beaches to buy --when I win the lottery of course!!
We drove by the Naval Base and pulled into the gate to find out if we were allowed to tour the base. They immediately replied no and informed us where we could turn around to exit the base. Wow--I was a little surprised since we were allowed on the Yuma Military Base just last week.
When we left the Naval Base, we took the San Diego-Coronado Bridge across to Coronado Island. The look and feel of this area was much like things I've read about California. The main street of downtown area was a boulevard lined with palm trees and beautiful flowers. The shopping area was a very trendy looking area with several coffee shops and high end retailers. We found a small public park where we were able to walk down near the ocean and could see downtown San Diego from across the channel. Of course, the houses on the ocean were beautiful with amazing views.
Bridge to Coronado IslandWe left Coronado Island and drove downtown to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. We walked around a portion of the ballpark but could not find a gate open to enter. It was lunch time so we continued walking around the park area and stopped at the Tilted Kilt for a sandwich. We ordered a french dip sandwich and garlic Parmesan french fries to split and a beer. I am not a lover of french fries but these were delicious as well as our sandwich and of course, the beer.
The waitress told us the ball park should be open so we walked over to find out. We were able to walk into the bleacher area and had a good view of the park. When we left this area we found the Padres gift shop was open so we stopped in to look around. We did not buy anything as their prices were horribly high. This, of course, was not shocking but if I spend the money it will be on my Cubbies and not the Padres.
San Diego Convention Center and Steps going to Top LevelWe walked from the ballpark down to Harbor Street to the San Diego Convention Center. What a HUGE place with about 200 steps, which we climbed, to get to the top where we were able to view the ocean. There was a harbor with many large and expensive boats docked. People in this city have a lot of money or are hocked to their ears because the boats are as impressive as the real estate.
The area across the street from the Convention Center is a historic district called Gaslamp Quarter and looked much like I envision the New Orleans district would look.
We talked to a lady who told us that the Maritime Museum was about 2 miles down Harbor Street. Larry wanted to see this area so we walked back to retrieve the car. We found the museum which was also located on Harbor Street. This was a very busy area and when we found a parking meter, we emptied our pockets for enough change to feed the meter for 1 1/2 hours. We walked across the street and bought tickets to tour the 5 ships open to the public. The ships are all historic ships from the 18th Century with only the Californian, a schooner, still sea worthy. We toured a B-39 Soviet Attack Submarine, The USS Dolphine, which was the deepest diving submarine in the world, HMS Surprise, Medea and Berkeley. All of the ships have been beautifully restored and many movies have been made using the various ships.
Our meter was running close to the time limit so we walked back to the car and drove farther down Harbor Street to find our way back to RT 8 to Yuma. While driving down Harbor, I saw the Caterpillar Solar Plant. Had the traffic not been so horrible, I would have ask Larry to turn around and possibly stopped in at facility. It looked to be a nice facility and sat just across Harbor Street from the ocean. I remember several of my friends from Caterpillar who transferred to Solar and fell in love with San Diego.
We found our way back to RT 8 and the traffic was very heavy even though it is only 2:45pm, California time. We both felt we had seen most of the points of interest in San Diego so decided to not move the motor home here next week. It's a highly populated and busy area and most importantly, VERY expensive. The cheapest gas we saw in San Diego was $4.38 and surprisingly, Diesel was not much more. The gas prices between Yuma and San Diego probably range around 80 to 90 cents difference.
Mountains leaving San Diego on Route 8
We drove out of San Diego and the view of the mountains was just stunning! The entire city is nestled among the mountains and the shape, sizes and texture of the mountains are so varied it's hard to believe. The houses are built all among the valleys and mountains with many of the houses precariously hanging on the sides and edges of the mountain.
We climbed into the mountains again and our bright, sunny day started to become somewhat overcast as we made our ascent to the top. We saw many things traveling at the top of the mountain road that we did not see early this morning because of the bad weather. We came into one area that had a great number of windmills strung along the crest of the mountain. The terrain of each mountain is so varied it appears they have been snatched from another area and dropped here. One mountain is nothing but huge boulders and the one next to it appears to be covered with green grass and vegetation. Some of the mountains have terrain of small white rock and from a distance appears to be covered with snow. Regardless, the trip home was much more scenic since the car was not covered in snow and we could see out of the windshield.
The sun was shinning again when we descended the mountains and we stopped in El Centro again for gas around 6:00. When we reached the Imperial Dunes about 20 miles west of Yuma, the campers and dune buggy's were everywhere so everyone must be starting their weekend early. If we lived in this area for long, we'd be purchasing a dune buggy as there is very little else that would hold my interest.
We arrived home around 7:30 and realized it has been a VERY long day. I headed to bed around 9:00 and was glad to be home.
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