At the Dentist

As I have previously mentioned, we have an excellent dentist here in Grecia - Dr. Marco Vega Quesada. Again, here is his card:

His modern office is located near POPS on the second floor and across from the central park and cathedral. A plus is that he is bilingual, although his office staff is not. He also works at our Grecia Caja hospital, San Francisco de Asis. He and all his staff are so personable, kind and caring. Great view of the park from the treatment rooms.

I had my third visit with him this Wednesday for gum surgery. All my appointments so far have been late afternoon (4:30 pm). This means that quite often it is dark when I leave his office (this being the tropics after all). We don’t drive in the dark so Lance drops me off and I taxi home. Reasons for not wanting to drive in the dark: narrow, winding roads; few if any sidewalks and lack of shoulders; people, dogs, chickens walking on the roads, lack of street lights and so on. Obviously not all of Costa Rica is like this, but it is in our area and we prefer to leave the driving to the taxis. 

This particular appointment was over an hour long and I left with a mouthful of stitches and cotton batting on one frozen side, instructions to rest, avoid the sun, don’t drink hot beverages and take the prescribed medications. It was dark out by now.

So here’s the funny part. There’s a large farmacia (pharmacy) near his office and the taxi stand. In I went, handed over my script and was handed back a pack of pain killers, mouth spray and a large needle with vial! I thought ... am I supposed to inject myself? That’s for sure not going to happen. Then I remembered - in Costa Rica pharmacies provide a lot more services then just dispensing pills and selling shampoos. They will also give injections.

So I was motioned into the back of the farmacia, had my blood pressure and heart rate recorded, then into another room - up on the table and the deed was done. I’m assuming the shot was antibiotics - the doctor explained everything to me but I think I missed that part so I was kind of shocked when I saw the “giant” needle. Poor Lance - I had phoned him to say I was not yet in a taxi but in a farmacia waiting to have a shot of some kind, but I couldn’t talk very well with the freezing and batting or even explain why this was going to happen to me. I was a bit addled!

Anyway, taxi home and I got to see all the wonderful Christmas light displays on the houses in our neighbourhood.

Fun At the Local Medical Clinic in Atenas, Costa Rica

This morning we went to the Farmacia Clinica in Atenas to drop off a prescription. This is where we go for blood work and medications. Some people have their assigned doctor here, but ours is at the Ebais in Barrio Jesus and it is not that far from our house. We see our doctor and then take prescriptions/requisitions to the Atenas clinica.

After dropping off the prescription, we went to Kay’s Postres Cafe & Restaurante for breakfast. Kay’s is right next to the clinic. I had the BELT (bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato sandwich) and a fruit smoothie, and Lance ordered an omelet. After breakfast, we wandered back to the clinic but my prescription was not ready.

So we took seats and just people watched. There is a clock on the wall that forever says “it’s 10 o’clock”. There is a sign warning against any amorous activities, like kissing. The clinic can be very confusing at first. Some people are waiting to see a nurse or a doctor, others are lined up to renew their carnets (medical cards), people like us waiting for their prescriptions ..... then there are those waiting for the Needle Man.

I met him once - I needed a shot in the butt for some reason or other. He is dressed all in white - shoes, trousers and shirt. He waits for a needle prescription in his inbox and then calls out the name of the lucky recipient. One little girl went skipping happily into his office and came out a few minutes later in her mother’s arms, crying and rubbing her tush.

But the funniest kid (although I guess he didn’t think it was so funny) was the one who must have been told ahead of time what he was going to be facing. He and his father were sitting across from us. The boy (maybe five years old) was complaining, crying a bit, trying to escape. Then his name was called.

He immediately grabbed hold with both hands to his chair arm and his father had to peel him off. Dad carried him towards his fate, but he grabbed hold of door frames and put his feet on walls to stop forward motion. It was like trying to put a cat into a carrier. I didn’t know small children could do this. You should have heard the caterwauling (ha ha) during the needle procedure. Out he came in his father’s arms - rubbing his rear end.

So is it better to warn your kid ahead of time or tell them they are going for ice cream in the nurse’s office?