An Epic Tale of Tooth Decay
It's been over two weeks since I came down with a toothache. I managed to find a dentist to see me on the 30th. By that point, the pain had eased up a lot, but I was feeling run down, and my temperature, while not a fever, was running warm, around 99 and a few bits.
The dentist whacked on my teeth with a little metal mallet until we identified my rearmost molar on the upper left side was infected. It would seem the bacteria made their way in via a shoddy filling installed by that other dentist I told you about. I left the new and much better dentist's office with a referral for an endodontist and a couple of prescriptions for Zithromax and Aleve.
The CVS pharmacy on 5th across from Acme had a long line that was barely moving, and the phone was ringing and ringing and ringing. That's not uncommon for them, at least whenever I'm there. I think they understaff the place and run the pharmacists ragged. After about twenty minutes of being first in line to drop off my prescriptions, I decided it would be better to simply die and headed home.
It's a real shame. Before CVS bought the building, it housed more worthwhile neighborhood businesses, including a small liquor store, a dry cleaner that got things clean and remembered your name, and an excellent little bodega and bottle shop. That's progress for you.
On the way home, I reconsidered the whole dying idea and decided to try the miserable Walgreens up the street. I always loved Walgreenses in the suburbs. They were large and spacious and clean and had everything all the time. Philly Walgreenses are not like that. The one nearest to me is cramped and dingy. A third of the shelf space is empty, and almost everything they bother to keep in stock is locked up behind plastic cases.
However, as I soon discovered, the pharmacy is terrific. There were no lines, and everyone was very friendly (probably because they weren't being worked to death). From start to finish, it took about 15 minutes to fill my prescription. I'm never stepping foot in that CVS again!
My next challenge was making an appointment with the endodontist. Their offices were closed for the holidays and wouldn't reopen until January 2nd. That meant I could not even schedule anything until after the three-day weekend. I'd gone this long with a toothache; I could manage a few more days. And then the insurance got complicated.
I started a new job a few weeks ago. As of the 1st, my dental insurance from working for the Internet was no more, and my new insurance from the Airplanes hadn't propagated fully into all the systems yet because of the holidays. On Tuesday, I was advised to wait 72 hours and try again, which I did, but I still could not register with the portal to get a copy of my insurance card. I called the insurer, but they couldn't find me in their system at all.
Figuring things couldn't wait much longer, I went ahead and made an appointment with the endodontist under the assumption I'd be paying out of pocket. I'm looking at $235-1,850 cash, depending on whether or not I need a root canal. The next day, the Airplanes' Benefits department contacted me to say my account was active in their system and sent me the info on file. Good news!
Upon review, I noticed a clerical error that had my address entered incorrectly. I managed to set up a user account with the insurer's portal using the incorrect address info, but I can't update the contact info myself. A note says only my employer can do that. I asked the Airplanes to make the change, but I don't know how long that will take. Hopefully, it will not be too long because I see the endo at 8 am on Tuesday. After that, I'll have to figure out what to do about my new dentist because their office emailed everyone that they're no longer working with my insurance company in the new year.
In the meantime, the Z-pack cleared up the last of my toothache, but now I have a mild sinus infection. I know it's a sinus infection because my snot smelled terrible for a while. Having a stench come from inside your own nose is a weird experience. The smell could also be from the bad tooth, equally gross, but the severity tracks with my other sinus infection symptoms. The good news is it's not too bad, and I seem to be getting better faster now that I've finally given in and spent the day resting in bed.
All that said, I'm in good spirits, as I very much enjoy not working for the Internet.