WHERE DID HE GO...THIS ROBERTO?

I ADMIT IT...A LONG TIME since my last posting!

Winter hung on, then Spring caught us all by surprise but with little of that rush of energy, so depleted were we all from that overlong and penetrating cold.  'The worst we have had for some years', was the complaint on every side.

For we humans, that is.  As for the plants, they simply took off while we green finger pretenders lagged far behind.  I managed to get sort of 'sick' with a weird low grade sinusitis, partly due to allergies it would seem.  Later it became clear that another villain in the piece has been an incipient abscess in one of my upper molars, possibly affecting the sinus on that side.  Several courses of antibiotics helped somewhat but what can be worst than such in the Winter.  All I wanted to do was eat chocolate!  Supposed to be an natural antidepressant but excellent at adding fat. What is that saying, things that taste good must be immoral, illegal, or fattening?  Seems I am too moral and collected the residual possibility. Maybe the allergist is right...at least the nasal spray he recommended has fixed most of the symptoms.

Please forgive all this going on about overstated illness.  It has been a matter of grinding away at the gym and riding the bike and gradually my trousers have become a little less tight around the waist. To admit to the truth, the fact is that I passed my annual physical with flying colors.  Things cannot be all that bad.

What is prompting this dreary chronicle?  Here I am, sitting out the night at Houston International Airport, on my way to Costa Rica.  Do I hear you asking, 'Why on earth is he going there?'

For the last decade I have marveled at the long life of a bridge' in the right side of my jaw, constructed some 30 years ago and taking the place of two side by side extractions.  Finally, it felt rather loose and then fell out.  The problem was a decayed tooth and the front end.

My dentist effected a minor repair on the tooth at the other end and then pronounce that I would need to have two implants supporting a new crown.  How much would this cost, including the necessary root canal and crown?  Looking at me seriously, he pronounced a total of some $15,000!!!

'What do you think?' asked he.
Me: 'I think, Dental Tourism.'

So, dear friends, I researched this topic from Thailand, Turkey, and finally Costa Rica. In San Jose there are lots of fully qualified dentists doing this work and I expect all this to be done for around $6,000 including travel and accommodation.  Plus I get to go to CR twice, apparently a very nice country to visit.

So watch this space...I will write a brief posting at each stage, beginning Monday.

I was going to have the work done in Turkey, in combination with cycle tours there and, later, in Israel.  But meanwhile came the news that my dearest friend was diagnosed with the dreaded breast cancer; a very aggressive type, Stage III.  So I have been caught up in supporting her through the surgery and chemotherapy.  This next week is a lull in her treatment regimen so it is Dental Tourism for me this week.  Turkey and Israel will have to wait.  It turns out this might not be a good time to go to the Middle East so it seems to be working out.

More shortly.