One of those "Dubai" things...

Well, it took (I think!) more than 15 years, but finally had something happen to me that I have been dreading for years and years and also have had nightmares about.

Had a normal day at work, it was my late shift and my last patient came in early, so yay! Got to leave early. With this "extra" time, even did a little grocery shopping for my last guests that are coming this weekend (another yay!), and everything going well so far, right?

Wrong!!

Had my boiled egg and a little almond butter (which darn it, am somewhat addicted too. So much fat though!). Then was diddly daddlying and saw my little fruit stash and plums, which I have become some kind of plum junky (they are so good!). Felt around and most were hard, but one was fairly soft so I thought to eat it before it gets that gross too soft and squishy. Soo... started eating it and then saw something hard and white around the core. Huh? Thought it was maybe some of the core on the boiled egg, looked exactly like that, but strange! I obviously peeled off the hard white part of the egg. Hmmm.. Then something didn't seem right. Something felt funny. All of a sudden I thought, "ooohhhhhh noooooo." Ran to the mirror, and yup, my front tooth vaneer - GONE!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Then started a whole mouth full of expletives, which I won't detail here.

Funny thing a friend of mine literally LAST week just told me of a story that happened to her that week that she bit into a chocolate and her side tooth cracked. It was late at night and she found a late night clinic (only open till 9pm) that "saved her" and had this great experience. So I called her right away and she is a sound soul and could hear my panic and tears (really! My front tooth! Since I cracked it when I was a kid, I have had nightmares of anticipation of something like this!!). So basically at this point it was 8:30pm and the place is all the way in Knowledge Village (super far) and she didn't know if he did temp vaneers so quickly and maybe wait till tomorrow to call my "regular" dentist... or see someone that was late late. Thankfully nothing was bleeding or signs of any trauma, it literally was a cracked vaneer, right in the middle and then my poor old cracked tooth underneath.

Next emergency call was my manager who gave me a couple of numbers to call that had late night hours, the first one I got a hold of and had quite a steep "emergency" fee, but he did vaneers and said he could be at the office in less than 30 minutes and could fix it. It was fairly close to me and I didn't even call anyone else (which would have taken more time). Also called one of my friends more in panic and again tears about my tooth, so bless, he came to pick me up and off we went to the Dental place to get it sorted. The dentist really did open it just for us and... although a bit of a jerk, really did a good job. It was a lot quicker than I thought and was already home at 10:30pm with a almost fresh and same looking tooth! Amazing!!! But boy was it exppppppppppppppeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssssiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! It was a steep "emergency" fee just in itself, and with everything, jeez! Let's just say my ticket from Chicago to Dubai was cheaper (no joke!). Had a bit of anxiety all about it, but in the grand scheme of things, I thought this is one of the "good" things about Dubai, you really can find anything and everything at a short notice, it will just cost you!!!

So now I can shine my beaming smile! And now do some research on where to actually go for the real vaneer replacement! Eek!!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE:

Well, the title couldn't be more suitable. The thing with Dubai is you can find everything and anything. What you find a LOT is you pay a lot for things and it ends up being crap. Whether "new" apartments but they fall apart because they are quickly built with cheap material OR expensive fine dining food but tastes tasteless OR in my case, "high end" medical and dental services but they fall apart. It goes on and on.

Yup.

2 days later, Tuesday night to Friday morning, will be generous and count that as 2.5 days, my vaneer came off. I had just finished my last looooooong run for the marathon, 38km or 23 miles, was talking to my friend, and was nibbling on dried fruit, nothing spectacular, and poof! There it went off again. I could tell immediately when it happened and per the surprise of my friend, was as calm as a button. Just said, "don't mind me, my tooth just fell off." Funny things these things, a few days ago literally was in tears and completely in panic mode, now was so calm, it even surprised me. I continued chit-chatting with people, went to my yoga class, met some friends for lunch THEN started making phone calls. One that had been mentioned after the last incident was full Fri and Sat. Mind you, Friday is our version of Sunday, when most people are off, but I already had the decision to NOT may another exorbitant fee and just find a place for the next day.

I had a bad feeling about it, as mentioned the guy that fixed it was a total jerk, and dreaded calling him. In any normal country, they would have acknowledged the s*** job and give some kind of discount or redo it with a discount or for free. Again, a normal civilized legitimate world. But that's not the way things work around here. After a pep talk from my friend to be a bi-atch to him, I called and, lo and behold, "temporary are temporary, if we do it again, it will be exactly the same cost." Thank you very much, NOT! BUT as much as Dubai is Dubai, word of mouth goes a loooong way and that in itself is more powerful than anything. So although am trying to stay calm through all this and NOT think about the crazy amount of $$$ I spent for that emergency and temporary fix that lasted 2.5 days, I admit it does give me a high BP. Am trying not to think about it... too much.

Not all was not in my favor. By chance I called my regular dentist, American chap, and he was actually available the next day and at the perfect time for me. So that worked out. He was a lot more fair and communicative and did a MUCH better job. So now I have my temp tooth in again, being extra paranoid and careful, and in the next few weeks, hopefully before I go home, get all this stuff sorted. It is going to cost me an arm and a leg, but the rates are comparable to the US and is something I would be having to pay anyway and ... it was just a matter of time. Sigh. All these things never are convenient and although it is taking a big o dip in my budget, what to do? Hopefully I will have a beautiful smile when I cross the Boston finish line!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE UPDATE: 
Well, here we go again! Thursday (I think when I last updated this) I went to the dentist again and he did pictures and all the necessary templates for the perma vaneers. He advised me to do 6, my front teeth, buuuuuuuuuut, eek, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo expensive. Of course aesthetically it will look fab, BUT.... I was brought up (with 2 doctors) and me being in the medical profession, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So.. might stick with the original 3 + crown (hopefully, because that is covered by insurance).

Anyhoo, I remember Thursday when I went to bed I was having anxiety about my teeth and the cost THEN also had anxiety because I had always seen (wrongly before bed) Gone Girl, a psychological thriller that unfortunately, is all about crazy thinking people, so those movies always get me antsy, hence I usually don't watch them. So didn't have a good sleep, BUT somehow was able to crank out a quick 27km in the morning with a faster group than usual. About 10km in literally was running along, took a swig of water, and... felt my vaneer come off. AGAIN! Boy, this one lasted 6 days at least, but I am just done and done with all this. Decided I have an appt on Wed to look at shapes and colors of the vaneers anyway and will take it from there and go toothless until then. It's both frustrating mentally and financially to get these temporary things that really are just a few days! So now am wearing a surgical mask telling patients "I feel I'm coming down with a cold" to avoid smiling my missing front tooth smile, which obviously is a bit scary. Sooooooooo annoying! I just hope it can get fixed before I go home!!!

Ughhhhhhhh

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:

Well, down to the wire,  but my teeth got fixed! PHEW!!!!! Literally the day before I left. I had this 2 hour appointment (no joke) the weekend before where they literally scrapped and sawed off my front 4 teeth (a bit traumatic looking in the mirror, but that's how they do vaneers!), and put on a almost retainer type thing that is temporary, but not as flimsy or weak as those other temps. It lasted until that last appointment and that appointment was just an hour. I have to say, I was skeptical at first by the ever-so-confident dentist, but really, they look great! The color matching is super natural and matches my other teeth and the shape and size is MUCH better than how mine were before, really looks natural! So I am SUPER happy with it and worth all the trauma I had suffered (I guess).

Even better is that somehow insurance paid for a good chunk of it! It is of course still super expensive, but was a fair amount less than what I was originally thinking.

Again, phew!!

Soo.... when you see (hopefully) my Boston finishing pictures and pictures thus following, I will have my beaming smile back!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

ATP Dubai Tennis 2015

4 years of working with the ATP Dubai Tennis and I have to say for the 4th time, this is an experience of a lifetime! And again, when I leave Dubai and people ask me my highlights or what the experience was like, even years later, I will recall these moments.

After a lot of doubt and speculation (do we have a contract, do we not), we finally got confirmed to be the medical help for the ATP Tennis. That involves the doctors and nurses doing their thing and then us Physios doing ours. As this is my 4th year and I have been seeking some more leadership opportunities, I was in charge of it from the physio standpoint :-). This was pretty much the scheduling between my clinic and the other clinic that we usually work with, Aviation Club. Both of us were happy to work with each other because this is our 4th year together and we know how to collaborate and together well, so that just made it easy.

1st we had a unofficial seminar by the main ATP therapist of the "Manual Pelvis" which he had done last year but it was a lot of new and different info and pretty much all of us knew one part and the other part were a bit lost, so now it is all clarified and we learned some really useful info. Then we took Hugo and the other ATP physio, Johan, out to a nice Lebanese dinner to welcome them to Dubai.

On to ATP week.... even going into it I felt super relaxed and calm. When I look back, I didn't know what to expect the 1st year and was just starstruck and in a daze. The 2nd year was also nervous and in a daze. Last year was a bit better and comfy and got all my glamour shots with the BIG stars (Novak, Roger, etc). So after that, just felt plain o relaxed and wanted to just enjoy the experience of being there. It's always such a cool experience to see the players relaxed and themselves, versus in the media and "showy." Like Roger, I never realized how LOUD he is! Before he did goof around a bit, but this time, several times, he was so loud in his talking and bantering, it almost annoyed me (then remembered it was Roger Federer, one of the greatest players of all time and let it slide, hhehe). Luckily, had a few "off" nights so I got to watch a few matches...

I had some umm... let's say, highlight moments with #4 ranked Thomas Brdych, so I am a new crazed fan! Let's just say there is nothing left to hide with him, ha ha. Actually, he's super nice as well as Murrey, got opportunities to chat with both of them. Unfortunately, no Novak this year.. .meaning he didn't come into the training room.

Another fun thing is that I got to see the ATP physios on TV! Pretty  much seeing them in person, them being called to court, and then seeing them on TV a few seconds later. Kinda cool!

Johan (South African) in action!!

Then Hugo in action (Novak just got his finger)!

Then got to see the finals, Novak vs Federer! Unfortunately, Novak lost, but it was still a good match:

Above: Doubles runners up, Pakistani Alsam Ul-Heq Qureshi and fellow Serb Nenad Zimonjic 

In the blue top next to the guy in red, Boris Becker!

Got some snaps of the doubles runner up,  fellow Serb Zimo and his partner (after a massage), Qureshi:

Here is our great Physio Team!!! 

Sally Ann and I with the ATP physios, Hugo and Johan

And da da dum, I have to save the best for last. Stopped in the clinic after Novak won against Brydch (sorry Brdych) and guess who was just sitting there? Good 'ol Boris Becker! It was just him and Hugo (the guy int he green above, the Head ATP Physio) and my other colleague Allie. So we were all just talking and he asked for some neck treatment which Hugo and Allie provided (I was off duty, I swear!). What a funny guy! For example, when Allie was working on him, she was making conversation and saying how her mother-in-law is his biggest fan, etc etc. He looked up at her and said, "wow, times have changed. It used to be the daughters, now I am attracting the mother-in-laws." Hahahha. We all had a good laugh. Fortunately, unlike after he lost to Federer in the finals, he was in good spirits and was more than happy to take a snap with myself and then Allie:

That was definitely a highlight of the tournament! I then became obsessed and read up on his bio and all his tennis accomplishments since the age of 17 when he won Wimbledon! Quite a few ups and downs and some personal drama's, but overall, a very accomplished player and a legend. Poor guy has a horrible hip and majorly limps when he walks, so hope he gets that taken care of.

So alas, am totally suffering from post-Tennis blues. Especially since it was fun to back off of training and eat.... well, fun stuffs and not worry about it! Think I got it out of my system, I hope. I can't say enough what a fun experience this is, to have VIP access to parking, go to any matches, be 1-1 with these players and also learned a lot professionally! Hugo giving us that Seminar on the ever complex pelvis and then watching them in action and seeing what they do was a great learning experience. I will definitely take home what they have taught and practice. It was also nice because this is just a 500 point tournament, Indian Wells next week is the big one, so the guys were totally relaxed, too relaxed? So again, nice to see them in a non-stressful environment. 

Well, who knows what will happen next year, but having done this for 4 years in row is quite special and I will hold these memories with me forever!!