I've got to get in my car in an hour or so and drive an hour and 15 minutes away to a doctor's appointment for an ultrasound this morning related to my bariatric surgery I had last December.

Then I've got to drive back to town here for an afternoon dental appointment.  I broke a crown (and swallowed it) just before Mexico, so I've been missing a molar all summer.  No pain because the root is from a root canal, but now the root has to be extracted and an implant put in.  While in Mexico I had a local dentist check it out, and he found a tooth next to it was infected at the root.  He had his beautiful young junior dentist work on that for me.  Then for good measure he had another beautiful young junior dentist do an unnecessary biopsy on a dark spot on my inner cheek trying to scare me it might be "cancer."  

Next the estimate of what I was going to pay out of pocket for all of this and for a list they gave me of other future unnecessary work went up 3 times, and I realized I was in a Mexican dental tourism trap.  As I walked out of the dentist's office, I happened upon this tourist from the USA, a loud lady who didn't speak any Spanish, being led from one room to another and it confirmed I was a mark for these guys.  Ruh roh.  I canceled further appointments, so now I have to fess up to this dentist here in Cumberland about why I have half a root canal in my mouth.  I have dental insurance through work, so I'm less likely to have this USA dentist try to empty my pockets for me like that.  I'm not looking forward to explaining the whole story, though.  Oh, well.

Tomorrow I see my psychiatrist and then go see my neurologist about the neuropathy in my legs from the nerve damage I got from kidney disease caused by the high doses of Seroquel my former psychiatrist put me on.  4 doctors in 2 days.  For a guy like me who lives alone because of having a high startle response and not enjoying being touched, it's a lot.

Then there's the matter of going back to work in a workplace that doesn't feel embracing and full of warmth to me these days as I begin my next to last school year before I retire.  My boss and my boss's boss are both making provisions to replace me, provisions that are necessary but that have begun with less than sensitivity. 

For example, I found out last semester that the main course I teach nursing students from my previous hospital chaplaincy years, death and dying class, was being rewritten in our college catalog without my knowledge.  The new instructor has personal issues with religion and so she rewrote my class's catalog description to eliminate any inclusion of religious views at the end of life because, she said, she's more "scientific."  It was a little hard to take because as a hospital chaplain I worked on a brain surgery unit, which they tell me is pretty cutting edge science in most hospitals.  Sure was in mine.

Kind of feeling like a old fogey piece of meat this morning.  Support welcome.