Once again, compliments of Miss Sandra Beckham of Miami -- and posted here mostly because it's about the ONLY awkward moment I've not (yet) experienced (and trust I won't).
This morning, I'd planned to honor (of all people) my dentist -- and I'm going to do that. But I also had a highly disturbing experience overnight that I'll soon report as well.
The last person on earth you could have told me would be my rock in times of trouble would be a dentist. But truth-be-told, Todd Afferica, DDS (his wife Cindy and their entire staff, as well) was the one reliable (outside of some people at my metaphysical church) anchor of sanity in Georgia from the day I first met him (1992?) when he worked in a clinic on Memorial Drive until I fled to Mexico at the recommendation of Gen. Collin Powell's former Chief Protocol Officer, Memorial Day weekend, 2010.
It was not just his love of his work and his consummate skill -- but his absolute integrity. And the man had had some difficulties. He'd seriously damaged his back while playing football during undergraduate work at Duke. He managed his pain so that no one knew he had it -- and so that he was never "loopy" in the office from drugs. It got so bad that for a couple of years he had to convince a retired dentist to take over half his schedule. But his eventual back surgery worked, and he was able to resume his full schedule.
We used to talk politics (where we differed in Preferred Party, if not actual philosophy), spirituality, and what-the-heck-was-wrong-with-my-mouth: why despite reasonable care, I was getting cavity on top of cavity, bone and gums receding. It was only in the last year that I finally found in the very fine print on a package of the Lithium I took religiously the entire time I saw him (except the final few months), that Lithium caused carries (decay and crumbling of a tooth or bone). Later, I learned IN MEXICO WHERE THEY ARE MORE HONEST ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS OF DRUGS, that Lithium can be devastating to the mouth (as well as several organs and glands).
But we fought the good fight -- and lost. Eventually, I had to have a full upper plate -- as well as the flipper for the four center lower teeth that I had been wearing since not long after I first (less-religiously), began taking Lithium in the 1970s.
And what a plate it is!!! Everyone thinks I have the finest natural teeth -- and it's so snug, I don't need to use adhesive. If, like me, you are homeless, you KNOW what an advantage it is not to fight with adhesive when you never know when you will next see a bathroom as sanitary as one in a private home.
Now, it is important to me that you, gentle reader, know that Todd's wife Cindy (who runs the office) and all the others working there are also of the highest calibre, and really do function as a family. While the ones there now are milder in personality, he once had a spitfire miniature hygienist who played competitive bagpipes (though, to my knowledge, not in the office), and a fine apprentice from Latin America who was so nice and handsome I had to bite my tongue to bleeding just to keep from proposing marriage.
So you see, while I have the HIGHEST PRAISE for the skills and care of Dr. Afferica and all in his office, it is just the fact that they are THEY that blesses their clients and friends, primarily.
I don't know if he is taking on new clients or not (during business downturns, everyone postpones certain services, so he probably is), but if you live near Northeast Atlanta, check him out!!!
>>> DISCLAIMER: I still owe Dr. Afferica over $600.00 for these dentures. This posting in NOT an attempt to butter him up or shirk my debts. I'll be more than happy to pay him FIRST when I have money again. This posting is just a small tribute to a dentist and his staff whom I wish to recognize for being so much more than just "a dentist and his staff."
>>> DISCLAIMER #2: Dr. Afferica did his graduate work at UNC Chapel Hill. So with his education being at the two TOP schools supported by my distant Kenan relatives, it is no wonder he turned out so perfect. LOL!!! I think I'll have to make him an Honorary Kenan (not that I have the authority to do that). Consider it DONE!!!
>>> FURTHER: I'm too full of thanksgiving to be bothered reporting on last night's disillusionment, which is really just a breakthrough to a greater understanding of reality -- no matter how annoying the disillusionment temporarily was.
REALITY (aka GOD) RULES!!!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment