Cultural Experiences

 Layna striking a pose. This was in between her crying for Mommy!

RING POPS. The girls are big fans but Layna seems to be offering hers to you!

Aaron here. Let me share with you a couple of cultural experiences I had over the last few months. Caution this will contain graphic language about physical ailments! You've been warned!

First... the Kenyan root canal.
I was finishing a call and realized my front tooth (the one I broke by doing a dive into the pool when I was 13 years old) was feeling a little sensitive like I had been grinding my teeth overnight but funny thing was I hadn't been to sleep yet and it was 3am (it actually wasn't funny). The next morning it was really hurting but I started with some ibuprofen and headed out for the hospital. The throbbing was constant and getting worse every minute so I went and started myself on some amoxil thinking it was now an infection and I instantly felt bad for all the patients in the US that came in with tooth pain and I smiled, patted them on the back and sent them out with amoxil. I was hurting. That afternoon I had Sonya call her dentist in TN and he said it was an abscess over that tooth and would need a root canal sometime in the next few weeks and it was a ticking time bomb if I waited longer than that. At that point the pain was nearly unbearable and putting ice over the front of my face was a bad idea because the pressure of it made it even worse. I was maxed out on tylenol and motrin so I did something I have never done before...I went for the lortab. I've never had to take any medicine stronger than ibuprofen before although I've prescribed it more that I would like to admit! So I had some Lortab 10mg I was given before I left just in case I needed it. So I cut it in half...then cut it in half again. Yes I was a bit intimidated by the stuff. I took 1/4th of the pill and waited...and waited. Nothing. 45min later I took another 1/4th. still nothing. by this time it was time for more ibuprofen so I took it and stopped messing around and took the other half of the Lortab 10. It was bed time by now and I finally fell asleep for about 2 hours. I woke up and took another half...nothing then the other half and I finally slept for a few hours. The next morning I was in lots of pain. the left side of my face was swollen so much my left nostril was occluded. I went to see my patients and got lots of funny looks...more than normal that is. I had taken another half of the lortab at that point and the pounding was unbearable. I'm not sure if it was the pain or the lortab but at some point I considered getting the dental tools I had been given and the dental anesthesia book and injecting some numbing medicine into my face/mouth! That night I quit messing around and took a whole Lortab 10 and finally had some relief and slept about 5 hours. the next day one of the doctors I worked with told me to go home and wanted to start me on IV flagyl because the swelling was worse and I was looking more like a chipmunk with a big fat cheek on the left. Finally that afternoon 48 hours after the amoxil was started I had some relief apart from meds. It still took 2-3 days before the pain completely subsided.
So I had heard there was a good Kenyan dentist in Eldoret 2 hours away so I was able to get in touch with him and set up an appointment for the next week.
When I arrived I was sent for an XR of my mouth down the hall and an man had me put on a lead vest and had me hold some films behind my teeth while he shot some x-rays. So I paid for those (about $15!) and took them down the hall to the office again. So Dr. Kuyaya told me I had a large cyst above my front top tooth and the tooth beside it. I figured I would need a root canal but he surprised me that I needed 2 root canals! I made sure I felt comfortable with how comfortable the dentist was with root canals prayed and proceeded.
1st the injection. I hope to never feel a needle piercing my hard palate ever again! then burning then an awful taste and finally numbness. Then I had the usual drilling, gagging, taste of tooth and blood sensation that you have all too often at the dentist's office. He is asking for tools in Swahili or maybe he was making fun of me in Swahili either way he ended up with some "files" that he inserted into my 2 teeth. Then he sent me for another XR. So here I am numb with drool down my cheek, and 2 dental files sticking out of my teeth with a pink handle and blue handle. The files are kind of like push pins you use to put things up on your wall. so I can't close my mouth and I am sent down the hall again to the XR area of the "medical plaza". At this time there are about 6 other Kenyan's waiting for various XR looking at me a bit more oddly than they usually do. I walk up to the reception area and say "da docta said I need anoder x way" in the mean time I am slurping up my spit about every 8-10 sec. So I have a seat and give a few Kenyan's the "what's up" head nod trying to maintain my "I'm just a normal person, please ignore my spit slurping and walrus looking face right now". after about 10 min and about 60 times of me trying to keep my  saliva in my mouth they call me for an XR. Similar XR experience as before only about $7 this time. I am sent back to the office only to find out the dentist has already put someone else in my chair and is working on them! So I continue with the slurping in his waiting room with about 3-4 other people (not slurping their spit). So I pray some, mostly that the lidocaine won't wear off before he finishes the procedure. I play "snake" on my phone for about 1/2 an hour and set a number of new high scores by the way. He calls me in after about 45 min and is happy with the XR, shoots some hydrogen peroxide into the canals and says it is still draining some pus so he does it a few more times then puts on a temporary filling. On the way out the receptionist asks me to pay $220 total for 2 root canals...not a bad deal.
I had very little pain the next few days and had to return for the permanent filling about a week later. At that visit he didn't numb me saying "the pain from the injection is likely as painful as this part of the procedure". Totally agree! So he stuffed some stuff into both my teeth, put some filling on the back of the teeth and then lit a fire... yes a real fire next to me to harden the filling. He sent me back for an XR which was a much more pleasant experience than the last XR and I was done! Successfully completing and surviving not only my 1st root canal but my 1st and 2nd Kenyan root canal.

So that was only the beginning... more to come soon about the Matatu ride home that same day!