The dental saga

One day in Israel I kept telling my friend I needed floss - it felt like I had stuff in one of my back teeth.  when I finally got to some floss, nothing really came out.  Now I know it was a sign of my tooth having major issues.

A couple weeks ago, I was eating lunch at school and my tooth broke apart in pieces!!  I hate the dentist in the best of situations!  I asked around at school for a good dentist.  I have seen the several hospitals here and was afraid the dentist would be like that - shudder.  A staff member recommended Dr. Sharma at Dental Innovations.  I called and got an appointment that night at 6 pm.  He took x-rays and dug around in there.  He said that a it had gotten cracked a few months ago and food and water has been getting stuck in there - hence the breaking apart like a rock.  He said I needed a root canal :(  and that there was an abcess in there and we needed to get rid of the infection before he could do anything.  Positive thing - the visit cost 800 rupees (about $16) and he gave me perscriptions for antibiotics and pain meds - cost like 120 rupees I think. 

Visit 2 - A few days later I went in for the root canal.  Fortunately this guy does night appointments so I don't have to miss school.  The root canal lasted 2.5 hours!  He did all of it including my teeth cleaning.  All the hygenist does is suction.  He found out the roots were worse than he thought - really infected so he put a bunch of meds in there and covered it up with a "dressing".  He had me pay for the root canal and the filling and it was 5300 rupees - like $110!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Visit 3 - I went in for him to check the roots and put the filling in.  He took this thing that looked like a push pin with the pin part like 1.5 inches long and shoved it into each canal.  He didn't give me any pain meds.  Said people think he's a sadist!  but this way he can see if anything hurts before he seals infection in.He took another x-ray and saw a little infection left in the canal.  This appointment took maybe 30 minutes.   One canal hurt at the bottom so he put more medicine in there and covered it with the "dressing" again.   Cost - Free it was included in the root canal.

Visit 4 - We had the day off for Republic Day so I had an appointment at 4.  He did the whole push pin thing again.  hurt a tiny bit, but he went ahead with it anyway.  He put in more meds and filled the root canals. - again no pain meds because the roots are dead.  Took about 30 minutes and free again.   He asked how my day off went and I told him about my TRX torture training.  He asked if I come up with that stuff or have a trainer because he doesn't push himself if he doesn't have a trainer. Trust me,  I would not be doing push up with my feet higher than my body unless someone made me!!!!!!!!!

Vist 5 - He put the post in and filled the tooth.  There was so little left of the tooth that if he filled it without a post then there would be more filling than tooth.  He also drilled a cavity in another tooth and filled it.  It is very weird to do all this with no novacaine but so far it is working out ok.  and my face isn't numb when I leave and I can eat a lot sooner!

Visit 6  - this was the worst so far!!  augh!  He had to drill off parts of the filled tooth so the crown would fit perfectly.  Apparently that tooth was so bad for so long that my gums had started growing into the tooth so he had to put the cord in there to pull the gum away from the tooth.  It hurt a lot!!  augh!  He pulled the gum away and then put the cord between it and the tooth.  Not good.  Then he had to make the mold.  the bottom teeth were ok.  The top was horrible!  I have a really bad gag relex and nearly threw up all over him multiple times.  I cannot wait to be done with all this!

Weekend in Mumbai

I had a busy week at school and busy weekend :)

Jim Valley, an ex-60s rocker formerly of the band Paul Revere and the Raiders was at ASB this week working with elementary school students.  The school arranged for him to play a "jam session" with other ASB teachers with musical talent on the rooftop of one of the apartment buildings.  The view from the rooftop was great and the weather was nice and cool.  It was fun to just chill and hang out with people I don't get to see too much.  and the music was great too :) 

Afterwards we went to The Big Nasty - which is a bar really close to where the jam session was.  The are known for serving beef burgers :)  which draws a lot of expats.  but we aren't so sure it is real beef - more likely water buffalo.  The "All American Burger" is served with an egg on top.  Apparently it is common in Australia, but I have been to 47 US states and have NEVER seen an egg on top of a burger.  It is pretty good - I like eggs :)  The burger was ok, the the tator tots were awesome.  I wish I would have had some ranch dressing though! 

I got up Saturday and worked on Spanish and finished Level I on Rosetta Stone.  It only took me two weeks.  I am a Spanish speaking rockstar!!! I am trying to get through all five levels before the end of the semester.  Madeline and I share an advisory group and she is a Spanish teacher.  My friend Pauline teaches French, but also speaks Spanish so I have some people to practice with.  Oddly enough I only have one student that speaks Spanish - very different than Texas!

I work out at a place called F2.  They have 5 different kinds of classes. Body Pump (I have not done and don't really want to), Body Jam (dancing - I have tried it once) Body Attack (which I haven't done but will as soon as I can - I think it is sports drills)  Body Balance (tai chi, yoga, and pilates - I love it and go all the time) Body Combat (mixed martial arts - I go all the time).  I had planned to go to Body Balance this morning, but was in a lot of pain.  I have had nerve spasms in my right hand all week and it hurts.  My right leg was totally numb and it was really hard to move this morning so I didn't think I'd be strong enough to hold the poses :(  I went for a walk instead.  Once I got my right leg moving, I could walk ok.  So Andrea and I walked to the area where my school is.  It isn't possible to walk by road so we walked on this elevated walkway thing that starts at the train station.  It took forever to walk to the train station.  It is very busy on Saturdays.  The lanes we walked through were packed with people, animals, rickshaws, cars, and bicycles.  You have to constantly watch where you are going.  You get pushed and shoved and nearly ran over every 5 seconds!!  I actually walked through chicken blood on the street.  Once we got to the walkway, it was great.  You could just walk without watching where you step!!!  and we could see everything going on in the neighborhoods below.  We saw some people planting vegetables in a really polluted piece of land.  Of course there were water buffalo in a puddle nearby :)  We didn't make it all the way to school.  We got side tracked by the California Pizza Kitchen :)  You can't get to it from the street.  We had to go down another street and enter from the side.  We had to go through a lot of security - metal detectors and pat downs - just to get in the drive.  When we finally got to the building we saw that the New Zeland CG and Singapore CG were housed in the same building.  That would account for the security!  The pizza was great! and had ranch dressing on it!! 

I went home and took a nap and did a little bit of school work.  At 6:20, Darshan - one of my favorite drivers came to pick me up.  I got to chat with people on the bus until we got to school to watch Embracing India.  It was a school performance that raised money for a village school.  There was a play, dancing performances and singing etc.  A group of my 6th grade girls danced to an Usher song.  A teacher did ballet dancing.  An Indian girl danced a snake charming dance that was really cool.  A group of 8th grade boys who have formed a band played 3 songs and were great.  I was wondering where they practice.  In the States boys like that play in the garage or basement, but we don't have those here.  I was told that their parents pitched in and pay for a separate flat for them to practice in!!  Glad my flat isn't in that building!!!  My teaching parter, Jordan plays the drums in a band with 2 other teachers and they performed.  The kids LOVE it when they play.  The end of the performance was the BEST.  Our school guards and marshalls did a martial arts demonstration that was amazing!!  They are highly trained guards and work on these skills at least an hour and a half a day.    They broke bricks and fought each other.  It was great and showed that we are definitely well protected at this school!!!!

I chit- chatted with some friends on the bus on the way home.  Tomorrow I am planning on working out if my Lupus is behaving.  I also need to get some school work done!  We get Thursday off for Republic Day so that will be a nice break.

My first international half marathon!!

When I first moved to Mumbai, I signed up to run the half marathon because that is something I am familiar with and enjoy  I did not realize how hard it was going to be to train here - no open spaces to run in, hard concrete and tiles the only surfaces to run on.  And no TNT people to run with :)

I ran 6 miles once in sept and I ran/walked a few 5 milers this month.  That was the most I ran to train for a 13.1 mile race!!  ha!

The start of the race was down by the Bandra train station - about a 25 minute walk from my flat.  I set out at 5:10 am.  I got about 10 minutes into my walk when a man riding in a rickwhaw saw me with my bib and asked if I wanted to ride with him.  He was part of the Striders running club (which I want to join next year!!) and he invited me to warm up with his group.  We had to go through this very narrow walk way, go through a metal detector, and be patted down.  It was the first race I've run where everyone was smelly at the START of the race :)  Just like any race I found someone at the start line to chat with.  She was Indian, but lived in Geneva for 20 years.  It was her first half marathon.

I did the math and decided that I needed to run every kilometer in 8 minutes or under.  I took it one kilometer at a time and if I accomplished my goal, I rewarded myself with a one minute walk.  It worked.  I finished in about 2:50 and left the 3 hour pacer guy in my dust :) 

Many aspects of the race was just like any other.  Lots of people running in crowded spaces sometimes. There were crowds on the side and they cheered some, but not like in the States.  No one held any signs which was different.  There were some polical chants going on.  A runner would call out a cadence and people would reply with a cadence.  At first I thought it was a running group encouraging each other, but I noticed spectators were participating.  And chants were usually coming from someone carrying an Indian flag.  There was bottled water at the tables and lots of places where they were passing out crackers.  and in the last kilometer a little girl gave me a piece of hard candy which was perfect.  The weather was great - cool, but not cold and of course there is no chance of rain this time of year. 

The race was flat except for 2 hills around km 14-15.  and it was pretty boring most of the way.  Indians aren't all that demonstrative so lot of them were standing on the road and clapping some, but not really cheering.  around km 18 it got really fun!!!  Indian music was playing and people were dancing and it was super fun!  We finished right around the famous Victoria train station.

When we finished, they funneled us into a small cramped area to go through metal detectors again.  So they made us do the worst thing possible after running that long - they made us stand totally still for about a half hour! augh! 

I went in the holding area and got my medal and some food!  then made my way to the train station.  Jane (a friend at school)  gave me some train tickets and pointers on how to get home on one.  There were plenty of Indians willing to help me get on the right train.  It obviously looked like I didn't know what I was doing and all the maps were in Hindi.

I got on a ladies only car and got a very nice seat.  It was a really nice ride with cool breezes coming in through the door.  Four women got on and sat on the floor right by the door and had a picnic.  Made it pretty impossible for other people to get on and off the train.  weird.

Usually I barely feel anything after running a half marathon - it is a pretty perfect distance.  I feel pretty good today.  When I took my shoe off, I had a bloody sock.  oops!  I apparently underestimated the amount of vaseline I needed and one of my big toes suffered the consequences :)

Kingfisher had billboards all along the way advertising that they had flights to other major races - London, Berlin, Boston, Chicago etc.  hmmm.  what race should I do next? !  :)

First week back from Christmas Break

I had a great vacation, but it was great to get back.  The were enthusiastic and I got to hear about all the amazing places they went to over break.  Many of them mentioned they got to eat beef in whatever country they went to.  Ha!  eating beef was a highlight of my break too! 

One day I was eating lunch and a piece of my tooth broke off. AUGH!!!  I have been to several Indian hospitals and they aren't pleasant! so i was dreading the dentist.  I don't even like going to the dentist in the States!  I asked colleagues about finding a good dentist.  I found one that went to dental school at NYU and the office was clean and nice and close by.  AND he saw me at 6pm.  It cost me 800 rupees ($16) for him to investigate and take an x-ray.  Turns out there was a crack in the tooth and food and water have been getting in there for months and the tooth just cracked apart!  gross!!!!!!  There is an abcess in there so I have to take antibiotics for a week before he can do anything.  so I'm walking around with a hole in my tooth and I can only eat on one side of my mouth.  I am going back next week for him to clean it out and disinfect everything.  Then I have to wait a few days and he'll fill it, then wait a few days and he'll put in the post, then wait a few days and put on the crown.  augh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  not fun!!!

Praise God the actual tooth doesn't hurt to much, but I have been getting wicked headaches and my face, neck, and shoulder on that side hurts.  :(  I am running a half marathon tomorrow that I am not prepared for.  I used to be a serious athlete until India ruined me! Ha!  I would wake up at 4am every saturday to do long runs of 8-21 miles.  EVERY Saturday.  and anything under 16 miles I could do without even thinking or putting much effort into it.  I would just run (and talk :) until the miles were over.  no big deal.  It was just a part of my life.  It is so hard to run here.  The pollution, traffic, noise, running surface - all bad.  It wasn't going to be an easy run tomorrow but now that my head feels like it's about to fall of my body - it is going to be really hard.

But I get an international medal.  and that is the important part!!  :)

Races I've Run

Because I have run a ton of races people think I like to run.  I hate the actual act of running.  I like how I feel when I finish.  I like getting medals. and I like who I run with.  When I moved to Mumbai I signed up for the half marathon because running is familiar and I needed something to help me transition to this country.  It is really hard to run here and the friends I usually run with aren't here so I didn't train well.  This week I was trying to decide if I was actually going to run it or wimp out.  So I thought it would be a good idea to remind myself why I started running to begin with.

A long time ago my friend Sherry and I decided to train for a marathon just to say we did it.  I started getting fevers all the time, pain everywhere, and sores on my legs.  I watched that marathon from the sidelines in a wheelchair.  and spent the next year in and out of hospitals before I was diagnosed with Lupus.  I promised myself when I got well enough I would try again. 

By 2008 I had been in remission for a year and a half and thought I was strong enough to train again.  I ran the San Antonio Half Marathon in November and GOT MY FIRST MEDAL!

2009 -
January Phoenix Marathon - I trained with Team in Training and ran every step of the first 20 miles.  My friend Darren was waiting for me at the 20 mile mark and I was so excited about how well I was doing!!  By mile 22 I was walking and by mile 24 I was on the phone with Karin and Brendon crying. They told me I just had 2 more miles to go then I never had to do it again.  I finished and texted everyone about how proud I was.  A half hour later I was in an ambulance vomitting, passing out and dehydrated.  I decided that can't be my only marathon experience!!  so I signed up with Team in Training to run the Chicao Marathon and thouht since I was training anyway I would put my name in for the lottery for the New York City Marathon.  I got in.

March Disney Princess Half Marathon - My first time at Disney World.  I went with my friend Amanda and she would run ahead to take pictures of the characters and come back to get me.

October - Chicago Marathon - I had great coaches - Jeff and Joanne and I sailed through that marathon in 6:15!!  Paula and I limped back to the hotel afterward and I got hooked on Harry Potter (she bought me the first book)

November - New York City Marathon - three weeks after Chicago I ran NCY and it was soooo hard.  I wanted to quit at mile 2 .... and every mile after that! but I finished!  Sara was waiting for me at the finish line

2010
February Armadillo Dash Half Marathon College Station Texas - ran around Texas A & M
       ran with Paula - great running partner!  They ran out of medals when I crossed the finish line.  I
       went to the race director and explained it was important that I get one.  It came in the mail four
        months later. :)
March Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon - ran with Norma - her first half marathon!!
April Angies Half Crazy Half Marathon Clear Lake Houston - ran with Norma and Angie (her first half marathon)  I am spreading my addiction!
July Great Alaskan Marathon Cruise- I went on a cruise to Alaska and at each port we got out and ran.  The runs added up to a full marathon by the end of the week.  I met a lot of great runners and still keep in touch with some of them on facebook.
October Chicago Half Marathon - started barfing around mile 11.5 and begged the medical person to let me finish :)
November San Antonio Half Marathon - ran it with Norma
In the fall I trained with Team in Training to run the Marine Corp Marathon(didn't get to run it due to health issues)   I was a mentor that season for TNT and I got to motivate and encourage others to run!  I trained with Paula and Javier - we had lots of long hard runs together and they both finished with flying colors.

2011
January Disney World Goofy Challenge I ran a Half Marathon on Saturday and got a Donald Duck medal and then ran a Full Marathon on Sunday and got a Mickey Medal.  For doing both races I got a Goofy Medal.  I went with a great group of TNT people.  Arlene was great motivation with her little mickey mouse.  I would not have finished without Angie though.  It was her first full marathon ever and she did the Goofy!
March New York City Half Marathon - fun!  got to hang out with Sara.  and got to see Ryan Hall run in person.  ok. he was like a flash of light he was so fast :)
April Hippity Hop Half Marathon - Easter Saturday - ran with Angie - it was HOT and miserable.
April Texas Hill Country Half Marathon - Norma talked me into doing this so she could train for San Francisco.  We drove a couple hours to get to the race then decided to drive the course to see what it was like.  It was horrible!!!  several hill longer than half a mile!   Norma decided it was too hard and didn't run it.  I just couldn't bring myself to quit before I started so I attacked it.  It was sooo hard.  and at the end there were no medals!!  augh!  That was the main reason I ran it!
May Run the Dream Half Marathon in Williamsburg Virginia - It was my first time to Williamsburg and it was amazing.  The run was very scenic.  I loved it.
June San Diego Half Marathon - I went to San Diego to run with Claude and Elizabeth (women I met on the running cruise)
July - 4th of July 5 K  My running coach, Jeff asked me to run the 5 K with him.  This was my first 5K!  Most people start with 5Ks - I started with marathons!  :)  great last race in the US.

I was so excited to get my first international running medal for the Mumbia Half Marathon.  The time limit is 3 hours and I just don't see how that is going to happen.  I am not trained well, but I am going to try.  I know what it feels like to be an invalid and I promised myself that when I could move again, I would.  I truly believe running helps keep my Lupus at bay.  It gives me a reason to stay physically active and keeps me strong.

I can do this.  and I will be picturing Jeff, Joanne, Theresa, Angie, Norma, Javier and Paula running by my side.  :)

January 2012 
Mumbai half Marathon

June 2013
Viking Half Marathon in Waterford, Ireland

Kilarney half marathon Kilarney, Ireland

March 2014 
Jerusalem Half Marathon

July 2014
Chicago Half Marathon

Day 14 going home

Day 14

Turkish air put us up In The courtyard marriott by the Istanbul airport. It was a really nice hotel. Getting there was a pain. We got to Istanbul and got in line with all the other people who missed their flights. The counter was a mad house. People yelling and upset and true to form the Indians were some of the worst- Pushing people put of the way to get farther up In the line. We waited for 40 minutes before we got close to the front. This eastern european woman tried to push in front of people they blocked her and she tried with me and i was like -not gonna happen sister! She grabbed my arm and pushed me. I told her she better get her hand off of me and not touch me again! She huffed and waded through other people and next thing i know she had pushed her way behind!! The counter harassing the workers. We were right behind three Indians. They were freaking out because only two of them were able to get a visa into Turkey. I understand they were upset. they weren't planning on leaving the airport- just catching a connecting flight. But things happen and the hotel in the airport was full so they had to go to a hotel somewhere else but couldn't because one of them wasn't allowed a visa into the country. They were screaming at the guy. How it was his problem- that it was the airline's fault they were here so they were responsible for providing them with visas. They did not seem to understand that the airline doesn't have any control over a country's passport laws!!! I felt so bad for the counter guy that I tried to explain to the family what the problem was. In typical Indian fashion they were impervious to rational facts. The man started yelling at me about how they have to wait for 24 hours for another flight to Mumbai. I told him " I know. I'm on the same flight. I live there." that shut him up. we finally had to go to another counter because that family was sucking up so much time. I poured on the charm to the guy we got :) apologized for the night he was having and we agreed to pay for our visas.

Then we go down to the desk where they issue hotel vouchers. Wait for 45 minutes while they issue them groups at a time. Get on the shuttle with others to the Marriott. Wait for an hour there while they assign people rooms. The airline did provide us with vouchers for dinner, breakfast, and lunch so that was nice. I was exhausted and went to sleep in my clothes. Took a shower the next morning and put the same nasty clothes back on :)

I went out in the morning and took a shuttle to the part where the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and Haghia Sophia. For someone who didn't know what a Hippodrome was 2 weeks ago, I have now seen a lot of them! There wasn't much left of the chariot race stadium they had used the marble seats to make the Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. The Mosque used to be a church and still had Mosaics of Jesus and The Virgin Mary

We had a pretty uneventful 6 hour flight home and breezed through immigration and our bags arrived even though we haven't seen them for 2 days!  and we were greeted by the best sight ever after a long trip - one of my favorite school drivers - Lawrence!  He hugged us and said he waited two hours for us at 4 am yesterday and when we didn't show, he went home and decided to try again today!  Bless him!!
There were Christmas lights up everywhere in the streets :) and lots of people walking home at 5 am from a NYE party at the Bandra Gymkhana.

I went to my flat and crashed.  5 hours later woke up vomiting! augh!  I have spent six weeks vomitting regularly or being so nauseated I can't concentrate all day.  Docs have said it is acid refux or stress and I have denied it.  I think it is my apartment.  This proves it.  I ate crap all vacation and my stomach was fine. I'm in my house 5 hours and vomit!!  Going to talk to the school tomorrow about testing for toxic fumes or mold or something.  The doc said to "air out my apartment"  are you kidding me ?!?!?!?!  I didn't cook stinky food!!!  I don't think Mumbai outside air is any less toxic than Mumbai inside air!!! This is not a long term solution - open windows invite malaria carrying mosquitos into my flat and a lot of honking sounds!  and as soon as I close the window - whatever it is that is making me sick will build up again!!
I am hoping that throwing up all day on New Years means good luck for the rest of the year!!