Unpleasant adventure in Toulouse

Noticing that my tooth is starting to hurt and hoping that it will go away out of itself, the adventure starts after one week with increasing pain instead of the pain going away. February this year I brought already a visit to the surgeon in the Netherlands to get my wisdom tooth out. Already not a great experience, but if I look back to it now it was better than I expected. Nice young surgeon, who was really helpful. Told me what and how the operation would go and before I stepped in the operation room and during the operation. I had local seduction, he told me every step what he was going to do, that it would make an unpleasant sound but I did not have to be scared or when I would feel pressure. Overall not that bad as expected, the worst news was that my left wisdom tooth had to be taken out too. Not immediately but I was not supposed to wait too long before scheduling another meeting.

Now being in Toulouse and having pain from that left wisdom tooth I really regret not making that appointment in the Netherlands. Even though it was not really possible to make that appointment in the Netherlands after taking out the first one. You need a few weeks to recover, let the wound heal and being able to eat normal again. In April I moved to Rhodes, what made the appointment impossible. Which means that I am now being stuck in Toulouse with this pain from my wisdom tooth, knowing that I am going to have to let it taking out in France.

First step: calling a dentist, where I could make an appointment within a week. Which is a lot quicker than I expected for French terms. Conclusion of this appointment, I was right.. Surgery! This being already scary in my own country, feels like a horror story in a foreign country. The dentist was really nice to me though. He gave me a phone number and all the documents I needed, so I could make an appointment with a surgeon. What was step 2 in the process, with some help from school I made the appointment. Shocked again by how fast this was possible, the next Wednesday was the first meeting and the Friday after would be the operation.

Scared as I was, I went to the appointment on Wednesday. Not knowing what he was going to do in the first appointment, what made me even more nervous and afraid for the language barrier. Off course, like always I was late. Google maps told me that is was only one minute walk from the metro station, so I would be fine I thought. Then I walked, already more than a minute and I could not find it. It looked so easy on Google maps. I was in the right street for sure, so I asked some people on the street if they knew where it was. All of them send me the wrong way, the one said it is that way. I walked there and asked someone else who sended me right back to where I came from. Finally I found someone who did know where it was. Finally I was in the right place, immediately explaining why I could not find it myself. I walked past it a few times, it was just in a normal building. Like a normal flat with apartments in it, with only a sign, which you did not clearly see, on the wall.

After asking the reception lady if I was in the right place this time and if I was not too late for my appointment I waited in the waiting room. I hate waiting that makes me even more nervous. After waiting for a bit the surgeon called me in his office. Coming in surprised me again, I did not only look like a normal building with apartments, I think it really are normal apartments. At leas they used to be. His office looked like a living room, with one corner rebuild with a dentist chair in it (see pictures below). Nothing like going to a hospital or dentist in the Netherlands. He explained me really shortly what would happen and gave me a list with medication I should get from the pharmacy. He assured me that I did not have to worry, this were normal daily easy procedures for him. Well, I will try I told him. Not sure I was able to keep myself together finding it a really odd situation.

On the way back home I stopped at the pharmacy to get the medication from my prescription. Standing in line at the pharmacy I started to read the prescription. Immediately I walked out again, shocked by the amazing amount of medication I was supposed to take. Realizing that I did not really had an option of just getting all the medication, even though I never take any medication. I did not know how the procedure looked like in France. So I got back in line. I asked the guy behind the desk if it was really necessary to get all the medication, which was on the list. Off course he said yes and explained me how to take each type of medication, when to take it and how many I should take. Shocked again about the amount of medication I went home with a big bag of medication thinking that I should make some kind of schedule for all this medication. I was supposed to take around 7 pills each day at different times etc.

Having only one day in between the operation and this appointment, which was filled with a long day of school I still had to get some icepacks on the morning of the operation. I was supposed to cool it for two whole days.. I spend all morning trying to find icepacks, asked in different stores. Nowhere to be found. Ending up with buying a big pack of beans from the freezer to cool my cheek with.

Later that day in the afternoon I went to the surgeon again with Helena. I was really scared for it, I already told Helena that I was not going to let him do it if he was alone etc. coming there, there were like 4 persons who all had an appointment at the same time as me. Waiting for a while it was finally my turn. We walked in his living room, immediately he said take of your jacket and lay down on the chair. When I layed down he put some cover over my shirt. This was the first time I freaked out, I did not want to see what he was doing. In the Netherlands my whole face was covered so I could not even see something even if I wanted to. Covering my eyes with my hands, the surgeon laughed at me and thought is was really funny. Than I started being even more scared, noticing he was still alone. Panicking to Helena I told here I was not going to let him do it alone, when an assistant walked in. Which was the same women as behind the reception. Then te surgeon told me to open my mouth, not telling what he was about to do. Well I got three shots, but because he did not tell me when he was doing them and I was covering my eyes I had a reflex from my hands to push it away because it hurts and I was not prepared for it. When this happened the assistant walked away to answer the phone, completely normal.. He waited a few seconds and then started the operation, suddenly I felt a lot of pressure. This really scared me because I did not know if I was supposed to feel this or if the seduction did not do its work, so I signed him that I could feel it. It felt like he puts something under my tooth and trying to push it out. I don’t know if he did something or just waited when I signed to him, because I was still not going to open my eyes. He continued and removed the tooth. Being done I came of the chair completely shaking and I just wanted to get out of there. The surgeon was really proud of himself that he did it within 20 minutes, that he was so fast. Which I thought was a bit strange, I rather have him taking his time than doing something like that fast and not neatly.
Coming home, I had to cool it immediately. I was not really able to eat so it was a really boring weekend. Eventually it all turned out okay, I took all the medication and survived. An unpleasant experience with a good ending.

With this comes handling with the assurance company, also not a really nice job. I only had to send all my bills to the Netherlands, easy you would think. Well only possible in France I think, I could not post my bills to the Netherlands. Went to the post office with everything I needed, asked the lady to help me and told here what I needed. All in French, so not that easy already. Filled everything in, she puts it in an envelope whens she realizes that the letter is going to the Netherlands. Apparently that makes the whole process completely different, I needed another envelope and she was not really happy that I did not told here immediately. Well I did not know it was that big difference, so I apologized. In the meantime she was looking for an envelope, which I still think is really weird because she had an envelope for it but she could not use that one because the letter was going out of France. Than she told me she did not have an envelope for that, really how is this possible she has like 5 drawers full with envelopes but not one which I could use. So she sends me to a tobacco shop, I should get an envelope over there and after fill in this note and do this and this and that and than you can come back. Something like this she told me in French, than she walked away. So much for doing something simple as sending a letter in France..