Contact Lense Solution Crisis

Part and parcel of adapting in a new city is finding places to get certain services or products.

My right lense is occasionally irritating my eyes recently and I ran out of a Boston cleaner that I could easily buy from Guardian or any other optical shops back home. For more than two weeks here in Miri, I checked every pharmarcy and optical shop that we passed by when we went shopping or makan and I was very disappointed to find out that they only stocked solutions for soft contact lenses. Does that mean everyone in this city is wearing soft contact lenses?

Mine are semi-hard lenses and I have been wearing them since I was 15 therefore I need a solution for rigid gas permeable contact lenses. I was almost giving up after my nth time of asking and sms-ed sis to courier to me. Thing is there are many many optical shops in Miri, but none had the solution I was looking for! Augustine told me not to give up and so we continued checking the many optical shops at Imperial Mall yesterday and finally I found one (it is probably the one and only!) selling it! In fact, the optometrist told me Boston now has a new all-in-one solution. Thank God for the discovery! My right lense is now OK after I started using the solution. The optometrist confirmed that she can also make new semi-hard lenses and I am very relieved to know that if I need to urgently make a new lense for my right eye, I can do it here in Miri ;-)

I've been seeing the same specialist back home all these years, although the specialist recommends that I use a particular solution and protein removers on a monthly basis, I recently realised the Boston solution was a better choice for me.


Carmen

Dental Crisis

Gum and toothaches...
I had gum and toothaches since early September in the right upper row, in the beginning I didn't think it had anything to do with my teeth so I actually visited my usual GP, he gave me antibiotics and painkillers and advised me to visit a dentist. I did not take his advice very seriously and as the aches occurred more frequently in the last few weeks here in Miri, I made up my mind to visit a dentist! It's true that a lot of people like me are just so afraid of going to a dentist! I don't recall my last trip to the dentist, if I've not been to a dentist all these years, the last check would have been during my primary schooldays!

Checking out dental clinics...

I checked yellow pages online and it listed 10 dental clinics in Miri, two Saturdays ago, we visited one that Augustine's colleague frequents, unfortunately, they were full and so we made an appointment for the following Saturday. But just one day before our appointment, the nurse called to say the doctor had an emergency and she has to cancel our appointment and she cannot make another one for us. I thought it was so strange that she just left things hanging in the air. So I called another dental clinic and they could only fit me in like 2 weeks later! Augustine decided to call another clinic and they could fit us in the very next day and we were very relieved but skeptical as to how come some clinics are so busy and this one seems to have an empty slot.

The day finally arrived...

When we arrived at the clinic, we saw a lot of people waiting, but actually most of them are family members who came along with the patients. We didn't wait very long for our turn and we were very surprised to find out the doctor is a Miss, not a Mr hehe...I was relieved in a way, immediately she told me I have a rotten wisdom tooth, which had affected my right nerve causing pain to the whole row of tooth (it really made sense now!) and she said the only solution is to pull it out, she assured me it's not surgery and there will be no pain. I was a little stunned for a moment and asked her a lot of questions. After she injected anaesthetic into 2 areas of my gums (she actually warned me the 2nd injection would cause a little pain and it did), she asked me to wait for the numbing to set in while she checks on Augustine's teeth. While Augustine had his teeth polished, I was actually shivering in fear waiting for my turn. My turn came and after checking that the area is numb, the doctor swiftly and confidently pulled the tooth out in just ONE SECOND and showed us the rotten tooth! And there wasn't any pain during the extraction. Erm, she became my instant hero that day! I asked Augustine to wait for me in the room, I think he must have been shaking too LOL.

Post extraction...
After that, I had to bite on cotton wool for a few hours to stop the bleeding. I had odd sharp pains in my right nerves each time I swallow my saliva and a little sorethroat but it was all over the very next day. Phew!

Future visits?

Yep I plan to visit the same dentist again in the future for scaling, polishing and filling. I like her a lot and she earned my trust and confidence ;-)

Carmen