"Trust me, I'm a ,,,,.."

Part One: Trust me, I'm a vet.

When Snowball went to the vet for her annual injections earlier this year the vet said that she needed a lot of work on her teeth which would best be done under a general anaethsetic. We decided to have this done by the end of the year. Then a couple of months back, Luc found that she had a small, soft lump on her belly; we kept a close eye on it for a week or so, but it didn't seem to be getting any bigger or bothering her at all - there was no intensive grooming - so we decided to get that looked into at the same time as her teeth. Looking back, I realise we delayed both of these treatments more than we needed, but Snowball is a cat who loathes being messed around with and we didn't feel that either matter was of imminent urgency.

So, two weeks ago, we took Snowball in. Something a little odd happened when the vet asked exactly where the lump was. "Back towards her left rear leg" I replied. "No, in the middle" Luc corrected me.

It turned out we were both right. At mid-day, the vet called; having shaved her for surgery, he had found three lumps - a soft one on her tummy button (which Luc knew about), and two on mammary glands (one of which I knew about). He was most concerned about these two, one of which was soft and one hard. We gave the go-ahead to remove all three.

We were able to bring Snowball home at around 6.30 that evening and when we collected her the vet told us that, in his opinion, all three looked not to be serious, but we would know more when the histology came back. She had also had five teeth removed (some of which, if not all, had been loosened by the kicks in her face given by her first owners).

On the Friday evening, he 'phoned us with good news; all three were clear; the two soft ones were just little lumps of fat, while the hard one was a benign growth.

This just left the stitches to come out on the following Thursday. According to Luc (I was elsewhere - more later), she didn't complain too much about being caught, put into her box or taken to the car; it was when he opened the car door at the vet's that give gave a long, loud howl! Well, who can blame her, after what had happened last time she was there?

She's now back to her old self, apart from a pink shaved belly. She's choosing not to go out much in this cold weather.

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Part Two: Trust me, I'm a dentist.

Four or five years ago, my trusted and loved dentist retired. The practice was bought by another dentist whose first action was to declare all her NHS patients private. I kept going. She also put the surgery opening time back from 8 o'clock in the morning to 9 o'clock - rather inconvenient for commuters like me, but I stayed with her. Then, after I had arrived for my 9.00 appointment at 8.50, she arrived at 9.35. After a five minute inspection she declared that I needed a small filling but as she was running late she couldn't do it then. I made an appointment for 9.20 (the earliest I could get) the following week. When she arrived at 9.25, her 9.00, 9.10, and 9.30 patients were waiting with me .....

So that's why I haven't been to the dentist for three years or so.

I've known there were problems with one tooth for over 18 months, and another for about six months, but I've not had any pain with either. I also know it's virtually impossible to register as an NHS patient in this area. And I knew that my lack of professional dental care would come back to bite me some time .....

Three weeks ago, on Sunday evening, I noticed a swelling above a tooth on the upper left of my mouth. The following morning it was still there, but I hoped against hope it would sort itself out. On Tuesday it was worse, but I was tied up all day so it wasn't until Wednesday morning that I started to search for a dentist.

I must have gone through about two dozen, some near home and others near work. Most weren't taking NHS patients, and many weren't taking emergencies. Eventually I found one a mile or so from where I live that had a free appointment in half an hour; unfortunately I was in work - 90 minutes from home - so I got an appointment for the following morning. I already had the day booked as annual leave, but now had a change of plans for what I was doing with my time off.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I took more pain killers than I had in the last four years!

When I saw the dentist on Thursday morning she asked me all the usual questions, including whether I have any allergies, e.g. penicillin, latex. No, I haven't. Then she gave me a prescription for three days of antimicrobials and five days or double-dosage antibiotics, and told me to come back the following week when the infection had gone. Both drugs had a listed side-effect of drowsiness, and the antimicrobials meant no alcohol; in fact, the pharmacist stressed I should check sauces if eating out, and the contents of my mouthwash. I also had to come off the pain killers.

I would have taken the Friday off sick but I was booked into a prestigious seminar at the Royal Society. It was an interesting seminar, but six hours of lectures aren't much fun when you're on two drugs that both make you drowsy. And an after-seminar drinks reception isn't much fun when you're not allowed alcohol.

My next appointment was on the Wednesday which, by coincidence, I also had booked as annual leave. A full dental inspection revealed that I needed four fillings and an extraction of the infected tooth. I opted for hospital treatment for the extraction, and made an appointment for two days' later to start the fillings.

The first two fillings were on the left side, one upper and one lower, so I had two injections. It was all finished by 11.30, and I headed in to work. By 1.30, I had a visibly raised rash over most of my body.

The next day I started on antihistamines. These had the side effect of making me feel drowsy, and also meant that I was off alcohol again. I also telephoned the dentist to tell her about the reaction I'd had, presumably to something in the anaethsetic.

On Tuesday I turned up for my 9.30 appointment just as the dentist 'phoned in to say she was ill, but I'm not going to hold that against her.

By Thursday the rash had mostly gone, so I came off the antihistamines; by this time I was feeling pretty wretched, having spent the best part of two weeks on varying drugs all of which caused drowsiness. In the afternoon (at the same time as Snowball was having her stitches out) I had the other two fillings done, both upper right, so only one injection - with a different anaethsetic this time. I went home and awaited any reaction; none!

This also means that I'm signed off with the dentist (who was wonderful and with whom I will most certainly keep up attendance), and am just awaiting the call from the hospital about the extraction. The dentist has also suggested I go for allergy testing to discover exactly what caused the reaction.

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All in all, quite a worrying couple of weeks!