Eenfeckseeohn! Ju need eenyeckseeohn!

Dear Reader,

Having had a lot of dental work lately and facing another root canal, I am reminded of an ill fated scuba trip to Cozumel for my birthday a few years back.

John and I have dived in Cozumel, Mexico many times and though it is now overcrowded with divers and the dive boats at the sites look like the second fleet I still enjoy the place for it's laid back style, food and friendly people. I wanted to go back to Cozumel to dive for my birthday mainly because it is slightly closer and less expensive than anywhere else we can go.

The trip was already planned and paid for when John announced that he needed to have a root canal. I asked him when this would be taking place and he advised one week before our trip to Cozumel. At this point I reminded him that it is not wise to go scuba diving right after any kind of dental work but especially a root canal. Not only was he planning to have the root canal right before our vacation but he would be wearing a temporary crown while we were there! That's just crazy and I told him. Crowns get air pockets and this can cause excruciating pain at depth. But for some reason he insisted on having it done before rather than after our trip. I'm not sure if it had to do with the dental surgeon's schedule or what but I was not going to talk John out of it.

On our first couple of days diving John seemed fine and his usual jovial self enjoying the diving and the company and the drinking and the lobsters. They cook the most wonderful little lobsters there on a spit drenched in butter, then dice them up and wrap them in soft tortillas where you can dress them with any condiment you wish, salsa, pico de gallo, cilantro, lettuce, hot sauce, you name it. It's a delightful meal and goes very well with a margarita or cervesa.

When my birthday arrived we had planned to try one of the highly recommended restaurants in town for a special dinner but alas, my birthday was doomed from the start. Does this begin to sound like a pattern? I already told you about my disappointment in Siena, Italy on my birthday in the pouring rain. Since I can't seem to get away from the rain on my birthday, of course it had to rain in Cozumel. I had to laugh because it's no big deal to go diving in the rain and feels rather good on your skin, especially if it's burned. But it was a sign.

After diving that day John was acting a bit off and not very happy. He said his tooth was hurting and I reminded him it was my birthday and we were going to dinner. I didn't really know what else to say since we don't know any dentists in Cozumel or how to go about making an appointment. So we went to dinner and just as our food was served John started to moan. He was holding his jaw and clearly was in pain. I didn't know what to do at that point but offer him some of my pain medication which he took but it didn't help.

The poor guy tried to eat his meal but the pain just got worse until he said he'd have to leave. I didn't know where he was going and didn't know what to do but continue eating. He had the money afterall. I never carry cash of any kind and only a credit card when I'm on my own.

About ten to fifteen minutes later he came back and told me there is a clinic nearby and if we run we can make it before they close. So off we ran in the rain to a little clinic in a narrow back street. There was an older woman with a nurse's uniform on who diagnosed John's problem immediately. Even though her English was very scanty we understood her meaning. She said "Ju have eenfeckseeohn! "Ju need eenyeckseeohn! And at that she pulled out a syringe with a huge needle. John thought at first she was going to stick that thing in his mouth but then proffered his arm but she wagged her finger at him and demonstrated pulling down her pants. So, adding insult to injury John had to drop his drawers and take it like a man.

When she was finished she warned John to come back in one week for another eenyeckseeohn just to be safe and he promised even though we would be gone by then. We had another fun week of scuba diving planned the following week with our friends, Mike and Jackie, in Costa Rica for Thanksgiving. Oh boy, I couldn't wait considering John's condition. This was going to be a real bummer.

The next day John was feeling better and against my better judgement went scuba diving again. It's really hard to be somewhere so fantastic and pay for diving and then not get to do it. I understand. I went diving once with an ear infection which is also crazy. We laughed about his eenfeckseeohn later, which means for those of you who don't understand Spanish phonetics, infection. Of course the eenyeckseeohn was an injection. It is pretty funny when repeated back to back so it wasn't such a bad birthday afterall.

Our fun and John's pain continued the following week in Costa Rica but that's a story for another time.

Hasta Manana