I was excited about the idea of having this vacation trip with my family. November was starting, and our year had been busier than usual.
One day, I woke up with a swollen face. Great! Wisdom tooth? This could not ruin our family vacation. I was 12 years old, and the road trip, the hotel and the whole vacation experience was all I could think of. My dad took me to the dentist (better safe than sorry, right?).
I hate dentist experiences. Don't blame me. I had a terrible dentist before this one I was about to meet. The assistant called my name and showed me the seat assigned to me. I waited a couple of minutes until the dentist showed up. He seemed nice. Optimistic, cheerful, kind. But his smile disappeared seconds after he asked me to open my mouth so he could check out what was bothering me. He told me to wait in the other room.
I went out. My dad was called to come in. They left the door slightly open, so I could hear the conversation. The dentist I had just met told my dad he wouldn't even touch it (whatever it was), since he had never seen a case like mine. They asked me to come in. My dad looked unusually worried. They mentioned taking me to a specialist. All of a sudden I wanted it to be a wisdom tooth or something a regular dentist could fix.
Couple of days later, my parents and I went to see the specialist the dentist had suggested. I remember how cold the clinic felt. We found the doctor, my parents handed the papers my dentist had given us. To my surprise, in seconds, a whole team of doctors surrounded us. Tons of questions, papers, cameras and pictures. The only thing that didn't change was my terrified face. What could be so terrible a dentist wouldn't touch it and a specialist would need a whole team to deal with it.
There was a "silent" doctor in that room. He wouldn't stop looking at me. But turns out he was the one giving orders. Nothing happened without his approval. He didn't seem to care about how terrified I was or how lost my parents were with new papers and directions. He just gave instructions and they were followed without question. In a blink, I had a tests, a biopsy and surgery scheduled. So I guess our dream vacation had to wait.
