CC had a check-up in London just before she came over to stay for good. It was incredibly difficult to find an NHS dentist and they wouldn't take her on unless she took out  Denplan insurance. When she had a problem with inflamed and bleeding gums she was given a mouthwash which stained her teeth.

The same problem reared its ugly head again and so I made an appointment at our local surgery. She was given a form to fill in and a prescription for an x-ray but when they rang to ask if we could change the dental appointment to 8 o'clock this morning there was no time to arrange it.

CC is not at all nervous about seeing dentists: unlike her mum. As long as I can remember I have had a very strong aversion to any dentists' tools coming anywhere near my mouth and as soon as I was old enough to take a stand I would say "OK, you can look but you mustn't touch." 

How I ever put up with having a wisdom tooth out I'll never know but it was a bit loose anyway so it came out quite easily. The worst part was all the bleeding afterwards. Then there was the time when I bit the dentist's finger. . . .

Anyway, CC and I were greeted by the dentist at 8 sharp and we sat down to explain the problem. Then she invited CC to take the chair and began her examination.

To our surprise she took a swab to put under the microscope and called us over to have a look.

She pointed out tiny moving bacteria, just a few of them, darting across the screen.

"That's what's causing your trouble." she explained.

It seems that people who are not prone to decaying teeth often have a tendency to house these little beasties which cause bone 'loss' and consequent receding gums. The bacteria responsible for caries prevent these from reproducing.

What's more a tendency to nurture this kind of bacteria runs in families. Oh dear. My mum had very few problems with caries but she did have receding gums and, in the past, dentists have told me I had similar problems. But they didn't make any suggestions or do anything about it.

Not so with CC's new dentist. She has given her orders to use a special toothpaste which must never, under any circumstances be used in conjunction with any other toothpaste. Then she has a special pokey thing to push between all her teeth every night before rinsing with a mouthwash which matches the toothpaste.

"It will make your gums bleed for the first week or so but it will be alright after that."

Worst of all, she has a course of antibiotics for ten days. When we collected them from the chemist she said,

"Did the dentist warn you that it is absolutely forbidden to have any alcohol with these tablets? Not even other medicines containing alcohol."

Our faces fell. It is Jay's birthday next week and we were planning a celebratory meal - with champagne.

It's strange how you can become 'involved' with people you have never met. Since blogging I have become interested in all the people in my 'bloggie friends' list and although we don't know each other personally I'm sure we'd have much to chat about if we ever came face to face - and, dare I say I think with most of them it would feel like meeting up with an old friend.

Something strange is affecting some of my favourite bloggers recently. Yaxlich describes it as a lost mojo.

Ever since he found his new job he has lost the will to amuse us with his tales in the third person. Does this mean he is too busy? Provided he's happily occupied then I'm pleased for him but if he's just too tired to muster his thoughts when he gets home then I hope he manages to improve his lifestyle.

Wendz has given up blogging now that she has moved to London. Once again I wonder if it's because she is too busy coming to terms with her new life. Moving is a pretty traumatic experience but changing countries, living a long way from your children and making a fresh start in London must be extremely daunting. It might give her plenty of material to blog about but leave her with no energy to do it.

Guyana Gyal and Keith are both 'resting' for a while. G-G has a unique style and a wonderful sense of humour. I do hope she'll soon bounce back and tell us some more of her stories .

Keith is a whizz on the computer and has created a really interesting background for his blog, Smithy Lane. He can write with humour or with serious commonsense, depending on the topic so I hope he'll be back to share his thoughts with us all again before long.

I'm not going to delete anyone from my list just yet. I'm waiting in hopes.

P.S Take a look at some recent additions: 'Almost American', 'As time Goes by' and 'Millie'.

French medical care usually compares favourably with the NHS but recent experience has been rather frustrating.

For some time Whale has been complaining about his back pain and has seen various specialists at the hospital who haven't been able to pinpoint the cause.

Finally, our GP sent him to see the rheumatologist (pain doctor) to see if he could, at least, sort out the cocktail of tablets prescribed by different departments.

Since his latest fall his pain has been worse. We explained that to Dr. Champagne but he just looked at a selection of previous x-rays and decided that Whale should see an oncologist and contimue taking all the tablets.

Hence, this week we have had two trips to the Polyclinique which turned out to be a waste of time - except that the cancer specialist had the sense to send him for an x-ray and thereby discovered that he has a squashed vertebra. This means that he has to go back to Dr. Champagne for an injection of something like cortisone and also some treatment for lack of calcium.

So, thanks to the said Dr. C we have had to arrange ambulances and spend two afternoons at the Polyclinique unnecessarily. Especially since this week Whale already had an appointment for his change of catheter (at the main hospital), CC had a dental visit and Bear went to see our GP for his monthly prescriptions. (With muggins me going along as interpreter every time).

Thankfully the ambulance people were prompt in picking us up yesterday because I needed to be back for the man to service the boiler.

It's been quite a hectic week.