Impacted Wisdom Teeth

My "Missing" Teeth

When I was about thirteen, we discovered that one of my molars (the one that usually comes in around the age of twelve) had started coming through my gum at a 90° angle to the surface of my gum and my lower jaw. So instead of coming through straight up, it went through my gum lying on its side and pushing against the tooth next to it. We decided to wait and see if it would straighten out, but over the years, instead of sorting itself out, just the problem tooth was getting more and more impacted. Not even braces would be able to salvage it. We then also discovered that the wisdom tooth of the other side of my mouth was also laying wrong, though still under the gum. We weren't sure what to do about it.

So.... A few weeks ago my mum and I went to the dentist's here in Hoedspruit to see what he suggested we do about that impacted twelve year old molar. He said that he wouldn't pull  that tooth out himself and suggested that all my wisdom teeth come to give my mouth some more room. Here in South Africa its common practice to remove wisdom teeth after students have finished their final exams, at the end of November. The doctor said that we needed to rush to get an appointment if I were to have my teeth out before the facial surgeons (the doctors who deal with this sort of things) got too busy.

The health insurance was covering it and on Sunday afternoon my parents and I travelled down to Nelspruit. We spent the night in a little guesthouse and arrived at the hospital at six o'clock yesterday morning as there were a few pieces of paper work that needed seeing to. It was the first time I was in hospital (other than for visits) since I was about a year old. I was scheduled to go into theatre (the operation room) at eight o'clock, but there was a little girl who they'd put in before me, to remove some pins out her broken elbow. So I went into theatre at just after nine o'clock. It was my first time under GA (general anaesthetic), so I'd been peppering my mum with all sort of questions for the last few days, to find some clarity, you see my mum's been trained as a nurse and midwife so has had had loads of experience in the theatre, and what I could expect.

Wearing the ice pack!

I was already drifting when they wheeled me in to theatre, I fully expected to come round without five of my teeth (all my wisdom teeth and one twelve year old molar) and I barely remember getting onto the operating table. By the time the drip was being inserted into the back of my left hand, I was well and truly out of things. I have vague recollections of going into recovery room and asking mum if the little girl with broken arm was alright. I also vaguely remembering the surgeon telling mum and papa that he'd decided to remove four teeth, and not remove the wisdom tooth behind the impacted twelve year old molar. That should move down on its own.

I slept for about two hours after the whole operation was done. My parents were absolutely amazing. They were with me through out the time I was asleep afterwards. The journey home was also an opportunity for me to sleep off the GA, so I don't remember much of the way back to Hoedspruit.

I've now got an ice pack strapped to my face, to help reduce the swelling, especially on the left side of my face. I'm on a strict diet of liquids until the wounds in my mouth have healed a bit, so for a few days. I've got a rather unflatteringly swollen face and rather sore lower jaw (though two wisdom teeth were taken out from my upper jaw as well).

The plan now is to let my mouth heal up nicely and then we're gonna see what that last remaining wisdom tooth is going to do. I may have to have a brace on to help move it down to where the impacted twelve year old molar was but we're not rushing anything.

Keep an eye out, I'll post again soon.

The Final Things

Sunset light reflected off the clouds

The last few days have been a bit of a roller coaster for me. When I got my police clearance form earlier this week, I thought I was ready to go, all I needed to do was email it to YWAM Australia. They already had my other papers. So that's what I did. On Thursday, I heard that that the Immigration Department want all the original paperwork for the visa application, because of the signatures. As well a few other things, like a certified copy of my birth certificate (this is a photocopy of the original with a few stamps from a police station saying that its an exact copy of the original) and a doctor's report saying I'm healthy, along with a signature and an official stamp.

There's now a sense of urgency involved as my South African visa expires at the beginning of next year. So on Thursday evening, my father and I went to the police station to have them certify that my photocopy of my birth certificate is identical to the original. Then yesterday evening my mother got hold of the local doctor's assistant and made an appointment for me to go in for a health check. My mum has a medical background, but the letter from the doctor needs stamping to prove its not a forge.

A warthog and her offspring

So two days after hearing that I need to send everything via DHL, I gathered all the needed documents and put them in order. They're now safely with the the curriers. It'll be send off on Monday and I'm thrilled to say that I'm a few steps closer to leaving than I was at the beginning of this week.

The process from here is that the base I'm going to be joining in Australia will send my application (when they get it) to another base, which handles all the visa applications. They'll put it into the system from there. It may take some time, depending on how many other visa applications are in line before mine. I'm praying it arrives before I need to be out of South Africa (I need to be out of South Africa by 1 January 2014). Keep posted for more news on what's happening down here.

One Step Closer!

My police clearance form (good behaviour report, as some may call it) as arrived!! After much prayer and waiting, my police clearance form arrived in the mail today. It came as a bit of a surprise, because though I was expecting it, I had been told today that it would arrive on Friday. 

The story goes, as follows:

Yesterday afternoon, my father and I went to the Hoedspruit Defence Department Building (we were refered to the Department of Defence by the officers at the police station) to talk to the lady who had sent my police clearance to ask if there was anyone we could call. She gave us a number and told us to phone first thing this morning because otherwise we'd use all our airtime waiting for someone to answer the phone or to turn the hold button off. So this morning I phoned in, not expecting it to go through or anything, but my call was answered almost right away. There was a slight thingy (I don't know what else to call it) with the fact that I'm not a South African national, as she asked for my ID number (which is a mixture of letters and numbers). When she realised the fact that she wasn't dealing with a national, she asked for the reference number instead and then told me the police clearance form had been posted and would get to the family post box by Friday.

A mother warthog feeds her young in the garden

So when my father suggested I check the post box this afternoon, I thought to myself: 'okay, but it'll the usual, empty, except for the dust'. When I opened the post box, there was my police clearance form, in a brown envelope. It was amazing for me, because I had told God that I was willing to wait as long as He wanted me to stay in Hoedspruit. If He had asked me to stay here forever, I had gotten to the place where I would have stayed. It wasn't easy because I know He called be to go to Australia, but His timing is perfect.

So its easy to say that I was thrilled. I've been praising God all day! My father and I then scanned the police clearance form, at a local printing place. When I got home I sent it through to the base I've been accepted as staff, in Australia. They'll send all my paperwork, as well as all the other needed documents, on to another base in the country. This particular base that my documents are going to handles all the visa applications for the Australian YWAM bases. They'll send it on to the right people.

The next step forwards, on my road to Australia, is getting my visa approved by the Department of Immigration. It may take a few weeks, depending on how many other applications need to be processed before mine does. Its a step forwards and I'm one step closer to heading off to the other side of the world.

So my prayer request is simple, that my visa gets approved quickly and that there isn't a long line of applications before mine.

I'll keep you posted, so watch this space!

Photo Update

One of the things I've really enjoyed doing is taking photographs of the world around me, be it with the camera on my phone or with my Nikon. Since the rains began the lowvelt has changed colour, very quickly. It was a dusty brown in colour as all the plants had retreated into themselves to survive the five months without rain. Now that summer is coming, so have the rains. The plants are blossoming and a new generation of baby animals are slowly emerging.

Here is just a sample of what I see around me.

A cactus flower

A flower, from one of my father's orchids

A skink that took temporary residence in my brother's helmet

The Lowvelt from the loft porch

The vow of the mountians

The lowvelt with the mountains as a back drop

My brother's newly acquired 'pet'.
If it stinks you, don't worry, you won't die.

One of the plants in our garden

New Life

The rains have started at the end of October, after about five months without. There is a beauty of hearing the rain on windows, the ground outside and, faintly, on the roof, as well. The thunderstorms have been really been magnificent, with lightening flashing every few moments and the thunderclaps making everyone jump. The lowvelt is full of bright colour and new life. The trees are greener than ever, and all there are new babies wondering around. There are now warthog piglets, and we're waiting to see the offspring of the large herds of impala that roam through the estate. The zebra are extremely shy and in the seven months I've been here I've only seen them twice, so I'm not sure we'll be seeing their foals (as baby zebra are called). The other animals aren't as shy as the zebras of Hoedspruit Wildlife Estate. Its lovely seeing this.

Just now, two of the female warthogs that frequent our little garden arrived with two tiny piglets. These two little piglets are extremely nervous and skittish. They ran up and down the garden, looking for their mother, at almost every sound. They kept climbing into the water troughs that we have in the garden, looking for the small amount of water at the bottom. It was quite funny to watch them. Last year, my mum said that there was a litter of warthog piglets who came into the house. They got stuck because of the sliding glass doors, which they couldn't see. The glass door was half shut and because they couldn't see it they kept walking into out and Mum says they were squeaking to get out and had to be helped. We being more careful, as we've had two baboon raids on our house since my family moved down here last year! Baboon raids are not nice to clean up, I can tell you that!

Watch this space for more news, stories and pictures! I'll post when my forms, visa and the like start coming in!

Rain, Frogs And ... Driving

The lowvelt is finally brimming with colour after an unusually long and extremely dry winter. The weather is here is different to the northern hemisphere. In Europe, the winters are freezing cold (around zero) and wet (plenty of rain and snow, in South Africa, its cold and very dry. We hadn't seen rain for five months until last week, when the thunderstorms rolled in and rain came down, heavily. It was beautiful. I love the rain, the thunder and the smell of wet earth. The summer rains started last week and with the rains the temperature has risen. Its common for the summers to be hot and wet. During the winter months the skies are very empty and very blue. Right now, with the unset of the summer there are a lot more clouds in the sky than before, even though we still get clear skies from time to time. Its still amazing to see the beautiful African displays the setting sun causes on a nightly basis. I'll really miss see the sun set over the African wilderness when I leave for Australia.

The rains have also brought out a vast amount of wildlife that had disappeared during the dry winters. These animals are mainly insects, and smaller creatures, like frogs and snakes. The frog in the picture has taken residence in my shower, which is outside the house with a wooden fence around it. I don't know how long he'll stay but I'm not planning on disturbing him as I'd much rather have him sitting where he is than a parabuthis scorpion or a violin spider, both of which are highly poisonous, in my room.

A Foam Nest Frog, A Resident of my outside shower

On December 11, Hannah will be back in South Africa, to spend Christmas with us, as well as mum's birthday and mine. I'm looking forwards to seeing her again as I haven't seen her since she left for Paris in June. She's almost finished her cooking course. She's really enjoying life in Paris and what she's doing. When I see the photographs of what she makes, my mouth waters crazily and I almost want to ask her to send the dish to me, to try, then and there. She's an incredibly talented chief and I'm very proud of her. 

I'm enjoying life at home. Its busy but quiet. I still haven't received my police clearance form as it hasn't arrived in the post, yet. I won't be able to apply for my visa without it. Its in God's hands, He wants me here for a reason. I think the reason is so that can I learn and improve the skills of housekeeping, which my parents are teaching me. I've been helping them around the house, with a lot of the house work, the cooking and the shopping.

For many people, its may come as a surprise that I can't drive. In Uganda I wasn't brave enough to learn, as the traffic in the city is chaotic and dangerous, and that doesn't explain the full potential that even the most experienced drivers may run into problems. I had no intention of running anyone over because they drove their motorbike in front of the car right at the last minute or ran behind the vehicle when I'm parking. Personally I think it was dangerous enough travelling on one of the motorbike taxis hat are the most common (though not the cheapest) from of transport through Kampala city, even with a helmet, jacket and jeans.

"Boda Bodas" Waiting At The Traffic Lights

The motorbikes are generally known as "boda boda" by Ugandan residents. The words were orginally given to the bicycle taxis, because the "mtatus" (or the 14 seater minibuses) wouldn't go all the way to the border, so people who were headed that way would shout "border, border" and over time it became "boda boda." This name was then also given to the motorbikes. It was a lot of fun travelling on them, as you see a side to Kampala that you don't see in cars. If ever you go to Uganda, beware of tourist prices! You might end up pay three or four times more than you should! I'm looking forwards to being able to drive myself around and not have to rely on others, or on the public transport system, to get me to where I need to go.