The Case of the Missing Dental Records

I mentioned to someone that Peace Corps sends everything Fed Ex – it seems somewhat extravagant but I read somewhere that too much got lost in the mail. And now it seems that my dental records are lost in the mail – so now that doesn’t seem so extravagant! All right, the blog post title might not be the most compelling if it were the title of a book, but it is worth noting that I’ve been reading quite a few fun mysteries lately (and it’s a tip of the hat to Nancy Drew – my sister told me that the two female Supreme Court justices and new female nominee have a love of Nancy Drew in common).

On May 18, the dental records were sent – against procedure for Peace Corps Response – regular mail, also against procedure. I was in Chicago at the time, and when they didn’t arrive at my forwarding address there, we assumed they went to the Southampton address I had given them. But now I’m back in Southampton and they’re not here either. Could they have gone to my power of attorney in California, where my cash-in-lieu and readjustment checks went? Sure, but my friend there would tell me. Could they have gone to my 2006 pre-Peace Corps Chicago address? That’s the address on my dental records, but I would have thought the postal service would return them to sender, since I haven’t lived there for over two years.

Anyway, I did get the bitewings while I was in Chicago, and I Fed Exed them back along with the visa application last week. And today the screening nurse told me that – records or no records – the dentist will clear me. Good news! Though it would be even better if the records turn up, since, after all, they are my records! My dentist in Chicago has records pre-2006 and again for 2009, but the only Morocco records may be in that envelope somewhere.

In the meantime, under the category of Things Under My Control, I made an appointment for my last shots. I’ll get them in a travel clinic in Philadelphia when I go next week to take the Foreign Service written test. For Chicago I needed a prescription but not a consultation – for Philadelphia I have a mandatory $100 consultation even though the shots I need are the third in a series and it must be obvious that I had a consultation or prescription or both to get the first two. I assume I’ll be reimbursed but even so, I don’t have an option. I must have those shots on that day or the next day – not a day earlier and not more than a day later!

And as for the fun mysteries – I had some energy work done on Monday and the therapist told me that I need to have more fun. It made me realize that, mysteries aside, I haven’t been having all that much fun lately – working on schoolwork, thinking about things that I feel have to get done before I leave. If I’m not having enough fun now, what will it be like when I start to work again?