Nothing to complain about, and I lived to tell the story, so as far as yesterday goes, it’s all good.

I started my Tuesday with a visit to the Bureau of Immigration in Olongapo. They kindly consented to extend my tourist visa for another sixty days. Hooray! Swan was waiting on a chair outside the office, and as I exited, I jokingly said, “Well, hello there, Miss. I’m going to be staying another sixty days. Would you like to get together?” I didn’t know that one of the immigration officers heard me until he burst out laughing.

Next up was the shopping excursion at Royal. I’m having a gathering at The Rite Spot tomorrow, so we stocked up on all the goodies we’ll be serving. Looking forward to a good time up on the roof.

On the way home, we stopped by my dentist’s office so I could make an appointment. I’m overdue for a cleaning, but the real motivation was that one of my upper molars has been hurting. I don’t like pain generally, but a toothache is about the worst for me. Dr. Barrera is the best in town and is very popular with the expat community. Sadly, the first appointment I could get was for April 30. I guess I’ll be dealing with the pain as best I can until then.

Next stop was a quick visit to Dr. Jo. She extracted some blood for use in my third and final stem cell treatment to repair the sciatica nerve in my back. I had to come back later in the afternoon for the stem cell injections. She also gave me the results from my blood work last week and the good news was my kidney functions (BUN and Creatinine) are now back in the normal range. The glucose test results are still pending.

So, it was back to Dr. Jo at 2:30 for what she called my “crucifixion.” I received multiple painful injections of stem cells in my lower back. I’m still sore today. I casually mentioned my toothache, and Dr. Jo reminded me that painkillers like ibuprofen were off-limits while the stem cells were doing their business. Oops! She gave me a prescription for something called Eugenol, a dental analgesic in liquid form that you apply directly to the gums around the problem tooth. It seems to be working pretty well so far.

Swan and I departed Dr. Jo’s office and hoofed it over to a drug store on the Subic side of the river to purchase my meds. Then we did the walk out to Baloy for our Tuesday afternoon on the floating bar.

And then, in what I’m sure must have been a coincidence, within minutes of our arrival, everyone left but us.

Now, there has been a bit of controversy about Treasure Island of late. Several people have complained about the 400 peso fee the resort charges for use of the facility. Three hundred of that can be paid via corkage (food and drinks), and the other hundred is out of pocket. I’ve always assumed that this fee only applied to people who used the pool. Other people said they charged that to all customers, regardless of whether they used the pool. That didn’t sound right, but then again, every time I visited Treasure Island, I spent more than 300 pesos and never checked my bill for charges in addition to my food and drink.

Home after dinner for some couch time watching YouTube videos, then off to bed for some sleep. Toothache woke me a little after midnight, but Swan applied the meds, which gave me enough relief to get back to sleep.

Facebook memories carried me back seven years to my days as a boss.

Let’s do today’s Quora Q&A:

Q: Do Americans give up their citizenship when they retire in foreign countries?

A: No, they are not required to do so. A few do for tax purposes or other financial reasons. That’s relatively rare, though. I have no desire or intention to live in the USA again, but I’d never even consider giving up my birthright of citizenship.

Five years later, I still feel the same.

Let’s have some fun:

Okay, it’s time to use up the last of my bar discount coupons before they expire. Until next time.