Being Sick in the Yucatan

Well I have just been released from the hospital, but not from having the swine flu! I had some female related surgery, but now I am home and ready to stay in touch with friends and followers. I wish I had news on what is going on with the swine flu, but am a little out of touch, however I do know that there are no cases in the Yucatan, I questioned my surgeon at length. I was just reading an article about the flu on another blog and thought that it was excellent so here is the link to it. It is written right in Merida and is up to date.

I have raved for years about the medical care in Merida but have never been hospitalized, now I can talk first hand about that experience. To begin with unlike many of the bloggers that I follow from the Riveria Maya area my spanish is nowhere near perfect. I speak normal everyday spanish, drinking spanish, eating spanish, real estate and construction spanish. The idea of going thru a series of lab work and tests, being admitted to the hospital and having surgery without being able to say anymore than "I don't want any pain please," scared the bejesus out of me. Thank goodness a good friend of mine introduced me to a lady named Teresita. Teresita is a medical social worker that provides transportation, translation, fills prescriptions and goes with you to any appointment that you have. She is fully bilingual being from Belize her first language is English. She went to all my appointments and listened to all my concerns and explained everything to me, throwing in personal comments, stories about her family and places that she had been. What a gem. She doesn't have a set fee for her work, you pay her what you can, she works with extremely wealthy client to those that pay her with a pot of soup.

After having blood work, mammograms and a series of poking and prodding exams Teresita, Doug and I head back to my doctors office for a reading of the results. It appears that I need to be admitted immediately and have surgery the same nite! Oh Crap, I am so scared! Teresita and Doug took care of all the admittance paper work while I was taken to my room and prepped for surgery. The room was great, private, with a nice bed for Doug to spend the nite. I was in surgery for 5 1/2 hours and woke up in recovery at 3:30 in the morning. Teresita is by at 7:00 am to check on me and then back that afternoon. The nurses were attentive and the hospital was quiet, unlike any other that I have ever been in. My private room overlooked a lovely terrace filled with tropical flowers, the meals were good and visitors allowed until 10:00, excluding children and pets. All in all as good as an hospital experience can be.

Now was the next scarey issue, payment........ Doug and I had been putting off getting Mexican health insurance, not because of the cost, but because we had been so busy with real estate and property/construction management. Here in Mexico, they will admit anyone into the hospital, but won't let you leave until you pay up, kinda wacky isn't it? So. I had a 5 1/2 hour surgery that included 4 different procedures ( I won't go into them for the sqeamish that may be reading), 2 nites in a private room and many meds. Total cost in dollars a little less than $3400 and that includes all followup visits! I think thats a heck of a deal! Of course if I had taken the time and paid the $300 a year for mexican insurance it would have been free!

Now I am home and bed bound for the next 2-3 weeks, my friends have been gathering around me more than I could have possibly believed, they have brought fresh fruit, salads, chicken, chicken salads, watered my plants, sent flowers, sent ecards and so many other things that I can't name it all! Next post I want to send out personal thanks to all, until then warm breezes and cold beers coming at you from the Yucatan, the most wonderful place in my world!