My 4 days at the hospital.

Or that is what it felt like.

Before I tell the story of my morning let me say I like efficiency and consistency. I don’t consider myself better than anyone else and don’t expect special treatment. 

Jose picked me up at 10:00 and we were at the hospital by 11:00. We parked right by Mayca so there were hopes of a stop there after I got my file. That is all I was after today. A file with a number so there was a place to put all my info. A paper folder with a clip to hold the sheets.

We started with the guard but he told us we had to get in line. It was down the hall and around the corner. José knows me so he suggested I go sit down. After a while he called me to come wait with him. We were getting fairly close. In lots of cases the seniors get to cut the line but not in the hospital. That is until the old man eases himself into the line 2 ahead of me. And then the person ahead of me turns into 3 people all wanting things. Grrrrrrrr.

Finally after an hour it is our turn. The person looks at my stuff and says we have to get in the next line and see the doctor.  Another line. Finally I was called and it took 5 minutes and we were sent back to the first line. It is long again but I told Jose I wouldn’t be any less mad if I went and sat down. Same garbage again. People walked up to the counter and started talking and it brought progress to a stop. Finally my turn. José said let’s go. No, I wasn’t done. We had to go across the street for the file and number. Yup, you got it, back to the first line now. This time I did it. José put me right near the guy and left and I planned to crash the line as soon as he was done with the lady he was helping. Even the guard came over and talked to him about helping me next. Everything would have been great if it hadn’t been for the Tica who had no intention of letting me in the line. José had moved away so he wouldn’t be nearby if I exploded. I accomplished what I had to do without that happening. Barely.  I now have a file and a number.

Next stop was the place where they give the talk or class or whatever it is. José explained everything but there was no way of anything happening today. We have to go back tomorrow. Pickup is 8:00. So, this eye thing has been a 5 day affair. Tuesday at the doctor and hospital, Wednesday at the hospital, Thursday at the class, Friday at the hospital for surgery and Saturday back to the doctor to be checked. And it is all an hour away. Reminds me of trying to get me registered with the clinic in Orosi. 3 trips to Paraiso and back to Orosi.

We headed for Walmart and had lunch in the cafeteria. José took care of his business as I covered the store as quickly as I could. The cats and I are covered and I have lots of the ingredients for making candy. I don’t have caramels or marshmallow cream yet. Also need another big jar of peanut butter. 

There is so much I love about Costa Rica. Today wasn’t part of that list.

Part two

Another trip to Cartago for a visit with the doctor. I am running out of Oreos. I am always early and the doctor sees me first when he gets there. Yes the edema is a little less. Yes I can make out a few letters on the chart. No it isn’t as good as it should or could be. He gives me two options. Wait and see what happens although that won’t take care of the cyst on my iris. Or, schedule another quick surgery. A small incision to drain out the cloudy liqiud and wash it good with antibiotics and remove the cyst. I ask where it would have to be done. This one could be done at the hospital in Cartago. The one I go to with the hats.

The doctor calls the doctors at the hospital and does up a letter for me to take. He will do the surgery but the doctors at the hospital will take care of everything else. They say they will see me right away so I walk over to the hospital. The guard says no, they are closed, no one is there so I walk back to the eye clinic and ask to talk to my doctor. I explain what happened and he calls again. Walk back to the hospital and this time there was no question. The guard was waiting at the door and directed me right into the eye department. Two doctors met with me. Then they figured out I don’t have a file there because I have never been treated there and the appointment I do have isn’t until 2020. They do speak English, thank heavens, but it is about to get very complicated. And it is going to require Jose.

Tomorrow we have to go back and do whatever we have to do to get a file set up for me. We also have to contact the area that gives you all the information of what you have to do during recovery. It is a requirement for every patient to be advised of this. Now if they emailed me the info I could put it in my translate program. No, you have to sit through a class which means Jose has to be with me because everything will be in Spanish. That has to be done before I check in at 6:00AM ON FRIDAY.

Now you know me and mornings. José will have to pick me up at 5:00. No food, no water, no meds. They tell me I am first on the list but I don’t know what time that means. It is only supposed to take about 10 minutes.

I’ll keep you posted!

I got bored.

i will be the first to admit I love to do nothing. Well, maybe not exactly nothing but low key low energy things. I can sit all day and read or watch movies. Even if the only ones I have are Hallmark on U tube. But, even I get tired of that and right now there isn’t a lot I should be doing. I have 3 strands of lights that I have used each year and I really wanted to add a little light to my decorations. Nothing elaborate, just a touch and hopefully something that can be seen from the road. Every year I have one section of lights that blink and I can’t figure out how to stop it. Sure enough that section is in one of my front windows. I didn’t even try to change it. I think it is funny.

People are still going by and saying Bonita or lindo and I am smiling. A quiet day keeping to my schedule of eye drops. I have 12-13 applications throughout the day. Not much change but maybe tomorrow. I had wished to catch the fruit and vegetable truck but I didn’t see it. It is dark now and I don’t want to wander around outside after dark. I am clumsy enough in the light. I didn’t want to be using a knife on fruits and vegetables when I couldn’t see so I haven’t had any. I miss them and will get some soon.

Maybe tomorrow I will see if I can get some solar lights going for outside.

Luz a la Cabaña.

Inquiring minds are asking

No not really, no one is asking. But I will tell you anyway. Screaming eye drops. I have used them 4 times now. As long as I keep my eye closed for about 20 minutes after I apply them there is no burning. If I open my eye too soon it does burn. Now the tricky part is I can only wink with my left eye. The drops are in my right eye so I actually have to keep both eyes closed. A small price to pay if it helps.

And is it helping? I think so. A little. Slowly. There is fuzziness but it is thinner, lighter. When I look out of only my right eye I can see the lamps and pick them out. I can pick out my fingers 2 feet away. It’s good, an improvement. Patience Gayle.

If you hear me screaming.....

I did good today. I had another doctor appointment in Cartago at 4:40. As I may have mentioned, I offered to make chocolate candies for the Christmas party at the Senior Center. I have cocoa and some chocolate chips but Mayca has 500 gram sheets of white, milk and dark chocolate. I don’t need the candy until the 14th. but I want to gather the ingredients for when I can finally start work. I am thinking Crockpot candy with peanuts, Tootsie Rolls, Peppermint Patties and Mounds Balls. I figure if I put peanut butter in the crockpot candy I will have all the major food groups. So, since I had to go to Cartago anyway I figured I would go a bit early, take it slow and get the chocolate.

It is cold, I even had my coat with me. It is raining, it is very foggy. Not the perfect day for shopping, especially for someone who can’t see. I had it all planned though. Right around the corner from the bus stop are the taxis. I figured I would hop in the first one and tell him I wanted to go to Mayca, I wanted him to wait for me, 5 to 10 minutes not longer and then he would take me to Clínica de Los Angeles for my eye doctor appointment. First off we didn’t stop in the normal spot. It was up the street and around the corner. No problem, I know the area well. We are right by the ruins, just means a longer walk. Front of the line, hopped it, told him what I needed ALL IN SPANISH and he understood and away we went. He parked, I ran in and grabbed 5 packages. 2 white chocolate, 2 milk chocolate and 1 dark chocolate. Right now I am not supposed to lift more than 10 pounds. I have my red bag with stuff in it already and this adds 11.2 pounds. I knew I wouldn’t be doing a lot of walking carrying that today.

Off to the clinic. I am about an hour early and I was so surprised when I was called in. The doctor checked and said there was a little less edema. Very very good. I could see when he held up 3 fingers a foot from my face. Not so much when it was 2 feet away. He dilated my eye to get a look inside and I went out front to wait for it to work. He reconfirmed that areas of the eye seem to be slowly clearing up but that a cyst may be present on my iris. If necessary it can be easily removed with laser. We aren’t there yet and we will see what the next week brings. I go back Tuesday afternoon.

Now the screaming. The doctor was able to get me some saltwater eye drops from the hospital. The idea is like seawater it will help dry up the eye and reduce the inflammation. I have to use them 3 times a day along with the 3 other kinds I am already using. Salt water in your eye just doesn’t sound totally pleasant. Granted I haven’t tried yet so I will let you know.

Everything is done so I call Fran and he is there in less than 10 minutes to bring me home. We do our chatting. He has had cataract surgery so he understands. Now I am going to just stay here, do my 4 eye drops, do my best to keep my blood sugar numbers down and keep my cats happy until Tuesday. Hopefully by then I will have really good news.

And yes, there were lots of Oreos handed out today. Even the doctor. He did ask me if I ate them, especially since I am having trouble with my blood sugar. I told him no. I said I usually bake the cookies I give out but since I can’t bake I am giving the Oreos.

I promise this is the last one today.

Part three. I have talked about what we have done or tried to do here. To be of help, to share what we have been privileged to have. I have not said what is in this for me. What I get out of all of this. Why I accept the inconvenience of living here. The bugs, not being able to buy what I am used to, different food and language, no car, always depending on someone. Squirrel tails in my bedroom.

Well, let me tell you, I receive so much more than I give. I am old fashioned. My work life was one of being of service to others. Planning their trips, arranging unforgettable adventures, opening the world up to them. Spoiling them with special features. And I loved it. The stories the excitement the memories they brought back to me made all the work worthwhile. This is no different. So many people feel unneeded and wasted once they retire. Their lives change. Mine changed, but in the very best of ways. I wasn’t just a surplus old lady. I was, am, a welcomed part of life. They teach me their ways and share their lives and families with me and welcome me in. I share with them what I have and know.

I think I will stop here. I don’t know that any more needs to be said.

Happy Thanksgiving

When I first came here

I am looking back to how things have changed, or haven’t, since I first came here in 2015. Have you guessed, it is raining out and I can’t do much. I can see well enough to write this.

Anyway, I like to cook and bake. How else would I be known as the Orosi Cookie Lady? I am a firm believer that the better the ingredients, the better the finished product. I don’t use margarine I use butter. Vanilla is not imitation. Chocolate chips are real and plentiful. Coconut is moist and flaked, not dried.

So, I have moved to Costa Rica with only two suitcases and I want to bake. Cookie sheets, but I can’t find any. Thank heavens for Katherine who gave me two. Butter, but I can’t find any. Chocolate chips but I can only find 2 oz. packages. Flaked coconut but all I can find is dehydrated. Bacon, bacon, bacon but no luck. Ham, only processed sliced. Thank heavens for the first 2 years I had to leave every 3 months to get a new visa. Family and friends came to visit. Everyone had the list of what I needed and they were so kind and generous. When Heather and Kent came they would have 4 suitcases full for me and their things in carryons.

So the things we still bring. Cases of canning jars for my jellies. The last trip Heather brought 4 and I only have 1 case left. At first people would return the jars but that doesn’t happen much anymore. Here they are either very hard to find or very expensive. Chocolate chips in 12 oz bags because they are much cheaper on sale in the US and more varieties available. And because I have the best bargain finder in the world in Heather. Coconut because I don’t like the dried stuff. When I found a store in  Paraiso with really good butter we quit bringing that. PriceSmart has packages of bacon that I use sparingly so we could quit bringing that. Again, PriceSmart or WalMart for turkey and ham. Turkey
is not a bargain here so it is a splurge for Thanksgiving. Most people here have never had it. Spices and vanilla are not the greatest so we bring those including big containers of cinnamon from Costco. And one thing I still struggle with is brown sugar. There is dark sugar here but it is granules and does not pack or clump. I have tried white sugar and molasses but it isn’t to my taste. We even brought the molasses from the US. When I have room for the weight I bring some brown sugar. We won’t even talk of all the yarn and crochet thread and sewing things including 3 sewing machines.

Now you may say that sounds like an awful lot of suitcases and a lot of money over almost 4 years. Well, now we go back to my worlds best bargain finder. Heather has been a wonderful  source for this adventure of mine. Several times a week she visits a local thrift store. The suitcases are $2.00 and most of the time they make a one way trip here. The first batch of 8 were sold to Gerardo and the money was given to Jose for the poor people. Many have been sold for a low price or given away. Brandon will come pick two for his trip to the US in December. The sewing machines are $5.00 and as with everything she checks them over very carefully before she buys them. Then she waits till I get there and try them out before we bring them here. Sometimes a small part is missing and we get it but so far it has been great. They are simple, basic machines, but great for someone learning and starting out. I will bring one back in January for Jeannette and her family. Three generations will learn.

Courtney has brought chocolate,  Adriana brought chocolate and kids things for the children of the coffee pickers. Kaye brought ham and jars, and bacon. Heather and Kent brought tons. My family in Oregon gave me two suitcases full to bring back. I definitely have not taken this trip alone. I think this year that is my thanksgiving. For all the people who have been part of my adventure the last 4 years.

PS, no I am not sick. No I am not dying. Not anymore than usual anyway. Just grateful and blessed.

I also want to thank those who have continued to read this. If it wasn’t for you I probably would have quit a long time ago and I wouldn’t have the story for myself. When I am old - well older - someone can sit and read this to me and maybe I will remember what a life I was able to have.

I knew I was taking a chance.

Putting Christmas decorations way out front by the road but I wanted to give the people driving by and walking by on the wonderful sidewalk an opportunity to enjoy or smile at them. It is a bit of an unusual display. I decided it was worth the possibility of having everything disappear.

Let me try and explain. I am not a showy person and I don’t have a lot. But, what I do have is much more than what a lot of the people here have. They look at me and think I must have money, I have moved from another country to live here. Everything I have is made in another country. The things I consider a normal part of my life they consider luxury.

I have lived in La Cabana for 15 months. In that time I have greeted every person I encounter, handed out cookies, handed out jelly and fruit, planted flowers, adopted animals, kept the music down, had parties and just tried to be a good neighbor. I have bought baskets from two basket makers and tried to buy at the pulparia. Bought from the Saturday fruit man. The ICE guys all wave at me and young people have even walked with me after dark in the rain to make sure I get home OK. Neighbors have given me rides to town. I have worked at fitting in and letting them know I am safe so that I am. After all I am an old lady alone in a foreign country with language difficulties.

Now, this area especially, is not high crime. But, petty crime is prevalent all over because others have so much and they have so little. They see what is available online and they want some too. I get it. I may not like it but I get it. Chances are good there will be no punishment for petty crime. Therefore locks and barbed wire and security. Barking dogs, lights, whatever it takes to give an appearance of security.

So, I knew I was taking a chance with the decorations. Everything on the gates and fence are on the outside. Big shiny colorful globes hanging in an area that after dark I can’t see. If you check, the gates are latched but not locked. I hoped that my time and reputation here would protect me and my things but I am not totally naive. Life is life.

I went out this morning to check everything and not one tiny teeny thing has been moved. I found

Greetings from Rio Macho

 one plastic flower on the ground but I am sure it just came loose so I reattached it. I am smiling. I can’t see yet but I am smiling. I hope the decorations continue to delight people.

An Oreo trip

I left here at 1:15 pm because I needed to stop in Orosi and drop off my prescription renewal at the clinic. Walking down the street I encountered a young boy and he greeted me and spoke with me. A little later he and two ladies arrived at the bus stop and he again talked to me. I offered him a package of Oreos and I think they all shared them. The driver got the next package. Off the bus at La Colonial and I knew I had a half hour to go to the clinic and catch the next bus to Cartago. No problem, no one in line at the pharmacy but now it is raining. This bus driver gets the next package. 

I have never walked to the clinic and since so many of the streets are one way the driving route is different. I knew it was near the hospital and I definitely knew where that is from all my visits to drop off hats so I headed there. I walked around it a bit and then went inside and explained to the guard what I was looking for. He gave me simple directions and he got the next package. It was only 1 1/2 blocks away so I had no problems. 

I was early but I wanted to allow myself plenty of time so I could go slow and be careful.   I checked in and the two girls got the next packages. When I sat down there was a family with a young child sitting next to me and yup, he got a package. When the doctor got there he took me in with him and did a check of my eye. The good news is the incision is doing good. The bad news is my cornea is still inflamed and I can’t see yet. He has me coming back on Thursday for another check. He also talked about some special eye drops that aren’t normally available in Costa Rica but he is going to see what he can do to track them down and have them on Thursday.

You might ask why I went alone. Well, when I go with Jose, the doctor speaks in Spanish mainly to Jose. When I am alone, like for surgery and today, the doctor speaks in English to me. That is what I wanted.

A short distance from the clinic I got a taxi to WalMart. The last time I went for canned cat food they had almost none so I needed to restock. The driver got my last package or Oreos but I knew I planned to buy more. Till I start baking again they make good rewards . There is a big sign outside Walmart that says black weekend. I didn’t know that meant there wouldn’t be any lights on in the store. Only skylights and lights by the registers. It was a bit strange. Now maybe there was another reason, I don’t know.

Top of the list was cat food. They have lots, thank heavens. Now I need to replace all the yogurt that spoiled from my 24 hours of no electricity. More packages of Oreos, and cold things to eat. Package of ham, bag of granola, a milk, some chips and tuna. I have been doing ham, hard boiled eggs and tuna for protein since I am not cooking. It has been difficult to keep my blood sugar to a reasonable level. Don’t know which of the meds is affecting it.

Everything bought and I call Fran. He was such a great find. Nice as can be. He lives in Paraiso so even if he is home he gets there within 10 minutes. Turns out he also had cataract surgery and had inflammation for 8 days. His English is limited but we manage.  He always says he will close up the gate for me whan he leaves. I have been very lucky with the drivers I have met.

Now my only in Costa Rica story. This morning I found a tail on the rug by my bed. Like a squirrel tail, not a bird. That was all I found. I couldn’t bend over and look for the body because I am not supposed to because of the pressure it puts on my eye. I was leaving so I decided to wait and call Jose when I got home and ask him to come tomorrow when he wasn’t busy and had a minute. When I called and explained I wanted him to come tomorrow and look under my bed he said I will be there in 10 minutes. If there is a body I don’t want it to start smelling. The whole family showed up and I showed him the tail. Sure enough, squirrel. He got a light and checked all over but no body. The cats  hadn’t been acting strange or anything and I figured if there was a body they would be playing with it or dragging it around. Crisis averted. I paid them in Oreos.

My stuck at home day

I have been seeing Christmas decorations down here starting in Sept. so jumping the gun before Thanksgiving isn’t really early. There won’t be a Thanksgiving dinner this year for various reasons including my eye. Last year I only decorated inside or the deck for the parties so this year I decided to decorate out front so people could see it. It was so fun because as I was putting things up people driving or walking by would say lindo or Bonita.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I was in shorts and sunglasses to protect my eye so it really didn’t seem like Christmas. There is no pine tree so I made due with what I have. It is quite interesting. So far I don’t have any lights but I hope to add some in the front windows and maybe I will get the solar lights back working to add out front.

Eye update. Still can’t see but when I woke up this morning it did feel less irritated so hopefully that is a good sign. I go to the doctor tomorrow afternoon so I will see what he says. I am going by myself on the bus so I will see how that goes. I will go a little early so I don’t have to hurry.

The chair isn’t part of the decorations. I am not supposed to bend over so I used it to hold my basket of decorations.

No more red, white and blue on the gate. 5 wreathes and lots of bows.

My guayaba branches with a couple added bamboo.

This tree started when I started planting everything in the front

I used what I have.

Just a quick update

All is good. There is no pain and I will spend a quiet weekend with no cooking or baking or lifting or sewing. I don’t want to take any chances. I do have a new look so I can go outside and not have to worry about the bright sun. I can’t wear the cover I wear at night because I use drops every 3 hours. My vision is still fuzzy but I am told that is normal so I won’t worry.

A good side effect seems to be that all the anti inflammatories I am taking are making my back and legs and feet feel good. Not sure if that is it or not but I like the improvement.

I have been surprised that there has been no pain considering there was an incision, larger than normal in my eye. I am not complaining, it is great, but surprising. If I pull my eyelid up and look at the top half of my eye, it is gross. I won’t send a picture of that.

For two weeks I am to wear a cover over my eye at night. Last night I tried to use the medical tape we picked up. I couldn’t get it to work so I resorted to masking tape. I figured that would stick but not tear my skin off when I took it off in the morning. Now I didn’t bother to look in the mirror, just taped it on. You will see that I am not as good as the doctor and tonight I should try something else and use the mirror.

The hanging one is an orange but all the rest are guayaba. The tree is really dropping a lot of fruit and I can’t make jelly.

My new look. Everything behind me has been planted since I moved here. 

I know. It will be better tonight. Have to laugh.

I have two eyes!

The visit to the doctor didn’t take long. He says it is coming along very well. There is a little inflammation in the cornea so I am on a boatload of antiinflamatorias to avoid any problems. He even said to take the pain meds even if I don’t have pain because they have antiinflamatorio in them. I can’t see well yet but it is just fuzzy, not a cloud. I go back on Monday and will stay quiet in my house till then. I do have an eye cover to wear at night. Today I passed out more Oreos and the doctor also got a jar of jelly.

Aren’t I cute!

Yesterday was quite a day. I was still gathering money for the transfer to the doctor’s account so my first stop was the ATM and then into the bank with my million plus colones. I was early so I took a number and sat down. They were on number 17 and I was 29. For simple transactions I go by myself but this was more complicated so Jose was meeting me there. I messaged him to let him know the situation and it wasn’t long before he arrived.

While I was waiting I watched a young man having a very difficult time trying to get money from his card. He was working with a teller and on the phone with his bank. He and the young lady with him didn’t seem to speak a lot of Spanish. When he was off the phone I spoke with him and introduced him to Jose in case Jose could be of help to him. Maybe a little new business for Jose. It turned out both the man and woman were from ...yup, Minnesota!

So, it was finally my turn and we explained - Jose explained - I had colones and needed to put $1650.00 into the doctor’s account. I was hoping to first put it in my account because I am required to deposit so much every month for my residency. I think there is a limit to how much I can deposit to my account each month and I was concerned this was over the limit. It sounds so enormous - 1,024,650. So into my account went 1,030,000 and then they transferred to the doctor his amount.

Back home with the idea Jose would pick me up at 2:00 to be there at 3:30 for a half hour of prep and then surgery. An hour after I got home the doctor called and said if I can come early he can take me. It is now 12:40. I called Jose and he said sure and was here at 1:00pm. I called the doctor back and confirmed we would be there by 2:30. As we were going past the bus stop, Jose noticed Gloriana’s
sister and we stopped and gave her a ride to work in Cartago. She manages a pharmacy.

That time of day the traffic was light so we arrived at the clinic a little after 2:00. Lovely place, very modern and clean as can be. As with most medical places I have been there are people cleaning all the time. A short wait and I was called. I was taken to a little room with a lounging bed, a wheelchair
and cupboards. A very nice nurse named Marie helped me and explained everything. Very good English. I  was to lie down and for the next 45 minutes she would come in and administer drops to dilate my eyes. The doctor also came in and answered any questions I had - in English. Then the anesthetist came in and explained her part - in English. It was going to be local but they did put a port in just in case they needed to give me something to relax me. She was so cute. She said I try to speak English, how am I doing? Now you know I usually have cookies with me but I hadn’t baked any so
today I was handing out packages of strawberry filled Oreos. Believe me, they were a big hit and just as good. Even the doctor told me all the girls loved the cookies.

After 5 doses of drops and all the release sheets were signed they came and got me and put me in the wheelchair to go next door to the operating room. It was freezing so as soon as they laid me on the table they covered me with blankets. They attached a blood pressure cuff and things on my finger and chest to take readings. They also hooked up the port.

Now, the absolute worst part of the whole operation. The shots for the local above and below my eye. He did say there will be a little pain. Open your eye. I really didn’t want to watch but I had to because he had to make sure my eye would still move around.

Ok, with that done nothing else hurt. I listened to them - 4 - 2 nurses the doctor and the anesthetist talk about various things including pizza and kids. I had something draped over my face and I could
 see pink and purple but not much else. There were liquids involved and I could feel it on the lower part of my face. When they were done they had to peel the cover off my face. They told me they had  given me pain meds and anti inflammatory in the port and I should take more pain meds before bed. I
  did but I have not felt any pain, even today with no meds. The doctor did say he had to make a larger  incision because the cataract was so large.

Back to the room in the wheelchair and help getting dressed. I forgot to mention they put you in the cutest slipper socks to go with a fully wraparound gown and hair covering. Out to the doctor and Jose and home. It was a slower trip because it was rush hour.

Now the kicker as if that wasn’t enough for a day. Before I left the electricity was off. That happens now and then so I wasn’t concerned. When I got back it was still off. I sent a message to Brandon asking if it was the whole area or just me. Then I sent a message to Jose asking if there was a problem in Orosi. He said no. Then he messaged me he was in the area and wanted to check something. He came and checked my meter and it was off. My power had been turned off. He couldn’t reach Adrian so he called Brandon who called his father. I knew the payment gets deducted from Adrian’s
paycheck from the electric company so I didn’t understand what was going on. All I knew was that my phone and iPad were running low and I had no way to recharge them.

Adrian and Brandon came this morning to explain there was a problem at the bank and it was corrected. But, I still had no electricity! I was not nice. Let me explain. I know I seem brave and adventurous but it is mainly because I have electronics. I can always reach someone. I can always let others know I am ok so they don’t worry. Without electronics I can’t. I kinda went into a panic. People were sending me messages and I couldn’t answer. I have apologized and I explained to Jose and asked him to call Adrian and explain. He told me Adrian had called him after he spoke with me - or after I yelled at him. So, they both did what they could to move things along fast and I have electricity back. I haven’t dared to open the refrigerator yet.

Jose will be here in an hour to go to the doctor in Cartago to have the cover taken off my eye and
see if I can see. Hopefully the rest of the week will be much better.

Aren’t they absolutely gorgeous 

Not a look I want everyday. 

Back to my eyes

As I mentioned in the last post, Emilio and I went to the clinic in Cartago to drop off my report from the clinic in Orosi. They required I make an appointment to see the doctor so I did. It was Thursday the 25th and Jose went with me. Turns out my doctor was out of the country and I saw another doctor. This was not necessary as I was just dropping forms off and making sure he received the test results from San Jose. They were being emailed to him. I had brought my copies along so the fill in doctor looked them over and said they were good. I was charged another 45,000 for this visit. I was not happy - ask Jose.

So, I sent an email to my doctor when I knew he was back and the answer was he wanted to see my information in person. Once I questioned that he said he had not received a copy by email. I sent him a copy of the ID and name information and he said he would take care of it. I also questioned if I would have to pay a third 45,000 to come see him. He said no, I should not have been charged the second time and he would credit it towards the surgery cost.

Yesterday he let me know he has the tests and has gone over them and has an opening for surgery on Monday so things are moving fast now. It will be in the afternoon and Jose will take me. It is in Curridabat, close to San Jose.

Today I will go to Walmart and stock up for the week after surgery. I am not supposed to cook so yogurt and sandwiches may be my main foods. I also need cat food. Those two cats really eat! I also need to fill some prescriptions for after surgery.

Tomorrow Otto and Dyanna and I are leaving here at 8:00 to drive to Turrialba for a festival. We don’t know what the festival will be like but it will be a great adventure through beautiful mountainous country. There is also the Turrialba volcano that causes so much trouble in San Jose when it erupts.

Sunday will be for getting ready for after surgery so I can really take it easy. Monday surgery and Tuesday back to the doctor in Cartago. Then I think I have a break and don’t go back for a week.

I am looking forward to a totally successful surgery. Prayers would not be rejected.

By the way, we changed my dates for my trip to the US. Heather and Kent aren’t going on a vacation so I shortened my trip to 2 weeks. Dec. 23 - Jan 5. I figure my run to Minnesota will be between Christmas and New Year.

I have been harvesting lots of guayaba and canned 16 jars of jelly and a bowl for the senior center. I have some in the freezer for later and have been giving them away. I have a request for more Mango/Strawberry jelly so once my eye recovers I will make a batch.

The cats are fine. We have come to an arrangement that seems to work. If they get wild and rowdy during the night I put them out. I know I am taking a chance and I accept that but at least I can sleep. So far they have always been at the back door when I open it for breakfast. Domingo stays closer to home and spends more time sleeping in the house during the day. They no longer try to get out thru the netting since I blocked the one spot they were using.

This morning Brandon brought me a red bag of coffee to try. It is from Adrian’s fields. Either here where I live or up the road a bit. I will take it to the US to share with Heather. Her taste buds are much more discerning than mine. I still need my lesson on the whole coffee  process.

That’s it kids. I will keep you posted.