A little better -

Got to the hospital later than usual yesterday – and he was asleep. I just missed the bus so took a pulmonia after bargaining for the price.  Bill feels quite a bit better but is getting antsy with just lying around. I only stayed a little while as he went back to sleep!  Again a pulmonia home. Puttered around the RV. Called Angelica, a friend of ours here and she came right over to pick me up to go see Bill again. Her father had his prostrate removed a few months ago. She is familiar with some of the doctors here in town and with the procedure. We found out the name of the doctor who is going to perform Bill’s surgery and she checked on his reputation – it is very good. She also talked to Dr Cruz who is the clinic doctor about having her father’s doctor make a consultation. He called that doctor but in the end we didn’t have him come in for a consultation. [I know what I mean but it is hard to explain] The urologist who is going to operate on Bill, Dr Camacho got high praise from Angelica’s father’s doctor. So anyway

While I was there I got to meet Dr Camacho. He is pleased with the progress against the infection. White cells continue to drop. Fever is gone. Blood pressure is great. Surgery is tentatively scheduled for Thursday at the same hospital I was in a couple of weeks ago. Baring any problems he should be released Friday. I wonder if he will insist on driving home?  And as an added bonus the hospital is only three blocks from our friend Angelica’s house and she will come sit with me while Bill is in surgery.

He will be transferred from the clinic to the hospital in an ambulance and I can ride with him.

And surprise - guess who also came to see Bill – Dr House – whose name I found out is Dr Hector Velazco. And he was very cordial and took a lot of time talking to Bill explaining things. Not near as abrupt as he was the first time we met him. Maybe because Bill has improved so much he was even laughing with Bill. Besides the doctor at the clinic Bill has seen six or seven other doctors with different specialties. The care has been very good. Still have no idea what the cost will be.

Today is the last day of Carnaval, the big parade is tonight, so the streets should return to normal – just chaotic not crazy chaotic.

A neighbor just came by and told me he would empty the gray and black tanks for me if it needed doing. I guess after ten years in this I really should learn how. No excuse for me not knowing how.

Guess I’d better get this posted and hit the road. He’s feeling better – just called and gave me a list of things he wants. 

Maybe I'll try for a bus today. 

Getting better day by day

Well let’s see where are we in our Winter of 13/14 saga. First thing I’m going to do when we get home is make a doctor’s appointment and when I see our Doctor I’m going to slap him for his brash “Get out of town.” suggestion. Well not really but the though has crossed my mind this year a few times.

I want to thank every one for your concerns, hugs and prayers. Believe me they are all appreciated. I have not yet told Bill that I’ve splashed his private area all across the Internet on the blog – he knows I’ve said something but not quite how much detail. But I have a reason for doing it. I know a lot of our readers are in our age bracket. We were talking yesterday and Bill can see that this problem has been building for a long time. All the signs were there for him to acknowledge – but he was in denial. MACHO MAN! Not happening to me! Did he tell his doctor on our famous visit – no. Did he have a complete physical when he should have? No. So here we are …

Yesterday morning – another beautiful day here – I again took Willie into the hospital and luckily found parking right in front. Today I’ll probably not be so lucky. Maybe I should take a bus – hum?

Bill is feeling much better – he is even eating and hungry now and not needing pain meds. He is just getting antsy lying in bed. Can’t find a comfortable position. The infection is still strong but getting better every day. They cannot operate until the infection is under control. The doctors were telling us Bill was very lucky that the infection hadn’t spread to his kidneys or blood stream; it certainly was bad enough to have done that. Thank you God.

Yesterday they moved him from the emergency room to a private room upstairs in the hospital. I need to say this is a very tiny hospital and his surgery won’t be done here. So up stairs he has a great view, a color TV with lots of English channels and a soccer all day channel. And a private bathroom with shower. He is the only person upstairs. The nurse, Juan, is great he is always popping in to see if Bill wants anything. Convincing him to order food and eat.

I left him early afternoon to watch soccer and did some more errands. Even put gas in Willie. As this is a new month the price of gasoline went up again. Now its 12.50pesos a liter. Comes out to about US$3.63 a gallon. The price increase is already causing everything else to rise in price – especially groceries.

While I was gone, of course, the surgeon visited Bill – and explained exactly what he would do. Bill will be moved to a regular hospital for the surgery and he should only have to spend 24 hours in regular hospital – not sure which one yet. Will I have to follow an ambulance through town?

I mentioned Carnaval is in full swing here but lucky for me it is clear on the other side of town so most of it doesn’t concern me. I was glad that last evening when I went back to visit Bill I took a pulmonia [open air taxi] as there were a lot of cars full of people in full party mode. And coming home was even worse. The restaurants and bars even on this side are happening.  It is over Wednesday.

Well it is getting late and he is probably wondering where I am. And the more I think about it – I probably won’t be able to find parking downtown so maybe I should take a bus. 

Sorry no pictures to lighten the mood but haven't had the camera with me. 

Met "Doctor House" yesterday - scary experience

Sunday morning – the days are really mixed up now and l o n g!  Yesterday was very interesting to say the least. I’ll see if I can make a coherent mess of it in writing. Bill is still in the hospital and will be it looks right now, for the rest of the week with his stay columniation in surgery to remove the prostrate gland. So with that said I’ll talk about yesterday. We met “Doctor House” yesterday – I’m still shaking from that experience – more on that later. [I should leave in the typing errors so you can see how much I’m shaking!]

I straightened up around here and being an optimist put together some clothes for Bill to come home in to take with me. Uneventful drive to the hospital and got a parking place right in front. That in itself is a good omen there are only four spaces there.

He was dosing off when I got there so I quietly sat down to wait for him to wake up. But the night housekeeper, a sweet older women, soon came into the room to make sure he was awake and knew I was there. I don’t know what she said to him but he sat up like a shot looking around his surroundings. Smiling when he saw me. She smiled nodded her head and left. Mission accomplished I guess. First thing out of Bill’s mouth – how was I doing driving there. Assured him I was doing okay – hadn’t run into or over anything yet. In fact kind of enjoyed it as there wasn’t much traffic. So how did he feel? UH! Explain that a little. Still being pumped full of antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs and saline solution. Still has slight fever off and on and is TIRED of being in BED. Few other words added in there. More blood drawn early. Catheter will not be removed until all swelling is gone. He’s not hungry. But last night he did get the food he ordered from the Panama restaurant. Said it was good. The food is part of the hospital service – we don’t have to fork money out for it – now. We sit and talk for awhile speculating on when he might get out of there and how he’ll feel and when he might feel like making the drive home. Were we ever wrong.

Our Blue Cross insurance has been in touch with the hospital and talking to Bill to make sure he is getting good care and to see if he needs anything else. So that is good news. They are talking about picking up the entire hospital bill. Haven’t mentioned minus deduction. We can either pay now and collect from them later or the hospital can bill them direct. No brainer – let hospital take care of it.

Bill kept dropping off to sleep so I told him I’d leave and come back later – mumbled okay. So out to the car again. Have to back out of the driveway right in to the on coming traffic. Finally a break so off I go. Decided I’ll do an errand on the way home, go pick up the laundry. So I go through town to the big traffic circle and head east on the road, up past the jeep place and our grocery store Sorianas. Make another turn north heading towards home. Of course the laundry is on the other side of the divided street so have to go way beyond it to another traffic circle and come back. Get the laundry and explain to the owner where Bill is – get a hug and message for Bill. Back in the car again headed the wrong way. Go to the first retourno and get headed back towards home. Have three more traffic circles to negotiate. No problem. Get home. Put laundry away, work on laptop, do backup and read for awhile. It is sure empty and quiet in here without him. A couple other chores then decide to head back downtown. Saturday afternoon and the traffic has really picked up. I do have to change lanes a few more times than I like. I really don’t like driving the Jeep. The windows are tinted so heavily and my sun glasses have such a heavy tint on the lenses I have a hard time seeing. So I have to put all the windows down. But I still can’t use the rear view mirror because there is no way I can see out the rear window. Today before A leave here I’m going to have to readjust the side mirrors for me cause it looks like I’ll be driving this for a while. During day light it isn’t too bad.

Back to the hospital, parking out front, yippie. He’s sleeping again but wakes up when I come in. Ask him if there is any news yet – nope. But he’s hungry so puts in an order with Juan the wonderful male nurse/office manager/problem solver – ordered ham and cheeses sandwich, fries and a fruit plate. It came in about a half hour. Toasted sandwich and fried warm, fruit cold. He ate part of it I ate the rest. No doctors had been in. Waiting for results of last blood tests. Find a soccer game on TV. Then Juan comes back and says Bill has visitors if he wants to see them???? It’s Paquis, her husband and Roberto. Of course he’ll see them. So they come back. Lots of worry and hugs and why didn’t you call us sooner etc. Seemed like real concern. So visiting for awhile when in walks a man. He looks at them and pretty much runs them out. What the f? Who is he? No introduction. He looks at me and nods then he starts talking to Bill in rapid fire Spanish. Reminds me of “Dr House” very abrupt – very cold. BLAH BLAH. What few words I can pick out panic me. Antibiotics for five more days. Hospital a week. Prostrate surgery. Bills mouth is hanging open. He asked “do you speak English for my wife.”  “A little” then back to Spanish. Finishes his speech says Goodbye and leaves. Bill’s mouth is still hanging open and he is pale. I’m shaking like a leaf. WTF. WHAT DID HE SAY?  Bill looks at me and shakes his head. He says the infection is very very bad – beyond bad. It has to be cured before the prostrate comes out. COMES OUT??? It will have to be removed. [Some where in the original diatribe I thought I heard the word fatal. “Did he say something about fatal?”  “No I don’t think so…but”  I can here the doctors voice in the office so I head up there. He is checking lab results at the desk and doesn’t even look up when I enter the room. Finally he looks at me – “Can I ask you some questions?” I ask in English. YES – So I ask him to explain to me what he told Bill.  To paraphrase – “The infection is a urinary track infection that was caused by an enlarged prostrate. The infection is massive and needs to be controlled with heavy doses of antibiotics and the anti-inflammatory drugs are to hopefully reduce the sixe of the prostrate. However the prostrate must come out – it is now six times the normal size and will never go back to normal. It must come out.” Can he go back to the states to have it removed. We have to drive there.”  “NO Impossible. He cannot drive. He can fly but not drive.” “But we have to drive.” “No.” and basically end of conversation as he goes back to his papers. Juan the nurse shakes his head and says I’ll talk to you later. ‘

WOW – talk about no bedside manners.

Back in with Bill – we are both shaken. But there is a soccer game on TV to take our minds off it. Then another doctor comes in. Smiling and shaking hands and speaking great English. He is the Director of Emergency Medicine. He says he understands we met Dr House – I can’t remember the real name. I mention Dr House and this doctor laughs and agrees with us. He tells us the doctor is an exceptional man one of the best in his many fields Cardiologist, internist, urologist etc. etc.  They called him for a consult. Agrees he has no warmth to him but they want his advice.  So the prognosis is – Bill will stay in hospital for up to five more days getting massive doses of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Then he will have to have the prostrate removed because it will not shrink back to normal. So far all things point to NO Cancer. Removal is done through the urethra so there is no incision. Recovery is quick. Hospital stay is overnight.

They are in constant talks with the insurance and everything should be covered.

Basically his message is “sit back and relax and let the drugs work to cure the infection. Then we’ll take the steps with the prostate itself.” The infection is foremost right now. By then the original doctor he saw Dr Cruz came in with the day's test results. He showed them to us. The white blood count is slowly going down as infection clears. But it is still pretty high. Had one Hell of an infection. All caused by the enlarged prostate trapping urine in the bladder - then one thing piled on the other to make things worse. 

So that is where we are now. Day by day through the first of the week anyway.

By then it was late – dark out. I watched the rest of the soccer game with him and had to come home. I must say – I probably don’t have any right to be driving at night. It is scary. The lights of the on coming cars blind me. And down here I like driving in the center lane as so much is always going on in the outside lane – busses, cabs, people starting stopping and walking around. And to add to the fun this is Carnaval week. Most of the festivities are on the other side of town. But still parties going on over here too. And at one of the traffic circles was a road block. Luckily I got waved through. Don’t want to have to deal with that. Think from now on I’ll take a taxi at night or stay home. (And don’t tell anyone – for about a quarter of the ride I’d not remembered to turn the headlights on – then I had to find them!)  think this morning I’ll go out and check out where every thing is in Willie and see if I can get the side mirrors adjusted to me.

So there we are for now. Going to give Bill a call and see if he wants anything, get the car to my liking and head over there. 

Another Medical Adventure in Mazatlan

Feels so good to have had a good nights sleep! The first in a few days. And I might add I was being very selfish to obtain it.

Things have been on a slippery slide here since Monday afternoon when Bill first got sick. Ended up being more serious than first thought so he spent last night in the hospital. And unlike him who spent the night with me when I was in the hospital – I came home. But to back up. What the heck is today? Check computer. Oh it’s Saturday – all ready and a new Month too. By Thursday Bill was getting worse rather than better. So we went to a different doctor around 6:00pm  – one I had gone to down here about three years ago. Symptoms were classic flu like – severe aches and pains, fever going up and down, not hungry, head ache etc. But flu isn’t going around here too much Dengue Fever is epidemic here! DENGUE FEVER???? OMG!!! Quickly explained NOT THAT Dengue fever – but a milder flu like form. Except it is a virus so antibiotics won’t help – just have to ride it out. Lovely. But he would need a blood test to confirm it – come back at 9am for that. Meanwhile just take Tylenol for discomfort. Home we went. Then new symptoms started. He could not urinate. And then the pain started. Both of us up all night. Finally 6 a.m. we went to doctor’s clinic and he was there. Sounds like urinary tract infection. More pills. Blood drawn for Dengue check and urine taken for tests. Go home take pills, they should act quickly,  drink lots of water, come back at 2 for results. Got home things got WORSE. So back to doctor at 1 – The clinic is also a small hospital. Tests were back – no urinary track infection and thank goodness no Dengue fever – so now what. Fever going up and down, pain intense, can’t go. Set up IVs – antibiotics and pain relief. And of course catheter to relieve pressure. Something definitely wrong here. Maybe a stone floating around somewhere. Next step ultrasound. No stones in kidneys or bladder. Kidney function fine. Oh Oh problem found. The prostrate gland has swollen up like an orange. Shutting off the urethra. Urologist brought in. Diagnosis – somehow an infection developed in the prostrate. Probably the cause of Monday’s fever and chills. No other symptoms at that time. And it continued to develop until the symptoms started on Wednesday in earnest. So the infection has a head start. Bill had to remain in hospital for at least 24 hours….maybe more. He is on heavy antibiotics, pain killer and fluids.

So about 4pm I left him there as he was trying to sleep and I DROVE in Mazatlan. Had not been able to park the car near the hospital so didn’t want to leave it where it was also I needed to eat and take a nap. So I picked up Willie and slowly and carefully maneuvered the busy streets of town. After the first couple of blocks I kind of enjoyed it. Got home safe and sound. About 6:30 I took a taxi back to the hospital thinking I might stay over night.

When I got there he was feeling a little better – not much and I think it was due to drugs. If the antibiotics and anti inflammation drugs work he will be fine. NO signs of cancer in prostrate. If they don’t work – surgery might have to be done. Good Lord. So day by day for that. When I got back there we were told our Blue Cross US Insurance maybe could be used – did we have our card? UH – well yes but it is in the RV. We take all of our US stuff out of our wallets when we get here. Well they need it. And by now Bill was hungry for the first time in three days. Can he eat? Sure, and the nurse hands me a menu from Panama – a really good restaurant – and tells him to order whatever he wants it is included in the hospital services. Guess what he wanted - cheeseburger and fries. Good healthy food. They would order and send the paramedic after it.

Spent some time filling out paperwork then was asked for the card again. Also by then we decided there was no reason for me to spend night with him, I should go home and get a good nights sleep and return in the a.m. But they needed the card right away to call the insurance and get okay. So the paramedic very nicely brought me home waited while I found the card and took it back to the hospital for us.

I took a sleeping pill and went to bed. I know shame on me. A week or so ago he spent the night sitting up staring at me while I was miserable. So that is where we are right now. Soon I’ll get in Willie and take my second drive in Mazatlan and hopefully be able to find parking within walking distance of the hospital and see how he is doing. I’ll be surprised if he gets home today – ‘cause they want him to be fever free, pain free and able to do things on his own. And I don’t think he would want to ride with me driving – that old car sickness thing. I’m a pretty passive driver – I get in one lane and stay there – people can go around me if they want to. He’s a typical alfa male driver – has to be at the head of the pack.

The care has been excellent – again. Very efficient. Hospital clean and well staffed and friendly. Doctors speak good English to me – converse with Bill in Spanish then translate for me. Very careful to explain things so we understand what is going on. Answer all questions. Is this because we were in Mexico – probably not – just one of those things that happen sometimes. All other tests run while I was gone turned out fine – the old farts in good health.

Anyway that’s why I’ve been missing. Right now eating my breakfast and preparing for my drive downtown.

Again it is going to be a hot day – mid eighties while at home another cold snap with snow and ice is arriving. What a winter.

Have to do some end of the month bookkeeping and should back up the laptop today. But for now heading down there.