Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Long Slow On the Hard Continues

I can just barely see the light at the end. Maybe a week more. Did any of you Norte Americano's know that manana doesn't mean tomorrow. I means in the future. This is a very important part of living in Mexico. The people also have a different expectation of life. I don't think its all that romantic. The people just expect less from life and that means what is acceptable to them in regard to work done on me barco........Well lets just say they expect less. I stay right with them and sometimes we have to do it over. Thats ok tho as it lets me get in the middle,make changes etc.
Five days ago at 0715 I got a call from a friend Gary on Gratefull Heir. Gary is 69 and well he drinks a bit. He asked me if I could come over and help him as he thought he was having a heart attack. I hustled over,got him laying on his back,feet slightly elevated,comfortable and an aspirin under his tongue. I put the pressure cuffs on him and called the Red Cross Ambulance. The paramedic arrived about ten minutes later and after he checked Gary's vitals he decided Gary didn't need a ambulance. So we took him to a Dr. Tuchman who is the hero doctor of the cruisers. He said gary needed to go to the hospital immediately. He called ahead and they got him right in. Turned out Gary had an ulcer that perforated and allowed air into his abdominal cavity. This was caused by Gary taking 8oo mg ibuprofen frequently. He had a three hour surgery,stayed 5 days and paid 7500 pesos and they sent him on his way. By the way 100.00 us gets you 1400.00 pesos. Do the math. Gary was in a brand new hospital. This would have been free if he would have had Security Popular which is the national health insurance and costs 1400 pesos (100.00us) Doctors in Mexico don't expect to be millionares and health care in general is not big business here.

Thats all for now......Kim