I had a dental appointment at 2:50 p.m. in Escazu; went smoothly except I have to return next Tuesday to see a Root Canal Specialist and then meet with the dentist afterwards.  Between you and me, they can pull the tooth….not relishing the possibility of a root canal. First thing accomplished. Loud applause, please!

Then off to CIMA for a bone density test.  Got registered for that and paid for it; waited a bit to be taken back for the test. Just as they called my name, Joni called and said your appointment with Dr. Arbaca needs to be changed, he had an emergency. That office only speaks Spanish (except for the Dr.) and I can muddle through it; however, on the phone is just too friggin’ challenging for me!  Enter Joni!!!

So as I’m being walked to the “bone density room”, I’m trying to come up with a time for the new appointment; settled for 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

So, 2 of 3 things were accomplished and it was a very successful day in my mind!!!

Living in Costa Rica means you just have to go with the flow – if you are unable to do that, this might not be the best place for you! LOL

Pura Vida…..it’s another gorgeous day on the mountain side!

I kept up the tradition with our girls for awhile too….of course, by then, people had no clue what was going on…hmmm, perhaps that’s the beginning of dumbing down America! LOL

Here in Costa Rica it’s  ”labor day” and most things are closed.

With President Obama coming here on Friday, traffic will be a worse mess than normal; except for the closed roads.  We live on the side of a mountain where planes coming in to land at Juan Santa Maria airport, make their wide turn in their approach.  We are hoping to see Air Force One make that approach!

I had wanted to go and see the “parade” but decided to heed the warnings of traffic delays, etc. , so we’ll just stay home and watch it on TV.

Welcome to Costa Rica on Friday, President Obama…..too bad you can’t come to Atenas and meet lots of ex-pats!

Pura Vida!

When they returned, I got a text from her saying she brought home a Momma and two babies and one of the babies was for me! When do you want to come get her? My panic mode goes into gear because Mark has been adamant about saying “NO MORE DOGS”!

Sofi had an appointment with Dr. Douglas on Friday so I decided we would go after that.  Mark was not interested in going!

I called after Sofi was done and we headed out to Frances’.

We were greeted with a chorus from all her dogs – not sure how many she has right now, must be at least 10! Sofi is not usually intimidated, but she is when she goes there! LOL  She doesn’t want to get down and is content to be held the whole time.

After a little bit of talking, Frances said, “well, come meet your new baby.”  So we went to the garden area of their front door and lo and behold, look what was waiting for me.

Frances had purchased a large Momma giraffe and two babies and one of the babies was mine!  I got goosebumps, a lump in my throat, could have shed tears…..all over this giraffe!!!  I so need a fix of visiting some live ones! LOL  It’s been cloudy the last couple of days so I don’t have picture of Mollie, my new giraffe, in sunlight!  Maybe tomorrow.

I have the best friends in the world!!!  She said when she saw it, she knew she had to bring it to me….I am so happy with her.  She said people would look strange at their vehicle because one of the giraffes was looking out the window!!!  Said there were lots of smiles and waves on their way home.

Maricela, Dylana and Nazareth will absolutely go crazy when they see her!!!

Thank you so much Frances….you’re the best!

Pura Vida from “giraffe manor”.

Yesterday was Juan Santa Maria Day – we kind of think of it as the US’s version of Columbus Day; some places closed, some places open.

We brought Nazareth, Dylana and their father, Luiz, home from town on Wednesday.  Nazareth couldn’t wait to show me some school work that she got a 100% – Excellent on!!! She was so proud of that.

Knowing they wouldn’t have school, I invited the girls to come swim; however, I didn’t specify a time (live and learn); they were here at 8:30 a.m. to swim; we were still in bed!!!  Altho’ Hernan came to collect for the water bill at 7:30 a.m. because Mark forgot to pay it on April 5 at 3 p.m.! LOL

Maricela was with them so I offered to make coffee; cut up some homemade banana bread also; coffee pot is done and yep! Did it again….we had the best hot water going.  I forgot to put the coffee in; we both got a laugh out of that!!! So I made another pot of coffee and then we sat on the rancho watching the girls in the pool.

Nazareth likes to pretend she’s doing water ballet, which is something new for her.  But then again, there’s always something new for her going on.

Dylana is busy with school work and playing futbol (soccer).

Just another day in Pura Vida land!

Our friends Bill and Sandy just returned from a humongous trip that included Singapore and India and Bali and Australia.

Don’t know about you, but just thought of planning for such a long trip – they were gone for about 8-9 weeks!  I would have to plan now

if I wanted to take my dream trip to Giraffe Manor in Africa.

I’m not sure if they went to Goa, India, but if they didn’t it was one of the few places they didn’t visit on their latest and longest trip. I bet they did visit because even though Goa is the smallest of the India states, they have a huge amount of tourism because of the beautiful beaches ancient Portuguese churches and more.

Portuguese? Yes, because Goa was an outpost in India for almost 500 years!

Sounds fascinating. I’ll be looking in Bill and Sandy’s photo slideshow to see if I can spot a Goa landmark.

“I’ll Buy That” card game is always fun and a cause for some good ribbing!!!  Yesterday was no different!  Retirement is all about friends getting together for good times and a LOT of laughs.

Mark chose to walk into town because he knew I’d be coming along in the car.  He made it almost to Kay’s before I happened upon him.  He looked beat!!!  For those that know where we live, this was a great accomplishment!!!  But I will also add, he was very happy I came along when I did.

While we were playing cards, Sebastian called and asked us to come to his house for pizza last evening.  He has the cutest little girls.  The youngest isn’t a year old yet, very big brown eyes and always has a serious look on her face, till you stick a camera in her face and she just grins! It was so funny!  (Picks are on facebook)

Delicious salad with a dressing concoction of his; great pizza and 2 bottles of wine later, we headed home.

I was so looking forward to watching IU play basketball; what a friggin’ disappointment!  But I’m sure the team is even more disappointed than I am.  Sad to see their season end.

But the best part of the day, I spent no time in the kitchen!!!! Living in Costa Rica is just Pura Vida!

I was buzzing around the innerwebs looking for a Spanish tutor or another online course and ran across this site offering tutors in NYC.

I’m impressed.

99% of their customers are satisfied. I bet they are all young ‘uns.

But with a money back guarantee on unused tutoring hours what the hey. Maybe I can entice them to take a trip to Costa Rica and stay with me for a few weeks. If they are hanging around the house, they would be harder to ignore than the books we have laying around.

The even offer Alphabetic Test Prep… you know the LSMFT stuff. (Are you old enough to remember that? – Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco.)

If our kids were interested in advanced placement classes, I sure would encourage them to go online for their studies. Mark watched a TED talk about the Kahn Academy and we are pretty convinced that education today has it backwards. Students need to study and home and do their homework in school where the teacher can help them, rather than the other way around.

At any rate, I’m still committed to learning Espanol. Maybe I need to have Mark teach me how to use the international keyboard so I can at least WRITE it properly.

So he plays games online where nobody can see him and pass judgement. 

He’s starting playing Wall Street Survivor. He’s taking their fake cash and investing in it real companies and watching how he does in real time.

He says it’s “educational” and will help us avoid the fiscal cliff that is looming just around the corner.

He used to take pride in his Baby Boomer Portfolio:

• Altria – cancer sticks
• Novartic – cancer drugs
• Zimmer – joint replacement
• Carnival – cruise ships
• Quest Diagnostics – finding out what ails us
• Allergan – botox, baby!
• VCA Antec – keeping your pooch and pussy happy
• Kraft – Cheez Whiz and Mac and Cheese, retirement food

So we’ll see how that portfolio does in the game.

As long as it’s free and he doesn’t risk our real cash, I’m OK with it.

Actually, I’m thinking of signing up too and challenging him. I bet I can do better. Whaddya think? Maybe we will set up a league.

Right after March Madness that is.

Gotta have priorities right?

Go Tops!

Go Hoosiers!

Tops = first team out; Hoosiers = NCAA Champions.

If you are skeptical and want to sell Louisville real estate you need to check out the Re/Max Champions at LouisvilleHomesFast.com.

Of course your home in Louisville may not sell as our home in Bowling Green (3 days from listing to accepted offer!) but the Hollinden team have put together a program to sell your home in 38 days.

Guaranteed.

Complete the required information on your home on their form and you will receive a complimentary Computer Analysis, indicating your home’s approximate present value on the market today.

Wonder how much to invest in your home to make it more attractive to buyers? Check out this list of tips on their website. There you will find advice on dealing with asbestos, how to set up your home for best curb appeal for a great first impression, how investing in some paint and plumbing fixtures can give you a good payback and how to price your home for a fast sale. Other topics are:

• Making your home shine
• Staging your home
• Pricing your home

Good luck on selling your home in three days like we did. Choose between Saints and Experts.

Continuing the story of my bladder surgery in Costa Rica, background here.

(Note: Mark added his thoughts in italics…)

I had the most wonderful experience at Hospital La Catolica in San Jose!

Dr. Mario is on staff at this hospital and his lab partner in med school Dra. Candy, who recommended him, said he will be head of the Urology Department there soon.  Most gringos choose CIMA Hospital because it’s a little closer to Atenas, and much larger.

Arrived at 9 a.m. to check-in.  This is the hospital that is used for VA patients.  The man that checked me in spoke English, which was one battle won! LOL.

When dealing with medical issues it’s always less stressful not to have to deal with the language barrier. Although we discovered later that we could do OK speaking / understanding Spanish questions.

From that window, we went to the  caja window; gotta get that money up front.  Then we waited just a few minutes and were asked to follow the girl taking me to my room.

“caja” – now that’s a fun  Spanish word that is used a lot here… depending on context it can mean:

• box
• cash
• coffin!
• room in the post office where letters are sorted
• abbreviation for the socialized medicine program

Dr. Mario suggested we pay with a credit card. Good advice. They asked for a deposit of $2200.

WOW!  Room was huge, with a couch and chair; private bath and shower; armoire to store my clothes in,  TV and a most comfortable bed!

Overall, the hospital is not as new and impressive as CIMA, but in the long run we thought this was an advantage. After a couple hours of wandering around I felt that I knew my way around pretty well. A couple of hours at CIMA and you might know one floor of the many buildings that make up the CIMA complex. Everything was clean and tidy. All the staff was very courteous and caring and helpful and patient.

Vital signs were taken….b/p was taken twice because she thought she didn’t get it right, yep, 100/60! I guess that shows that I felt comfortable and felt like I was in good hands.

This is where we did pretty darn good with our Spanish. The nurse preferred to do the pre-op questions in Spanish and between the two of us, we got the questions answered correctly. A couple of times we did ask the nurse to help us with a little English to make sure we understood correctly.  She was like us: she felt more comfortable understanding than she did speaking the “other”  language. When the nurse asked about Nancy’s bladder, we didn’t quite catch it… the nurse wanted to know: Did Nancy have to “pee-pee?”

Then two techs came to get me….I was on the third floor; and taken to the first floor for surgery.  The minute I was in the “surgery hall” going to the surgery room, it was obvious.  It was freezing!!!

The two techs both spoke good English and had great bedside manner. Of course they wanted to know where we were from. Like always in Costa Rica and the rest of the world, when we said “Kentucky”, they referenced Kentucky Fried Chicken, and then laughed at how clever they were to make that connection.

The anesthesiologist came in and introduced himself; can’t remember his name; his hands were absolutely freezing and he insisted on touching my arms, for reassurance, I guess;  told him his hands were freezing and he explained he had been in surgery all morning; this is the anesthesiologist doctor that cardiologists use for heart transplants, yep, I was in good hands!

He is the one that put the IV in my arm.  Veins kept rolling and I kept reassuring him that if I could please have some water, and plump them up, they wouldn’t roll.  Finally, he ended up putting the IV in my hand.

Then I headed off to the surgery room.  While there I was switched to the O.R. table, and my arms were put in the “arm wings” for lack of a better description.

I looked over at the doctor and noticed he was saying a prayer; yep, I was in good hands!

In the meantime I was relaxing in Nancy’s hospital room. The wi-fi was fired up and I was surfing the web. Since they had taken her to surgery in the same bed that was in the room, I had lots of space. Could have zoned out on the couch and been good to go for the day. Instead, since I skipped breakfast because Nancy had to fast before surgery, I headed to the restaurant. And it was more restaurant than cafeteria. Cafeteria style food service, but there was a guy in a white shirt, black bow tie and vest to carry my tray to the table which had a white  linen tablecloth. 

Food wasn’t cheap like U.S. hospitals. $9 for a plate lunch with drink and dessert. 

Lunch at Hospital Catolica

After lunch I went exploring and found the older part of the hospital which was a convent. It’s now been converted to rooms for patients families and the public. Might be the best kept secret in  San Jose. 

Oscar, the recovery nurse woke me up. When I started to doze off again, he came over and patted my hand and waved his finger in my face gently and said, “no, stay awake.” He took his thumb and finger and opened his eye wide to illustrate how I should look.

At this time he told me they could find no stone or tumor in the bladder!  Even tho’ two ultrasounds showed a large stone or tumor.  Go figure, I guess I’m Wonder Woman.  Then I was moved to a wheel chair till they took me to another room to get dressed. Mark was with me.

He said the Dr. has no idea where “it” went.  He said if it was a stone, it was much too large to have been passed.

What a puzzle! No stone! Nada. The doctor said her bladder was “perfect.” He checked her from stem to stern (almost literally) and said that everything was great. He surmised that what was showing on the ultrasound was cartilage! I can’t help myself… SNARK ALERT: I want some money back from Dr. Mario! Two trained physicians looked at an ultrasound and decided that Nancy needed to undergo treatment. I’ve seen this diagnostic procedure too many times at the mecanico – guesswork. Ain’t right.

Before I was discharged, I was wheeled to the caja window to settle up our bill. We got a refund!

Since there was no “surgery” involved, only the colposcopy and Dr. Mario said the operating room fee was based on a per minute usage, our initial down payment was double what the total hospital bill was:

• Operating suite: $211
• Surgery supplies: $233
• Special surgery equipment (the scope): $274
• Recovery: $77
• Medicine: $178
• Lab: $70

Total: $1,043.

The refund was given in caja – colones – at a favorable exchange rate. We walked out with a million colones – but no precious stones.

Stopped in the dining room of the hospital and got a little something to eat and then we headed home.

This is where my Spanish went hilariously bad. I told the discharge tech that “Nosotros vivimos al restaurante.” That means: “We live at the restaurant.” Not all that far from the truth, but the tech barely suppressed her smirk.

First stop in Atena’s was Antano’s (I know it needs a tilde, but this key board isn’t set up for it) and had a wonderful Sea Bass dinner and caught up with our friends at the restaurant. Then home to some anxious dogs!  Arrived about 5 p.m., tried to stay awake but about 6:30 p.m., I headed off to dream land.

During the night I was extremely cold, to the point of shivering; began to wonder if I was running a fever; Mark got a beach towel to cover me and that really helped; at least I stopped shivering.  Later on during the night, I all of a sudden felt something stinging me; brushed it off, and it stung my hand too. Not sure what it was, but I do have a red mark, so I know it wasn’t a dream.

Yeah that was weird. Nancy is never chilly. I woke up hot because the ceiling fan was off! When I went to turn it on, she told me how she felt. I think it was probably just reaction to her big day. She is up and at ‘em.

About 9 a.m., this morning, Sunday, the Dr. called to see how I was getting along.  He’s still puzzled about my miraculous “recovery”.  Said to let him know if I have any other problems.  I have the Drs. cell phone number and his email, how cool is that?

I’m on antibiotics and pain pills for now; have been on antibiotics since last Tuesday, maybe that broke up whatever was in my bladder….yeah, I’m grasping at straws for an answer.

My experiences with Doctors in Costa Rica has been nothing but the best!  We are absolutely thrilled with medical care here!  Even tho’ I would prefer to not have had some of my experiences, it sure is nice to be aware how kind and caring the Doctors are!

Pura Vida…..it’s a great Sunday!

We are loading up the DVD of the entire operation and we’re gonna see if we can find anything! If you want to see the DVD, click here.

(thanks Grandad for the idea.)

Remember: MARK wrote the stuff in italics. I am not responsible!