After I met the doctors it was time to operate. They would have done it earlier but I had had lunch at noon and they wanted to wait 7 hours before cutting. At 6:30 pm Edwardo came to get me. He walked me down to the operating room. I stood outside while they set up. The door was open so I could see as they set out their tools and made sure the room was sterol. Just before I went in I took off my sandals and put on hospital booty's careful to only put my foot with the boot down in the OR. I walked to the table got on and they started. The last thing Edwardo said to me was that the doctor was not a doctor he was the chief but it was ok because he was good with a knife. There were five people in the operating room: Dr Chan (surgeon), Dr. Pedro (anesthesiologist,), an assistant doctor,. someone to hand the doctor his tools and the head of the hospital (the boss). Dr. Pedro gave me an epidural and started to cut. I watched in Dr Chan's glasses as he cut and stitched me for the next 90 minutes. I was sent to a regular hospital room to recover. The nurses were very attentive and made sure I got pain medicine all night long. In the morning I met with both my doctors and they told me I could walk back to the boat. About 3/4 mile. At 10 am we left the hospital. I am scheduled to go back on the 23rd for a follow up appointment.

The cost, when we met with the head of the hospital, told me they would do the whole thing for 17,000 pesos. I was told the hospital charges was based on your income. He told me since I was an American without insurance, I would pay the full rate. I'm sure I could have negotiated this for less but 17,000 divided by 12.34 (the exchange rate that day) equaled $1,377.63 and the fact that in Tacoma it was going to cost me more than $10,000 after my insurance paid their part, I was happy to pay. They were true to their word when all was done and when went to pay, the hospital administrator gave me a yellow sticky note with the number 17,000 hand written on it. I gave him 17,000 pesos, he shook my hand and said good by. I never signed anything the whole time I was there and they gave me my x-rays. While this might seem a little archaic or simple, I think secretly we all wish our system back home got to the point this quickly, walk in, get it fixed, walk out. What a concept!

Denny