Monday, December 22nd, 2014

1 day remaining on my visa.

I got up twice during the night.  The third time was 5:45 in the morning when the dogs were going nuts over something.  They quieted down just as my head hit the pillow back in bed.  I woke up at 6:45 and got up at 7:45.

We are out of milk so my arepa and scrambled eggs was with chocolate milk made with water.  Ick!

Well, today is the day.  It starts at 10am with my enema, drinking 2 glasses of water here, several others on the way or at the clinic in downtown Medellin, followed by my prostate biopsy scheduled at 2:40. 

The enama turned out not to be a problem.  The complete procedure took about 30 minutes from setup to cleanup and there wasn’t any mess.

At 11am I drank 2 glasses of water but 30 minutes later I had to pee, which I did.  (I’m supposed to retain the water for the test but if I could do that I probably wouldn’t need the test.)

We left at 12:15 and got past the killer dogs undetected.

After a 10 minute wait we caught a bus to Aquacatala where we took the metro to the Prado station (1 stop past Parque Berrio).

We walked across the street and at that point I had to pee real bad.  We stopped at a small sidewalk restaurant where I paid 500 pesos (about 20 cents) to use their restroom.  Inside I found that the door didn’t close all the way and the light switch didn’t work although some light came in over the walls that were about 6 inches short of the ceiling.  While peeing I was aware that something else was going on on the back end. 

I explained my problem to Teresa and we quickly walked the last 2 blocks to the clinic – Escanografia Neurologica S.A. – at Calle 59 (Cuba) #50A-14.  She talked to the guard and I understood we had to check in first.  After 5 minutes and 2,400 pesos ($1) we were allowed inside the facility. 

I headed right for the bathroom where I found my bottom and my underpants wet from the enema liquid.  I dried myself as best I could using their toilet paper.  I explained everything to Teresa, and since we were an hour early, we went out and purchased what are basically a pair of adult pampers from a local pharmacy for 3mil.

Back inside we waited in an area with about 40 other people.  After about 5 minutes a lady came out and called about 8 names including mine.  She took us to another smaller waiting area where we got the last 2 seats and I continued to drink water from their cooler.

I was concerned I might be asked something I wouldn’t be able to answer so I asked Teresa if she would go with me for the exam if they would allow it.

About 15 minutes later my name was called and we went into a small room roughly 5 feet wide by 10 feet deep.  There was a young lady sitting facing the wall near the door working on something like a computer screen.  There was an examination table on the right and a young man with his own computer screen on the left.  I asked him if he spoke English and he replied “yes”.  He asked me to pull my pants and underpants down to my knees and lie on the table facing the opposite wall.  He inserted a finger (you know where) and I kept waiting for something larger to enter the area.  A minute or two later he said we’re done.  I told him I thought I was going to get a biopsy of my prostate and he said it wasn’t necessary – my prostate is large but there isn’t anything abnormal in the area.  He did tell me to give the results to my urologist and to continue checking my PSA every year.  We got out right at the time of our scheduled appointment – 2:40pm.

Teresa was hungry and asked a man about a mall nearby but I understood it was several blocks uphill so she decided to skip it.  I told her we could take the metro to Mayorca and eat at their food court. 

We took the metro there and first I took out a little cash.  I couldn’t believe how many people were in the food court at 3:30 in the afternoon.  Once again we had to sit upstairs.  We ate at Frisby – the Frischuleta and juice for her and Frisburrito and juice for me for a total of 31,700.

It was a warm day and Teresa wanted to go up to the 4^th floor until it got cooler.  I asked her when it would be cooler and she said when the sun was gone.  It was 4pm and I didn’t want to wait until 6 or 6:30 to leave.  We left and walked the 10 minutes to the far side of the highway.  We had to wait 30 minutes to catch an express bus and 35 minutes later we were at the bottom of the side road.

The killer dogs came out just as we got to the neighbor’s house.  Again the Doberman was aggressive and advanced whenever I wasn’t looking directly at him.  I finally sprayed a little in his direction and he ran away a little and then backed into it and just shook his head.  He finally backed off.

After I cooled off a little I was happy to remove my “diaper” and take a shower.

Tomorrow Ramiro is supposed to show up to finish the last step on the stairs and put up a railing – all for 30 mil.  And the electrician is supposed to come also to move a lightbulb and an electric outlet.

I took my sleeping pill at 9pm and we went to bed at 10pm.

T-shirt of the day: Fashion addict.