Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Tuesday, April 14th, 2015


Very Interesting post ahead!  With a brand new topic!

I got up once at midnight, slept well until I got up again at 4:40 and had difficulty getting back to sleep after that.  I finally woke/got up at 8:30.

Yesterday, my tax accountant informed me she had received my IRS e-file Signature Authorization (Form 8879) and had mailed my 1040 to Uncle Sam so I can receive my refund.  She also received my Voluntary Withholding Request (Form W-4V) and mailed it to Social Security to cancel my monthly withholding for federal income tax.

We left the finca at 10:15 but I wasn’t sure what doctor’s appointment we were going to.  Teresa said she had the address so I wasn’t really concerned.
We got past the killer dogs undetected and after 5 minutes were on a direct bus to Medellin.

We got off in El Poblado and took a taxi to El Tesoro.  We walked to the other side of the mall, entered a building (Parque Empressarial) and went up to the 14th floor.  We entered the office of Dr. Juan Esteban Sierra, a plastic surgeon.

Now I have to fill you in on some past details.

When Teresa and I were first TOGETHER for the first time in Guatape she apologized for her stomach.  She has had two children so that’s at least a partial reason.  She said she would love to get rid of it and I told her as long as she’s removing the fat from downstairs she might as well move it upstairs.  Lol.

Recently she confided in me she would rather fix that problem than visit the US this year.  Since the chances are “iffy” of her and her 17-year old daughter getting a travel visa, and the attempt entails a long bus ride to Bogota, I told her we could talk to a plastic surgeon.  She told me this same doctor worked on her mother (face lift) and two of her sisters (boob jobs) and he does very good work.  I knew that during her recovery Teresa would need things I probably wouldn’t understand so we would need Laura available 24/7.  She is only out of school for the months of June and December so that restricts the timing for any surgery.  I was also concerned about her returning to the finca immediatley afterwards.  I couldn’t imagine her bouncing around in the back of a taxi so that’s a problem we need to discuss with the doctor.

I’ve also been doing some online research and I found a site www.RealSelf.com that consists of women getting various types of plastic surgery: tummy tucks, liposuction, boob jobs, Brazilian butt lifts, etc.  There are lots of photos: before surgery, wish looks, and after surgery.

I was researching fat transfer from stomach to breast and found a number of examples of this procedure.  I also read about an interesting product called Brava (www.MyBrava.com) that when used increases a woman’s cup size from ½ to 2 sizes.

Back to Today.  While awaiting our turn to see the doctor there was a young lady with a Barbie-like figure spending a lot of time talking to a lady at the reception desk.  Only one thing about her looked out of place.  It looked like she had a wallet bulging inside her right rear pocket.  Only I’m sure there wasn’t any pocket in that tight dress.  My best guess is she recently had work done on her butt and there is still something like a drain in place.

Before we had even seen the doctor I understood Teresa made a date for Tuesday, June 9th at 1pm for the surgery.  Maybe she’s just trying to save the date because of the need to have Laura available.

The doctor is Juan Esteban Sierra and he speaks acceptable, but far from perfect, English.  I did have to help him with English words from time to time.

He recommended liposuction of her stomach and sides but doesn’t like the results of fat transfer so instead he recommended implants.  I learned the surgery would take 6 hours, would be done at a nearby hospital (Clinica Rosario), the anesthesia would be performed by an anesthesiologist, she would stay in the hospital overnight but he didn’t accept her returning to the finca for at least a week.  Our backup plan is for her to stay in her mother’s apartment in Envigado.  She would need to return to the clinic occasionally for that first week anyway.

His cost for everything is 20,684,000 pesos ($8,273) and his itemized list of expenses is as follows:

DOCTOR’S FEES (to be paid 1 week prior)
12,000,000 - Abdominoplasty & liposuction – breast augmentation
1,800,000 – Implants
500,000 – Instruments

HOSPITAL FEES (to be paid the day of surgery)
4,489,000 – Clinic Rosario with anesthesia
400,000 – Hospitalization
305,000 – Hospital insurance

ADDITIONAL PATIENT NEEDS (patient’s responsibility)
550,000 – Massages & ultrasounds (10 sessions)
200,000 – post surgery medications
320,000 – girdles (2)
120,000 – bras (2)

I did a quick calculation of my savings and then I told the doctor I’m waiting for money from a US lawyer and the IRS but even then I would be $2000 short so December would work better.  The doctor said he gives a 1,000,000 discount if we pay cash and both he and Teresa suggested we go ahead with the lipo now and do the breast augmentation in December.  The lipo alone would be 13,000,000 ($5,356) – not sure if I get the discount with that reducing it to $4,800.  He told me I can cancel in two weeks if the money doesn’t arrive in time.

The office visit cost 110mil but their card reader wasn’t working so we went to El Tesoro CC where I took out some cash at a Citibank ATM.

It was 1:30 and we decided to have lunch at Frisby so we went to the El Tesoro food court.  Once there Teresa saw Patacón so she ordered fish soup for 36,100 and I saw KFC so I had my first original recipe chicken for 13,900 since moving to Colombia.

We window shopped around El Tesoro where Teresa finally found a blue jean jacket for 69,900.  She kept saying everything is so beautiful and so cheap.

We took a taxi to MBE where I received my April Chess Life magazine and my Retirement Plan Annual Funding Notice from Zurich Insurance.

We took a taxi to the highway, Teresa remembered we needed to wait for the bus at the other end of the park and after 5 minutes we were on a bus to the finca.

Traffic was good so we were back at the sideroad in 40 minutes.  The killer dogs were waiting for us and gave us a hard time – the doberman and one other came out to the path to “greet” us.

In this week’s Medellin Living I learned that Delta Airlines is going to start flights to Medellin.

I got an email from my son who told me he might come for a visit in early August.  Yeah!  Now I need to tell him I no longer live alone, or in Medellin.

Tonight on Master Chef the contestants received a sushi lesson and then of course they had to copy it.

I spent about 45 minutes with Laura practicing her English pronunciation.  According to Jhon most Colombians can’t detect the difference between our “b” sound and “v” sound.

I took my sleeping pills at 10:50 and we went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: Fight.

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