I think it took an hour or two for me to fall asleep and I
got up 5 times during the night. Today I
should be getting more sleeping pills.
I understand Laura left at 5am this morning. Maybe school has restarted.
We left the finca at 12:45pm and the killer dogs stayed
behind their fence.
Right away we caught
a Salgas bus to Envigado. The taxi let
us off at Carbón de Leña. I had my monthly hamburger (without cheese or
bacon), fries and a Pepsi. Teresa had
breaded chicken, salad, soup and masa mora (sp?). The total was 26mil ($10.40).
We walked over to Citibank where I withdrew 300mil. We walked up to Todo Drogas where I bought 2 packages of Isoklon sleeping pills for
120mil. Teresa asked for a couple
bandaids (I didn’t understand what she was asking for) for 200 pesos.
We took a bus to El Poblado.
On the bus I showed her that I keep a couple bandaids in my fanny pack. We got off the bus right in front of an Exito
where we bought a large bag of Fab laundry detergent (I understand the laundry
has been piling up) for 10,550.
Across the street I paid 77,500 pesos total for June and
July’s MBE rental. Since we had 45
minutes before my eye appointment, we stopped next door at Naturall Juices & Smoothies where Teresa had a large carrot
juice with milk and I had another large Honey Moments for 9,500. Boy, those things are cold. I can see that they have the ingredients
prepackaged and stored in the freezer.
We walked over to Torre Intermedica where I took 300mil out
of their Bancolombia ATM.
We went up to the 13th floor to Dr. Catalina
Montoya’s office – 1313.
While we were waiting a couple came out with their 2 year
old daughter. The receptionist had a lot
of trouble getting eye drops into the little girl’s eyes. She cried and struggled something awful. It really makes you feel bad for kids who
have something serious like cancer.
While we were waiting I checked out all the plaques on the
wall in the waiting room. I saw 3
plaques were in English. Two were for
some procedures she observed for a month in Cleveland back in 2002. The other stated she has been a member of the American Academy of Ophthamology since 2002.
When we got in to see her I told her of my concern that I
probably have an eye infection. She said
if that was the case it would be all red – which it isn’t.
What I understood, and remember, is her telling me the
following. When I had my lenses replaced
with artificial ones (multi focal) a capsule was created for the lens. Now the right one is opaque (blurred) and the
left one is just starting to become so.
A laser treatment will correct the problem and it will not recur. I have an appointment for Wednesday July 8th
at 11:30 (supposed to be there an hour earlier at 10:30) at the San Diego
Clinic (near Premium Plaza CC via Metro Station Industriales). Something was said about “punto clave” aka
“key point” that I didn’t understand but maybe I will by the time we get there. The doctor’s charge is 200mil ($80) and the receptionist
informed me that the clinic’s charge is about 170mil ($68). I told her in Spanish, “more or less, but
never less” and she laughed and agreed.
I’ll bet that procedure costs more than that in the US WITH
insurance. Of course she dilated my
pupils to get a better look to confirm the above. I had to sign some agreement, which was
entirely in Spanish, but Teresa read the whole thing. I had Teresa write down the name of the
procedure that was on the form because I wasn’t seeing clearly – “Capsulotomia
posterior ojo derecho” which translates to “rear right eye capsulotomy”. Per wikipedia “Capsulotomy
is a type of eye surgery in which an incision is made into the capsule of the
crystalline lens of the eye. In modern operations for cataract, the lens
capsule is usually not removed.”
The order for the hospital says “opacidad capsular posterior
OD” which translates to “OD posterior capsule opacification”. On the internet I found “Posterior
capsule opacification (PCO) is a physiological postoperative consequence of an
uneventful uncomplicated extracapsular cataract surgery. Capsular opacification
is different from the intraoperative opacification that takes place in the
intact lenses. It is known as a plaque that can either be in the anterior
and/or posterior capsule.[1] PCO
referred to as 'secondary cataract' or 'after cataract', develops over the
clear posterior capsule a few months to a few years after an uneventful
cataract surgery. PCO results from the growth and abnormal proliferation of
lens epithelial cells (LECs) on the capsule at the time of cataract surgery.
These cells migrate to the posterior capsule, where they approach the central
visual axis and cause visual-axis obscuration, resulting in dimness of vision.
The PCO has two forms, fibrous and pearl. Sometimes, a combination of both is
also found. Clinically, it is seen as a wrinkling on the posterior capsule at
the site of fusion of the anterior and posterior capsules. A histological
examination of the fibrous PCO shows extracellular matrix accumulation and the
presence of elongated myofibroblast cells positive to vimentin and α-smooth
muscle actin.[2]
Examination of the proliferative PCO shows clusters of swollen, opacified, differentiated
LECs called bladder or Wedl cells.[3] The
development of PCO is a very dynamic process and involves three basic
phenomena: proliferation,[4–6]
migration[7–9]
and differentiation[10–12] of
residual LECs.” So, now you know.
The charge for the office visit was 160mil ($64). As soon as we got back downstairs I bought a
bottle of water for 2mil and took 2 Excedrin Migraine.
I went across the street to Torre Medica where I took
another 300mil out of the Servibanca ATM.
Again, it gave me all the cash in 20mil and 10mil notes. (Every other ATM gives you most of the cash
in 50mil bills with 2 20mil and 1 10mil note.)
We took a taxi down to El Poblado and after a 15 minute wait
we caught a bus back to the finca. As
soon as we sat down Teresa told me that this bus stops in Caldas. As soon as she said that we looked out the
window and saw a Fredonia direct bus pass by.
Now there is a path bulldozed up to the top of the side of
the hill at the entrance to the side road.
We got past the killer dogs undetected.
I created an email for Expat Exchange with the results of my
ATM study. I will post it separately.
I took my sleeping pills at 10:45 and went to bed at 11pm.
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