Mexico Medical Mishaps

On December 2nd, I laid doubled over in the back of our campervan convinced I had food poisoning, while Brian had to strike our camp of the last month by himself. 

The last year we have spent prepping for a 4 month trip through Baja, MA to Puert Vallerta. Selling my car for a van, loading up everything we own in storage, making sure all work arrangements were handled for remote access, and getting Pepper Bean a life jacket for her sea bound adventuring. 

After an especially bad dish if oysters last winter, I wasn't surprised or upset by the possibility of food born stomach upsets, as it being one of the easiest know risks we anticipated. But this one didn't seem to let up. No cocktail of indigestion aids seemed to sooth the pain. 

12 hours later we were well into our first of 4 days travel to make it from Ensenada, to La Paz to jump on a ferry. But we had to stop short after the twisting bumping roads only aggravated my condition. I popped a sleeping pill and tried to get some rest, hoping to be capable of making more efficient time the next day. 

2 hours later I woke with a seeing pain that left my hysterical and howling. Brian made the call to get us to the nearest emergency room despite my stubbornness. Thankfully the nearest one was only ... 4 hours away. 

4 hours and many lifetimes later we arrived in Guerro Negro pushing 24 hours no sleep, and obvious appendicitis. 

The staff refused pain aids for 5 more hours however, to ensure the location of the pain for the doctor to verify before approving the surgery. Unfortunately the limited resources and poverty of the area shown fairly brightly in the hospital, from sanitation to staffing. While Brian speaks fluent Spanish, we were repeatedly bounced around from one nurse to the next insisting someone would come to speak to us for hours, until finally my hysterics urged some communication. 

I'd be given a local anesthetic, and having open surgery within moments. As they wheeled me back me an the nurses communicated via Google translate. I'd be given an epideral, and awake, to stay calm and it would be fine. 

Ariana grande tik tok was bouncing from one of the nurses phones as they wheeled me into the room, rolled me on to my side and attempted the epideral. 

My left leg instantly went numb and they rolled me onto my back. As the towel went up, I felt the failing of the epideral as the surgeon went for his incision, then everything went to black. 

Now we cut to Brian. As Brian waited for me to get out of surgery, taking care of our (now 2) dogs in the van and bouncing to check on me, the doctors came to him. 

While they were removing the appendix they found 4 inch tumor the size of a tennis ball on my colon which caused the appendicitis and wanted him to decide if they should remove it, "since I was already under." In order to do so they would also need to remove a part of my colon, and I would likely be waking up with a colonoscopy bag. 

Brian, knowing I would kill everyone involved if that had been the case, told them we'd be waiting for second opinions. 

After waking up and being given the news we had to make quick decisions. Turn around and drive back home, or continue on ward. 

We decided that moving forward would be the best option for us, especially given the cost of medical in Mexico. We traveled 8 hours a day for 4 more days until we finally made it to our destination in PV. Where, a week later after some recovery, we were able to schedule a CT Contrast Exam, and Colonoscopy to tackle the tumor. 

The good news here is that the doctors had mistaken diverculitis sacks that were flared up as a tumor. Extremely treatable with out any need for additional surgery. Aside from the intensly traumatic emotional roller coaster ride, I will be mostly right as rain once healed up from the surgery. 

The bad news is the affordability of the Healthcare does come with cash in hand requirements, and the surgery has left us needing to redo our arrangements until I can safely get in and out of our van and  wiped of substantial funds. 

Going online to ask for assistance isn't something anyone feels fantastic about doing. And more than that, feeling pressured to help anyone financially during the holiday season can make anyone stressed our uneasy. 

So while yes, anything will greatly help us out right now, I do want to emphasize that we're lucky in having this all happen in Mexico, where this has all be accomplished at fractions of what it would have cost us back home. And that I hope no body feels pressured to donate especially if doing so would cause any burden on yourself. I promise we won't have to eat Pepper if we're not able to recoup all the unexpected costs. 

Thank you for contributing what you can, and thank you for all the emotional support and kindness you have sent our way over the last two weeks. 

Next time you see Brian, squeeze the hell out of him, he's been an absolute Saint during this whole ordeal, and has assured my aliveness for the time being.