Larry said that when we left Argentina for the approximately one hour flight to Santiago, his stomach started bothering him. While waiting for our flight from Santiago to Calama, he mentioned that his stomach was bothering him but we figured it was something he ate. However, during the approximately two hour flight to Calama, the discomfort became progressively worse. Upon arrival in Calama, he was very uncomfortable. I do believe we were both a tad in denial because upon arrival to our home at 10:30 p.m., he immediately went to bed and I brought him a hot water bottle. I then proceeded to Google, "severe stomach pain" at which time we determined that he was experiencing a gallbladder attack. At 1:00 a.m., we bit the bullet and accepted that it was truly more than an upset stomach and headed off to the emergency room of the hospital we thought would be the best. For any of you who have experienced a gallbladder attack, you must think we were totally in denial...we were.
He was given a small IV with pain meds and felt better quickly and we were home by 2:30 a.m. with instructions to return the following day if he didn't feel better. He woke at 7 a.m. with severe discomfort again. Following a long-distance telephone consultation with the international insurance provider nurse, we were advised to return to the emergency room and specifically request a blood test to test for infection and an ultrasound to confirm gall stones. In the meantime, the El Abra Controller, another expat and friend, Julie, had made airline reservations for us to fly out that evening to Santiago. The Chilean independence day celebration (September 18) was fast approaching and she was concerned we would not be able to fly out of Calama. The ultrasound confirmed gall stones. Larry had been given another IV with pain medication which allowed him to be able to fly to Santiago. We arrived at 2:30 a.m. and went directly to the Clinica Las Condes emergency room and immediately felt like he was in good hands. He was admitted at 5 a.m. and had surgery to remove the gallbladder at 4 p.m. His surgeon is from Germany and spoke excellent English and once again, we felt that he was in very good hands. His gallbladder attack was on a Monday, he had the surgery on Wednesday and was released from the hospital on Sat. a.m. (which was the Chilean independence day) -- and we went for a walk that afternoon which was so enjoyed because since it was the holiday, a lot of the Chileans had left Santiago for the countryside meaning -- no traffic.
When we left for Santiago, I looked at my camera but decided that I didn't think I'd be taking a lot of pictures so when we saw the Wisteria and Iris blooming, we put Larry's cell phone camera to work --
The Sunday after Larry was released, we ventured out to Los Dominicos, built on the grounds of a Dominican monestary -- a shopping destination featuring Chilean artisanal products which is where we found the Iris blooming.
That evening we were invited to the home of a friend from our Yuma days -- Tim Miller and his wife Hannah to celebrate Chilean Independence Day. We enjoyed getting to know Hannah and two of their daughters and catching up with Tim.
Larry did meet with his surgeon Tuesday -- was given a clean bill of health and we returned to Calama on Thursday with Larry returning to work on Monday and now, he is recovered and the experience is but a dim memory.
Mid-September brought Julie's despedida (going-away party.) Julie was here when we arrived. She was the first female controller for a Freeport South American mining property. She had been here approximately three years when the company requested that she move to the other Freeport mining operation located in Copiapo. Julie's been a great friend, has contributed greatly to a positive expat experience. I'll miss her but we plan on venturing her way (about an 8 hour drive) in December.
Despedidas are interesting -- always involved lots of food, Chilean wine, entertainment, speeches and gifts for the person going away.
Julie is the blond standing behind the right shoulder of the guy -- he provided the entertainment -- a singer.
Halloween arrived to the Condominum with more little kids living here since we arrived. But even then, we only had four trick-o-treaters.
Calama grocery stores carry lots of salt, lots of mayo, lots of rice, lots of pasta, lots of juice. I recently was on an outing (really the only kind of outing in Calama) with a couple other of the expat wives at one of the grocery stores. I happened to have my camera along so decided to document with a picture a couple of the rows with lots of a particular produce.
Next post: Puerto Varas! to celebrate Larry turning 55!
No comments:
Post a Comment