Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Thursday October 12, 2017 Enough Already

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Thursday October 12, 2017

So, how is your day going??? I'm going to bend your ear with my wonderful day/week unfolding..

I don't know whether I should say anything or not, but I must... While I was at the wedding Tuesday night, Cristina was getting the news from the Gynecologist that she probably has a tumor on her ovaries. So we had more tests done Wednesday. I went back to pick up the results at 5pm (when they told us to come after 4pm) and, of course, they weren't ready... come tomorrow.

So this is my wonderful day for Thursday:

5:30am Got up and walked the dogs alone after a sleepless night worrying about the unconscionable possibilty of losing a third wife to cancer... I just can't get this out of my mind because my track record is 0 for 2 so far. Cristina seems pretty blase about it, figuring the desired hysterectomy she was originally seeking will clear out everything... Her mother and sister have had benign tumors removed. I'm having a tough time focusing on anything else.

6:10am We lose electricity to the neighbourhood and it doesn't come back... Luckily the shower water is heated by gas and the spark comes from a battery..
7:10am I try to see Dr Ana Zhapan at IESS. She is supposed to open her office at 7am. At 7:20 I give up because they have no electricity either, so she would not even be able to check my file....

7:30am I run to check my Banco Pichincha account and get a monthly printout to prove my IESS payments, and to see if the IESS rates did indeed go up.. The bank machine will not accept my PIN number... I try several times on both machines. No soap.

7:40am Still no electricity. I zip off on Buzzer and head for Azogues. I still don't know how far to trust the gas gauge on Buzzer so I panic when I am down to the 20% piece of pie on my electronic gauge. I add $2 worth of gas at Challuabamba and keep going.
8:10am I arrive at the External Affairs office in Azogues and they say I have to wait until 8:30. My friends Ed and Tom show up by bus to do the same confirmation of IESS coverage due to the new Human Mobility Law.
8:30am We are shown upstairs and have to wait 15 more minutes until the staff finish coffee-klatching before we get served. Somehow I end up going from being first in line to being fourth... no big deal really because they accept our papers in under 2 minutes, don't even look at our original passports or cedulas, and don't even notice that I am submitting for myself and Cristina until I point that out.... I leave there just shaking my head at all the "much ado about nothing".

9:30am I am back trying my debit card in the 2 machines at Banco Pichincha, again. This time they say that my card is invalid. So I go upstairs to talk to the personnel, first in line after the two guys being served, and wait 1/2 hour before one of the gals finally gets free. We update my information and she comes out to help me change my PIN number and get my printout.

10:10am The printout reads that my IESS premiums have in fact increased almost triple, so now I probably have to sue the Government b*s*ards at IESS over this discriminatory action.

10:30am I see Dr Ana Zhapan at IESS for 15 seconds about whether they want me to continue with the Gabapent or not. She says she can't give me the prescription (she did before) and sends me with a red-vest helper to the information desk. They still won't have Gabapent in stock for another 10 days and I have to see a competely different doctor, Valeria Molina, on the 23rd.... at 7am for a prescription..????? This makes no sense to me...

10:45am Physio again, where they burn my back with the electrodes and the hot pack.

11:30am I run again on Buzzer for Cristina to get more hard corn for her pigeons, then I go to get the test results from yesterday. They were ready this time. Cristina says her results seem to be worse than the last ones... Just what I wanted to hear...

12:15 Lunch.

12:45 I send email to Lawyer Lina Ulloa who has been saying that our IESS rates should be grandfathered. I enquire whether we are going to start a class-action lawsuit and slap this Government as hard as we can for ignoring the Constitution... If we can win this, maybe we can finish off the Coopera business too later...

2:00 I have the techs from ServiCable at my house to fix my dropping Internet. They claim that everything is good now and that they are sprucing up the antenna I am pointed at so we should have no further problems..

2:30 Walk all the dogs again and my arms suffer again.

3:00 I go with Cristina to bring the results to her Gyno Dr. Lopez. As I understand it, the tumor has even grown so there will be consultations now with an oncologist as well... Next appointment is next Wednesday. Hopefully they will operate soon.
4:15 We walk back to a little Colombian street meat hole-in-the-wall that we spotted on Huayna Capac while going by on the bus. It turns out that this gal is also from the Tulua area like Cristina. The Papas Rellena was tasty but the sausage was a disappointment.
4:45 Return home and walk the dogs quickly again.
5:00 Quick nap to recharge the batteries.
7:15 Walk the dogs again.

7:30 I don't really want to go out tonight but my buddy Gustavo says that is the best way to discuss things with Christian from our group who works on the 5th floor at the IESS office downtown. However Christian is sick and doesn't come. I have a quick bite at Nuna while waiting, then the group goes for a short ride down Calle Larga and Paucarbamba, stopping at another restaurant to eat where we pull up in front of a Bailoterapia (Dancersize) happening and I thought we were stopping to admire the view....

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day’s excitement.

Cheers, Al

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