Rainbow Families Foundation Newsletter - May 2007

 

May 2007

 

My Easter was very quiet - I don't even remember what I ate. Yes, Easter is the biggest holiday of the year here. It is called semana santa, week of the saint. Kids are out of school for spring break as well. No, I don't believe they do Easter eggs here.

I still have to have a grammographia (X-ray) on my throat. I have not gone back to Santiago where it is done. I am sure the costs here are cheaper than in the U.S. I think it is about $7,000 pesos or about $220. The blood results reflect that my hormones are out of whack (which I already knew).

There is no electricity now and the Internet cafe is running on the generator. Will try to get through emails quickly.

No, my pain continues and some days are more bearable than others. The doctors tell me I need to exercise and eat right. With so much pain it is not possible to exercise like I used to. My wrists and fingers are sometimes so painful it is unbearable. I am taking over the counter meds and the meds the doctor prescribed. They make me very dry mouthed. He prescribed 2 pills 4 times a day. When I was at the Plaza de la Salud I looked up the meds on the Internet and saw it is only to be taken twice a day. I changed the prescribed dose myself. Such a high dose can cause heart attacks, like oh, what was the arthritis med that was taken off the market. My med friends say to drink a lot of water to keep the blood flowing.

There has been a lot of rainfall here and last week the house where I am staying flooded. Pumped out about 300 gallons of water. I had many boxes on the floor and the papers in the boxes were destroyed. Also, the computer power supply adapter cable was on the floor and burned out. Used the laptop, which was having many problems anyway, and the battery supply finished.

The area where I live was a swamp land - sugar cane fields before all the homes were built. The home was not built up and so water seeped into the front and back doors. The neighbors in front had about 18 inches of water in their home, which is a step down, instead of step up.