The New Ugly Truths of San Jose

 


View from our hotel room. We just got back from a dizzying trip to San Jose for me to see my once and future neurologist I'm going to call Dr. Freddie. Well, it is his name, his nickname anyway. It did not go well.

Why? Lots of reasons. What went well? The hotel. It was the most beautiful lavish thing in the heart of the downtown next door to a casino and overlooking the park. Most pleased with our cheap luxurious night's stay.

Not ready to talk about my diagnosis yet. I am waiting test results. Yes, I did get a CT scan of my head and a spinal. Yes, the doctor thinks he knows what it is. It's not MS. I am LIVID, simply livid that Dr. Stupid at the clinic told me it was likely MS, that he'd touched base with Dr. Freddie and that I should just be monitored for 5 or 6 months. All lies. I am very unlikely to regain function in my left side because I did not receive hospitalization and proper treatment at the onset. 

Costa Rica being what it is I cannot sue for malpractice or even talk open shit about Dr. Estupido. The libel laws here are strict, and you can be sanctioned for publicly complaining about a business or service. The sad thing is I trust completely the other five doctors at the clinic, but not this one. We've knocked heads before. Now he's cost me my ability to walk unaided by an assistance device and part of my vision permanently. I will lodge a private complaint with the clinic director. Dr Freddie has already contacted the clinic director too.

Yes, that is a guy walking between the lanes of traffic Sunday night selling cashews and other foods in the middle of the night. Crazy. And it was raining so copiously. 

The drive was horrendous, getting to the hospital was horrendous, both because of massive strikes in the city. Trying to get out of the city was horrendous because Jim's cell phone suddenly lost the ability to use the GPS function. It can best be described by what happened when Jim decided to stop, take my phone to be recargar (money recharged, it ran out on the trip) pulled over the car and left me with it. A San Jose policia officer approached and tried to talk to me. I burst into tears and said "No comprende~" I'd just left the hospital and gotten the distressing news so I was a red hot mess. The officer retreated. I am not the type to resort to tears either. It was genuine.

There were so many distressing moments in the last few days. Jim losing his wallet at the gas station, and turning back. Pulling into a parking lot to argue about the map and the lights of our car exposing the ten or so men sleeping out in the open in a business' closed parking lot. Realizing anew Jim gets confused sometimes. Getting a new medicine that's likely to give me a dizzy sick month. 

I need a month at that luxury hotel with everyone bowing and scraping and everything simply perfect. This morning I could not stop crying. Jim does not understand why I'm completely mired in grief.

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