Terry has had her surgery...

Clyde here...........

Terry has had her surgery here at Hospital Nacional de Panama and is doing great.

We went ahead and drove into Panama City the night before the surgery.  We wanted to make sure we would find the hospital in the morning (she had to be here at nine).  I had mapped out my route using my city maps and even went to satellite maps so I could get some good landmarks in order to find the hospital.  Remember, they don't have street signs here.  Everything was going great and we could actually see the hospital.  But, they had closed the street I was using for subway construction.  It didn't take me long to find my way around and we found the hospital entrance with no problem.

We found a hotel almost directly across from the hospital for our one night stay.  It was a brand new hotel.  The room was small but it had a king sized bed.  The price for the room was $40.  They would not give me the pensionado discount for some reason.  I usually will not use a place that refuses our discount but, the hotel price was cheap and it was very convenient to where we needed to be.

We made it to the hospital after driving around the area looking for a parking space for quite awhile.  The good news is that they are building a multi story parking lot for the hospital.  The bad news is that we had to find a space on the street!

The hospital looked great from the outside and upon entering we were impressed with the grand entry way.  We were guided to administration and the paperwork went very quickly.  They asked for a $1500 deposit which I put on my card.  We were then directed to the second floor to the surgery unit.

We ended up waiting for a couple of hours before they finally called Terry in for her pre-op.  The waiting room was full of people waiting for babies to be born.  We were impressed with how modern and clean everything was.

Finally they took Terry off to surgery and I was left to wait.  It was freezing in the hospital so I decided to run to the car for my jacket.  As I walked into the hospital, I was surprised by the site of Betsy.  Our very good Panamanian friend that had rented us our first home in Panama.  It was quite a emotional time for me as I was holding everything in. Betsy stayed with me as long as she could but she had to get home for her daughter who was getting out of school.

Anyway, we were waiting in the "sala de espar" for the doctor.  I looked up and there he was.  He motioned me over and the first thing he did was show me his cell phone.  I was confused until I realized the was showing me a picture of the "female parts" he had removed.  He ended up removing the uterus, most of the cervix and the right ovary.  Evidently, the precancerous cells were in the uterus, there was a lesion in the cervix and while in the operating room, he found a cyst in the right ovary.  The good news is that one ovary was left in.  This ovary should produce the hormones she needs so that the amount of hormone therapy should be reduced.  (This will depend on her labs as time goes on.)

We were able to acquire a private room so I can stay with her both day and night.  It is a very nice room with a small couch that makes into a bed.  I was surprised that someone came in and put a sheet on it with a pillow and a blanket for me.  The room is very nice, very modern and very clean.

Well now to the important part.  Terry is doing great!  She spent the night with an IV and a Cath so she would not have to get up to urinate.  She was given some meds last night for pain and to help her sleep.  This morning the Cath and IV were removed and she has been up walking.  Her pain is minimal.  She does have a cut right below her bikini line.  She just explained that it hurt her a little when getting out of the bed but no pain when walking.

We are both happy with the hospital, the doctor and that her recovery is doing so good.

Gotta run now, they just came in to give her a shower and change the linen on the bed

Thanks for your prayers!

Clyde