Sick

I feel like I’ve been in a deep cave for days, which is why I’m just now writing another entry. I had a pretty lousy week with covid, and then Jack had some stomach thing, the first illness he or I has had since we’ve been in Mexico. It sucked, but the good news is the medical care we receive here.

Our primary care physician speaks perfect English and responds quickly to emails. When I told her I had tested positive for covid and described my symptoms, she checked my records (all my health care info is in my file) and prescribed 4 different meds for me. Since those drugs require in-person signatures, she saved us the trouble of having to go to the pharmacy ourselves and had the meds sent to our house. Were I to need to be seen and couldn’t get to her, she would make a house call. Can you imagine? It’s like 1950, but with better drugs and paypal payments possible. Of course that is private care that we pay for out-of-pocket, as we are too old to get insurance in Mexico. Most Mexicans cannot afford the private care and use the public healthcare that the government provides for little or no cost. Although we’re delighted with the care we receive from our doctor, we aren’t able to get fancy drugs like Paxlovid in Mexico, and I’m sure oncology drugs are not as up-to-date as in the States. If Jack and I needed on-going serious treatments for anything, that would require a move back to the US, in which case we would be covered by Meciare and our supplmental plan.

Since we have emergency airlift healthcare insurance already, we have only one more decision yet to make concerning our future needs, and it’s one we’d prefer to think will be unnecessary for a long time. If one of us were to die while in Mexico, the laws regarding what to do with the body and all of the legal work necessary to register with the authorities here—-all with Spanish documents. But there are 2 amazing organizations here that will provide help if we sign up before the fact. For $500.00, a person fills out paperwork explaining his or her wishes—what to do with the body, relatives or friends to contact, lawyer’s and physician’s info. The organization takes care of death certificates and all documents. If the person who signed up decides to leave Mexico or not to use their services, the money is refunded. Pretty amazing. Now we just need to do the right thing and sign up. That's a whole other issue.

Meanwhile, I feel good again, and so does Jack. Especially now that our housekeeper has been here for the first time in 10 days, which doesn’t seem very long, except in this climate with the doors open the house gets very dusty and dirty. But best of all, tomorrow Alicia will cook enchiladas verdes with pollo to put in our freezer as tomorrow night we have a date to go out with friends, and I’m looking forward to getting out, knowing we’ll have dinner made for us for the next day.