So we're back in Oregon now and we're starting to get our feet back underneath us. So we wanted to give you a somewhat brief summary of our last week in Mexico, but it was too overwhelming so I'm just writing about the last day there.
On Friday morning I knew it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Or at least a crazy one. Rhea had come about a week earlier to help pack and watch Rowan while I took care of details. Anna had a intestinal blockage on Monday requiring hospitalization. While there, her heart started beating erratically which scared everyone into keeping her there longer. We had already missed our flights out and our visas were expiring on Saturday. And Anna's father, sister, and brother-in-law all jumped on last minute flights to come down and help.
Tim, Heather, and Barney had made all of their flights and arrived without too much hassle in the Mexico City airport at 6:47 that morning. Sam & Pam had graciously offered to pick them up from the airport but I had to send them instructions on how to get through customs and immigration and what to do in case something went wrong. Thankfully nothing went wrong. It did mean, however that now there were several more potential bags for packing stuff so I had to reevaluate everything that I had been planning on leaving behind. They arrived at the hospital a lot later than I had expected. I had expected them to come almost directly and so get there by 9:30 or so. It was closer to noon. After saying all the hello's and exchanging stories, we decided that Barney would go back try to arrange flights out, Rhea would watch Rowan, Heather would stay with Anna, and Tim and I would go finish up at the apartment.
There were a few complicating factors in deciding how to arrange tickets. First, we were wanting to fly out the next day, so most seats were already booked. Second, Anna & I had to fly out on Saturday if at all possible because our visas were expiring and we were facing some serious fines for overstaying our welcome. Third, Anna needed to rest so the 8am flight wouldn't be good for her. Fourth, it cost money to reschedule any ticket. Fifth, we had a dog so he could only go on a flight that had enough specialized room for pets. Sixth, you can't take a goat in the same trip as a wolf or a goat in the same trip as some lettuce because they'd get eaten.
We all left and then Sam told me that I needed to get a form notarized, but it wouldn't be a big deal because there was a notary close by that they always used and he was open until 4pm. I figured I could run down and cancel our phone and interenet service after that. We took a taxi up to the apartment (I took taxis everywhere that day). I had everything sorted out by what we could take and what we had to leave, but with Anna's family there, it through off all my plans. We, shoved everything I thought we might want to take into boxes but then we were faced with what to do with the dog. Taxis didn't usually allow dogs ("Is he big? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm allergic to dog hair") and I had been planning on just walking him down to the duplex, but with the way things were going, I didn't think I had time. Thankfully, the landlords wanted to drive down to say goodbye to Anna, so I just asked them to bring Rupert when they came. Tim and I rushed back down but we remembered that Anna wanted pictures of a few spots before we left. The taxi driver thought it was a little odd that we were stopping to take pictures or things that were completely unremarkable to him. Afterwards I realized that we never took a picture of the outside of our apartment.
When we got back we found out that the notary they always used was closed and that none of the rest of them could do it before they closed for the weekend. According to Mexican law, children are only allowed to leave the country if both parents are with them. Since we were now scheduled to take different flights, this could be a problem. I needed to have someone notarize a form giving my permission for Anna to take Rowan without me. The only solution was to call the US Embassy and then make a mad dash down there before they closed. I had to be there by quarter to five or they couldn't help me. It was about 3:00, the trip took about 90 minutes. And I had to stop to pick up my passport. And there was traffic. And I'd wasn't exactly sure where it was. I got there exactly at 4:45.
Interesting factoid: All of the guards are Mexican and don't speak English. I was expecting young fresh marines in their dress blues or soldiers in their camo.
When I got back to the office, I arrived just our landlady was trying to get in the gate with Rupert. I ushered her through, so several people thought that I had gone back to the apartment instead of just taking a long, long time in traffic. I got there and found that Anna was still in the hospital and there was still a ton of things to pack. Barney had figured out a way to get us all back to Oregon on Saturday, but it wasn't going to be pretty: Rhea and I were leaving on the 8am flight as scheduled. The rest of them were flying out at 3pm to San Francisco, but only Anna and Heather were able to get on the connecting flight to Klamath. Barney and Tim would rent a car and then drive up, possibly stopping somewhere to sleep.
Anna was supposed to be out of the hospital at this point, but for some reason hadn't been released yet. I was faced with the dilema: Should I stay at the duplex and continue packing, or should I go to the hospital and try to get Anna out faster? There wasn't much I could do at the hospital except hassle people until the doctor showed up and signed her paperwork, but once she was released, then I could actually pay and take care of her paperwork. At the duplex, I could direct the packing and get something to eat. Everyone was asking me questions and I felt rather overwhelmed. I chose to go to the hospital. The landlords drove me over in their car and I showed them up to where Anna was still waiting for a doctor. Apparently the cardiologist had said that he would read the 24 hour test results on Monday and we could contact him later. The floor nurse thought we had to wait for him to come read the results and wouldn't release Anna until he got there. We said a somewhat emotional goodbye to the landlords and the doctor finally showed up. He released Anna so once the nurses disconnected Anna's IV, I was finally able to go take care of her paperwork. With the letter from insurance, they didn't charge us anything for the hospital stay (Praise God!). We had to pay a 30,000 peso deposit when we first arrived and I had put it on our debit card. They had trouble putting money back on debit cards, so they gave me 30,000 pesos in cash. So with the money from the bank account that we closed out, I was carrying around almost $60k pesos. I still had to pay the doctors' fees which are separate from the hospital charges and weren't addressed in the insurance letter, so I still have to get an official receipt to send to our insurance company for reimbursement. We finally walked out of the hospital at 9:40pm on Friday night, some hundred hours after Anna entered on Monday.
When we got back to the Duplex, everyone had gone to bed except Tim & Heather who were packing. They explained how things were 'organized' and then hit the sack too. I got some coffee because I was getting a migraine and then took the dog out because he hadn't been let out since he got there. Anna stayed up packing until about 1am. I still had to type up some letters to turn in to Migracion canceling our visas, as well as sort through what papers and cd's from my desk were important enough to take with us and what could be dumped or shredded. I stayed up until about 1:30 but couldn't fall asleep for a little while due to the caffeine in my system. Rhea and I left the next morning at about 3:30am.
It was a long day!
Post a Comment