Day 176 - Last Day At The Clinic

Today was anything but fun. I was pretty much in tears all day. Partly from the lack of sleep, partly from the emotions of finally seeing my husband after a lonely 3 months & partly from the goodbyes I would have to say today. I snapped photos of the friends I'd made over the past few weeks, exchanged addresses & said my farewells. I cried when I said goodbye to Emily & Mika, cried when I said goodbye to Maria, cried when I said goodbye to Karla & Rossy, cried when I said goodbye to Nora & Adrian… You get the picture. It was messy. I promised to see them shortly & I know I will be back before too long!


I made another trip to the Post Office to send away the final two packages. Nothing like packing your bras & underwear in front of the massive queue at the local Post Office! Talk about airing your dirty laundry! (Mine was clean, don't worry!) :o) The gals at the Post Office were very nice & didn't mind taking the time to process my lengthy list of contents. 1.5 hours later, I was back at the hotel. I had to zip to Las Americas & return a few things.


Of course there would be time! Waiting for the bus, still waiting, still waiting, oh crud! I'm going to be late! I still had to finish packing, shower, do the dishes & send away all my food & cleaning supplies for Elaine. To top it off, I couldn't find my new scale, so I had no idea what my luggage weighed! Oh, I hate being rushed for the airport! Marcos, the taxi driver, was right on time.


Did I tell you about him? Last time I was here, Laura, Mom & I were renting a car for the day to drive to Palm Desert. Marcos was the taxi driver who took us to the rental place. He then took Mom to the airport, then Laura & then me. Strangely enough, one day at the trolley station, there he was! What a small world! I said hello & then made arrangements for him to meet me at the hotel to take me to the airport. This time around, I was outside with Valentina when I saw him pull up to take another couple to the airport. I said hello & told him I would get in touch with him to take me to the airport this time. As my days dwindled, I had put off calling him, as I didn't want to pay for the call at the hotel. I walked out of the border crossing one day & who should be parked out front, but Marcos! It was 2 days before I was due to leave, so I told him the time & my room number. It was time & he was waiting patiently for me!


We visited all the way to the airport. He told me of another Doctor in Tijuana who helped a lot of people. I really didn't put too much into it, as I was feeling pretty let down at the time. We'll see what he says when I'm back home. He dropped me off & left me in the capable hands of a really wonderful guy, whom I have no idea who he works for or what he does, but he was very helpful! He put all my luggage onto a big trolley, took it upstairs, let me check in right away & then took Valentina to be inspected. While I was checking in my luggage, guess what!? It was overweight. One bag was 6 lbs over & the other bag was 15 lbs over!!! What gives!?!? I took out 15+lbs of meeds & decided I'd have to take them as carry on. The young man was kind enough to find a cardboard box & check the box at no extra cost for me! Wow! Lucky me! They also wanted to charge me $200 to check Valentina, but when I explained that I had called in earlier, there was to be no charge, as she is a Service Animal & the only reason she couldn't travel in the cabin with me was due to Barbados Agriculture Regulations. Phew. Saved $400 right then & there!


The lovely young man then let me take Valentina for a potty break, one last time! She had no clue what she was in for! Poor girl! Our next stop was her inspection. A nice lady came out to see that Valentina was healthy & somewhat ready to fly. My poor little pooch had no clue what she was in for! The lady gave her the stamp of approval & they took her away. Sob! I prayed she would arrive in Barbados not too traumatized!


I made my way to security, which wasn't too bad at all! My new silver bracelets set off the detectors, so I had to take them off - note for future scans! I found my gate & decided I should try & get some food in my belly. It had been awhile. As it was nearly 2200, not much was open. A sports bar was, but all they had were hot dogs. I walked back to the main area & the ONLY place open was McDonald's. Great. Are you kidding me? I ordered some garbage & then added the apple slices to try & make it a little bit healthier! Much to my disgust, my 'apples' were skinless & didn't expire for 10 days! Admittedly I have never tried to 'package' skinned apples for 10 days, but I have a sneaky feeling that they wouldn't keep or at least brown for very long! All that boosting I did at Castillo's, now suddenly penalized by a trash dinner! My bill was $13.13 - great numbers when you are about to hop on a plane!


I started chatting with the gal in line next to me. Turns out she's a yoga instructor who had rectal cancer. When she got the cancer, her husband & her got divorced as she found out he was a pedophile! Oh My Stars! She is now a workaholic. In fact, she said she worked all through her cancer. She had a day off, so she was flying to Washington to go to a museum. The saddest part of all was that she had no idea if the cancer was gone, because she couldn't afford the aftercare scans & medicine. IF ONE MORE PERSON TELLS ME SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS RUBBISH, I'M GONNA… Well, I'll give 'em an earful if nothing else!!!


Once on the plane, I settled in to my seat. I was seated behind the Attendant's Station, so I had decent leg room. Seated next to me was a handsome young chap. I got to 'probing' him & what a story! I hope he emails me! Photos at least! He had just completed Marine Corps Bootcamp! He told me how they slept on the outside of their covers, because it would save time in the morning. Bedtime was 2200-2300 & mornings started about 0400! He had to 'hump it' (backpack with gear) 80+ miles for three days & three nights without food or sleep! I asked if they holler at you like you see in the movies. He said it was much worse! Oh dear! He told me a particular movie to watch to get a better understanding of what it's really like, but I can't remember the name of it for the life of me! If you know of some good ones, send me a comment & I'll see if it jogs my memory!


His Mom, Grandma & cousin had come to meet him & also to attend his graduation. He hadn't had contact for 13 weeks. No email, no tv, no phone, nothing! I asked him what the first thing he was going to do when he got home. Pet the cat? Mom's cooking? Drum set? He told me he was trying not to think about it, as he didn't want to get too excited. Hmm. Okay.


He later proceeds to tell me that he has a fiance at home. WELL NO WONDER HE WAS TRYING NOT TO THINK ABOUT 'IT'! I asked if they had set a date for their wedding, as he had told me he would only be home for 10 days before he headed elsewhere for Special Ops or Combat Training. He tells me they are getting married in 4 days! FOUR DAYS!!!??? Again, NO WONDER HE WAS TRYING NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT!!!! Holy smokes! That's so exciting! I asked if that would even be enough time to get a tux - he looked at me like I was crazy! He'd wear his Marine Corps Uniform, Silly!!! Wow! What a calm, cool & collected guy! I wonder if his fiance was as excited as I was! I hope he'll email me a photo of their big day! Crazy & exciting times ahead!

We both fell asleep & groggily woke up at 0600 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was off to Michigan to start the rest of his life, I was off to Bridgetown, Barbados to see the Man of My Life.
xxxxx
Maria & Valentina (well, hopefully she's okay down there!)

Elaine & Ann. Elaine is from Saskatchewan & I phoned her about a testimonial before I came down this time. She also reckons I was their photographer on one of their cruises! Of course, I was their favourite! ;oP

 

Eleanor & Donna, my shopping buddies!

 

My fellow Albertans - from Whitecourt & St. Albert!

 

My last treatment & Ann, my friend from Jamaica!

 

The Pharmacy crew - Nora & Adrian, as well as the Bread Man & another gal I didn't catch the name of! :o)

 

Maria & Dr. Navarro. Maria is rockin' a super sexxy new hairdo from my last visit!

 

Mika - one of the nurses who takes fabulous care of everyone! Mwah!

 

Karla & Rossy - the gorgeous receptionists!

 

Karla, moi, & Rossy - I miss them already!!!

 

Okay, so funny story about this picture. As I leave Customs, I see these two old bitties sitting on the bench. They were both dressed to the nines with dark sunglasses on. The one in the red shirt still had her hair roller stuck in the front of her hair. It struck me funny. I approached them to ask if I could take their photo & they were quite excited. But they had to 'prep' for the photo, which meant taking out the roller & removing the shades. :o( Oh well, I can still smile about it!