HARRIET TERHURNE TESTIMONIE

I flew into San Diego (from Florida) on Thursday morning ready to be
picked up by miguel' driver holding up a sign stating my name.  I got
off the plane - no sign of a driver.  Panic attack?  Just slightly.
So, I walk out past security.duh, of course the driver couldn't come
right up to the gate to pick me up.  But when I came through security
still no driver with a sign in site.  Panic attack?  Just slightly.  I
always try to think that everything will work out in the end.  So I
went to the nearby phones and called miguel.  He told me where to go
and, voilà, there was the driver waiting for me.  He called miguel on
the cell phone and told him that he had found me, or better, that I
had found him and off we went to Tijuana.

Crossing the border is no problem at all.  You don't even have to stop
the car to show your passport or any ID, just drive on through.  But
as soon as you are on the Mexican side, you can tell that you are not
in the US anymore.  Different streets, different cars, different
houses, different language - more of a buzz going on.

miguel was waiting for me at Bajanor hospital and greeted me with a
hug.  As soon as I saw him I knew I was in good hands and the little
inkling of doubt I had coming to Mexico for surgery, was gone.

I was to have the surgery right that afternoon so we had to get my
blood tested, my x-rays done, my EKG done, and my IV set.  I was so
calm, I was amazed at myself.  miguel introduced me to everybody
there, the nurses, the staff, the doctors, including Dr. Jaime who was to perform the surgery.  Everyone was very very
welcoming and embraced me with genuine care.

After surgery, which apparently went just fine because now, four days
later I'm feeling great, I rested all night under the watchful eyes of
Alma.  She gave me antibiotic and pain medication when I asked for it.
She helped me to the bathroom as I was afraid to go alone (and I
guess I shouldn't have gone alone anyway) and even through she doesn't
speak English, she was more than willing to try to understand my
meager Spanish. 

The next day, Dr. came to check on me and my incisions,
asked if I had any questions, if I was feeling ok, if I could swallow
the tea, water and jello they gave me.  Yes to all of it, even though
you can only swallow minimal amounts.  Later, Dr. Miguel came to give
me all information necessary for my eating plan from now on, gave me
the medication I needed (antibiotics and pain medication) and after
that I was off with miguel and Juan to the hotel.  And what a grand
hotel it is.  I settled in, watched TV, slept, drank some juice that
Juan had gotten for me, read a little, watched TV, slept and so on. 

The next day, around 3 p.m., Juan picked me up to go to a BBQ the Dr.s
and staff had at Bajanor hospital.  Of course, I couldn't eat any of
the meat and other goodies, but Juan had made a super good chicken
soup for me and the little bit I ate I enjoyed a lot.  Dr. took another look at one of my incisions because it was hurting -
everything was fine, and later miguel took me downtown to walk around
a little, he took me to his house where I made German pancakes for him
and Juan, he took me to visit another patient at the Molding clinic,
showed me the hospital and took me back to the hotel.  We tried to set
up his laptop at the hotel so I could go online, but the hotel LAN
system didn't work and I ended up just going to bed, watching TV and
going to sleep as I had to get up very early the next morning to fly
back home to Florida.

Even though the driver picked me up at 5:30 a.m. already, miguel was
there to say goodbye.  The flight home was a bit more eventful than I
had wanted it to be because of Hurricane Frances but I made it home
all right. 

So, would I do it again?  I guess so, even though I already had my
first "Buyers Remorse" thinking "Oh shit, what did I do", but all in
all, I'm feeling darn good.  Hardly any pain, just a bit week in the
knees.  Well, I had major surgery, didn't I? 

Would I go to Mexico again to have surgery?  Yes, any day.
Would I have Dr. perform the surgery again?  Absolutely.
Would I go to Bajanor hospital again?  By all means.
Would I have miguel be the patient coordinator again?  There is not
way I would go any other way.  He is not my hero, but my angel.  He
has a gift to make you feel special and safe. He cares about every
patient, he takes care of all your needs without ever questioning if
it might be necessary or not.  He makes sure that you are ok. He and
the whole staff at Bajanor are amazing.