DAY #4 - Surgery

I'm all done with the surgery!  Yea!  It went really well, and I'm feeling a lot better than I expected.  Of course I am sore but they have given me some medicine to take for pain.  They took about half a liter of fat tissue, which really is not very much in the scheme of things.  Dr. Hernandez from the Stem Cell Institute was by my side the whole time which was a HUGE relief since he was about the only one who spoke english.  Well I guess the plastic surgeon spoke english (he did a residency at Harvard) and the anesthesiologist spoke a little, but it was comforting to have a familiar face nonetheless.  Dr. Hernandez had my health information memorized and made sure everything ran smoothly.  He was there when they put me under and was the first one I saw when I woke up.  All the doctors took their time explaining things to me, and I never felt rushed at all (like sometimes can happen in America).  Besides having to replace my IV a couple of times, everything else went just as planned.  
Here's some pictures of the hospital:

I'm curious to find out how many stem cells they were able to get and in what condition they are in.  I probably won't have that information until next week.  Dr. Hernandez will be the one doing the infusion, and he explained how it doesn't take long at all.  It's basically an injection done with a butterfly needle directly into the vein, rather than a traditional IV bag. 

We are meeting lot's of nice people down here!  Dr. Hernandez and I had a great conversation while I was in recovery.  He is going to Amsterdam next week to attend a seminar about hypnosis.  This was of particular interest to me since I studied a little about hypnosis in graduate school.  He told me all about his theories of how hypnosis works and what he has learned over the years.  Very interesting!

Our driver, Javier, was a horse racing jockey.  He has raced in New Jersey, New York, and Saudi Arabia.  When my dad asked him about his racing experiences, he said he won a race in Saudi Arabia for the king.  He got to meet the king of Saudi Arabia and spend time with the royal family.  Very cool!!  Unfortunately, he injured his clavicle in  horse race and had to retire.  Now he works as a driver for the Stem Cell Institute, and is very good about being perfectly on time.  Of course, on time is never early enough for my dad...he likes to be early everywhere he goes!

Not sure what exactly we will do this weekend, but Javier offered to drive us around the city and we might meet my parents' neighbor's friends for dinner.  Javier is very knowledgeable about the history and will make a very good tour guide.  Hopefully I will be feeling better by then...and hopefully I won't be sick with my dad's cold.  He is finally feeling better, but my throat is a little scratchy today.