A Brief Personal Note

Thanks for the update, we're with you, BobH.   

Bob,
Best Wishes for a speedy recovery, and return.
Regards,
Neil

Good luck Bob, and I wish a quick recovery so you can come back soon to Ecuador.

Hi Bob,

I wish you a quick recovery on behalf of the Expat.com Team.

Regards
Armand

Get well Bob.

Good luck Bob. I hope you make it back to Ec soon. I have enjoyed living vicariously through you!

Best of lucky for a speedy full recovery.  Moving from the Philippines to Ecuador might have saved your life.  Hope to hear from you soon.

Hi Bob,

I wish you a quick and full recovery.

Take care of yourself

Thanks, everybody. Things are going well so far.

Bob, good luck and best wishes.

John

mugtech wrote:

Best of lucky for a speedy full recovery.  Moving from the Philippines to Ecuador might have saved your life.  Hope to hear from you soon.

You could be right, Mug. I'm considerably more impressed with medicine/doctors/hospitals in Ecuador than Philippines (I was dealing with the top-end providers in both places).

Sue asked this question on another thread, and I started typing to answer it there, but then I decided it might be more appropriate to answer it here.

suefrankdahl wrote:

Hi Bob-
Heard that you had to go back to States for health issues. Are you back in Quito?
Sue

Sue:

No, still here in Phoenix. Although everything is going very well, it looks like the approach the doctors are taking means I'll be here longer than planned. I'm anxious to head back to Quito (and I'm really regretting not being there for the World Cup), but it looks like I will probably be here for the rest of the year.

Thanks for asking,
Bob

I hope all goes well for you Bob.

But if you stay in the US until the end of the year, you will have exceeded the 90 day absence rule for Ecuador permanent residency visas?

gardener1 wrote:

I hope all goes well for you Bob.

But if you stay in the US until the end of the year, you will have exceeded the 90 day absence rule for Ecuador permanent residency visas?

Good question. Two answers:

1. I'm told that a letter from my doctor will suffice to solve any problems. Both my Quito and Phoenix doctors have said they'll provide letters.

2. I posed the question to my Quito lawyer, and was rather surprised by the answer.

My question: "I ... will need to return to the US for surgery and treatment. My doctor says that I should be gone only about two months. If it should take longer, though, is there a medical waiver to the 90 days rule on my visa?"

His answer: "If you are out of Ecuador longer than 90 days, you wont lose your residency, it would just complicate things if you would wish to apply for citizenship and other processes; but it would be prudent to have copies of your medical records just in case."

Thanks for that.

You just never know how bureaucracies will respond when presented with exceptions to their regulations. Sounds like you have everything covered as well as possible.

gardener1 wrote:

Thanks for that.

You just never know how bureaucracies will respond when presented with exceptions to their regulations. Sounds like you have everything covered as well as possible.

Best of luck, I also hope you got it covered.  You probably were not planning to apply for citizenship, so hopefully this will all be in your rear view mirror in 2015.

Mug:

Quite right, I never had any thought of applying for citizenship -- residents have all the same rights, other than voting, and I don't care about voting there.

Bob

I am a U.S. health care professional living in QUito.   Best of luck to you - you did the right thing to go back where you know people and can recover well!  Hope you are able to rejoin us soon.   Susana in Quito

I guess good news to be around family but wouldn't want to be in Phoenix this time of year. What are the day time temps getting up to????

I have retired RN friend in Phoenix if you need care at home. She works for a very reasonable rate. We worked together at Ketchikan Hospital. She worked a number of years up in Barrow. It was chilly for sure but more comfortable than summer in Phoenix. Keep us posted.

Thanks, Sue. I don't need any specialized help at present -- I'm feeling very well and my sisters are spoiling me wonderfully.

You're right about the heat. The mid-afternoon temps are getting up to the 105-110F range. I grew up here, but I had forgotten how tough it can be, and the fact that my medication gives me hot flashes doesn't help any :-) . We're heading to the mountains for the Fourth of July for a little relief.

BobH wrote:

Thanks, Sue. I don't need any specialized help at present -- I'm feeling very well and my sisters are spoiling me wonderfully.

You're right about the heat. The mid-afternoon temps are getting up to the 105-110F range. I grew up here, but I had forgotten how tough it can be, and the fact that my medication gives me hot flashes doesn't help any :-) . We're heading to the mountains for the Fourth of July for a little relief.

But it is low humidity heat, not like Cebu!!  Enjoy the mountains!!

Here in the precipitation capital of the US (Pacific Northwest) everyone waits with baited breath watching the weather forecast to see if it's going to rain on everyone's parade (or BBQ). I'm just making a joke about this being the rain capital. It just feels like that to me. Maybe I am right????

The end of the year is rapidly approaching.  Hope you are better and planning your return trip

Thanks, CB48. Things are going well, but I still can't get too definite on my planning.

End of 2014/early 2015 is as close as my doctor will guesstimate. I'm getting antsy here, but at least now that we're in Sept, it shouldstart cooling down (only 103F at the moment).

Great to hear that you're getting well and temps are letting up. Have you had problems with the flooding?

suefrankdahl wrote:

Great to hear that you're getting well and temps are letting up. Have you had problems with the flooding?

I'm staying with my sister and all she got was some damp carpeting where water seeped in. But we were lucky -- a lot of people had it pretty bad.

I have to call my friend in Phoenix.

Bob -I send my blessings and positive thoughts. Love how you think positive. Best of luck in everything.