A Brief Personal Note

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).

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

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."

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.

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!!

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.