Lemon to Lemonade

posted in: health saga | 15

Background For the last seven years I have had a high-stakes gamble with the US health care system. Eight years ago, since losing my fat corporate job, I was paying $320/month for $5000 deductible insurance. I was a basically healthy … Continued

gettin ready to get fixed

posted in: health saga | 0

This is a nuts and bolts update, with facts, numbers and links. Many of you expressed interest in the gory details of what I’m doing, so here goes. The very first hit on my google search for “overseas heart operation” … Continued

almost time…

posted in: health saga | 3

“hi, my name is John.  I’m going to Turkey in a few days …. for a heart operation.” My public presentation of “things” has been morphing lately.  It started three weeks ago when I visited Martha in good ole Marin … Continued

Tourist Interlude

posted in: health saga | 1

Saturday May 23 (still working on the travelogue part of this below) Anadolu Medical Center is a new-ish hospital (five years old) out in the far suburbs of Istanbul. It’s so far out in the burbs that it’s basically the … Continued

recovery

posted in: health saga | 1

I am home, back in Reno with a big ole scar down the middle of my chest and a new list of pills to take.  This will I think be the final post in the Heart Surgery Odyssey series. The … Continued

epilogue

posted in: health saga | 0

It has been a year and a half since my first post to this blog. In that time I have spent $25,000 on fixin’ my heart, had a lot of drama including an exotic Asian adventure, and written over 11,000 … Continued