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It's Alive!

It has been six weeks since the accident. We last left you with Akaisha's finger injury looking like this.

Note various stages of skin damage and healing

Since then, Dr. Galindo scheduled an appointment to remove the necrosis off Akaisha's finger to speed further healing, and arranged for her to return to his office and private operating room for a skin graft.

The graft was completed and the photo below is our first look afterwards. Due to the fact that he had a plastic surgeon convention to attend in neighboring El Salvador, our follow up appointment was set up for Sunday. Other than security guards, once again we were the only people allowed into this modern medical center this Sunday morning.

Talk about service.

And in the interim, we have been exchanging emails back and forth with Dr. Galindo discussing Akaisha's progress and arranging appointments.

Chunk of necrosis is gone, skin graft from center of finger towards hand and the results.

The mottled skin towards the top of her finger was cut and removed, and the skin from her thigh replaced it. Previous areas left open from the removal of the dead tissue were also covered with this donation of skin. At the top center of the photo, you will see a tiny patch where the graft didn't take, but Doc Galindo pronounced the finger healthy with no infection and no unwanted fluid under the transplant of tissue.

This good news was a relief.

Looking more like a finger

The fracture is healing as well so her finger was splinted and wrapped, and plans to see the surgeon again later this week were made.

We have turned another corner.

For six weeks - but who's counting - Queen Akaisha has had a maid 6 days a week, a driver at her beck and call, and a personal butler (me) attending to her every need. She's gonna miss this...

Soon she will be able to exercise her hand and fingers to stretch the ligaments and strengthen muscles, and this "side trip" into hospitals, doctors offices and pharmacies will be put behind us.

We both are looking forward into our future, not back into the past, and soon we'll be moving on from the Colonial splendor of Antigua and into attractive and exciting vistas yet to come.

For more information on this story see:

Accident, Response and Cure

Fickle Finger of Fate

Pricing of a Medical Emergency in Guatemala

A Short 3 Months Later

An Inside View

For more information on Medical Tourism, click here

For more stories and photos about Guatemala, click here

About the Authors

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are recognized retirement experts and internationally published authors on topics of finance, medical tourism and world travel. With the wealth of information they share on their award winning website RetireEarlyLifestyle.com, they have been helping people achieve their own retirement dreams since 1991. They wrote the popular books, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement and Your Retirement Dream IS Possible available on their website bookstore or on Amazon.com.

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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