- I've gotten a lot of comments on this channel
of people saying something along the lines of,
there is no way I'm going to Mexico for surgery
and risking some hack job or possible death!
As if the facilities here are subpar
or the doctors aren't properly trained.
So in today's video, I'm going to give you some examples
of what a realistic doctor's visit looks like in Mexico.
I have some moles that I've been wanting
to get removed for a while now.
So today I have an appointment with a dermatologist
and it's here at Hospital Moscati.
This is the first time I've ever visited
a dermatologist in my life, I think, not just in Mexico.
A common question I get is,
"How do you find doctors in Mexico?"
Well, I found this one by going on
a Queretaro Expats Facebook group
and literally just searching for dermatologist
and then see what others posted.
Okay, so I just finished up with that appointment
and she checked out various moles on my body
and said that none of them were cancerous
but she also told me that she won't burn any off,
and then she'll only cut them off if I want them removed
because she sends them all into the labs
to make sure that none are cancerous and all look good.
So I have another appointment scheduled next week
to remove three of them on my face.
And I thought today's appointment
was going to be 800 Pesos,
but as it turns out, that is included in the price
of getting the three of them removed.
And so is like sending them to the lab
to get them looked at and everything.
Oh and by the way, I didn't record any of this appointment
because she didn't really seem comfortable
with me recording, so I just kept the camera in my backpack.
All right, it's about a week later
and I'm back at the dermatologists office,
and today I'm getting three moles removed.
The main one I wanted gone was this one
but I figured while I'm here I'll do like this one
and I think there's, I forget where the other one is.
Here or here or something like that.
But anyway, we're gonna get that done today.
I think it's gonna take about an hour and a half
and then I'll give you an update when we're done.
The following events have been digitally recreated
Some minor details may have been altered
for dramatization purposes.
(saw whirring)
(man screaming)
Alright, so far, two down and one to go.
It's been a very quick and easy process so far,
just applying local anesthesia,
cutting it out, stitching it up,
and so far I've felt almost nothing.
Now like this one over here
it kind of tickles a little bit,
like a tiny stinging sensation, but it's almost nothing.
So it's gone by pretty quick and now onto the third.
Alright, we're now done with the three,
it went pretty smoothly.
When she was applying the anesthesia to the last one,
I did feel some pain there
but other than that, no pain at all.
And I think it's kind of funny
that this on my face right now
it kind of just looks like my facial hair, the stitches do.
But she's gonna cover these up
and then I'm gonna be good to go.
Alright, I'm back home now.
And I have to wear these bandages for 24 hours
and then I can take those off.
Oh, and by the way, to get these three moles removed
without insurance, it was 5,000 pesos.
And that included the initial consultation,
the removal, sending them to pathology and all that,
the numbing of it, and the follow up to remove the stitches.
And I'll be going back in eight days
to get these stitches removed
and then at that time I'm going to get
two moles on my back removed as well.
Now I'm waiting for Laska's physiotherapist to come over.
So I was to talking to someone and she's like,
hey I have a couple of friends here
who are physical therapists for animals.
And I didn't even know that was a thing
but apparently will help her recover quicker.
So I made an appointment for her today.
I don't really know what's going to be involved
in this or anything, but I'm interested to find out.
So Ale was saying that Laska
has less muscle in her leg after the surgery
and we need to do some things to strengthen that muscle,
so I think there were five different exercises
that she's going to be doing in these sessions,
and I'm supposed to be doing it every day with Laska
when Ale isn't here to help strengthen those muscles
in Laska's back right leg.
And in addition to 20 minutes of exercise every session,
right now today, we're going to be doing
an ultrasound and electrotherapy.
So right now we're starting the ultrasound
and what's the ultrasound going to do for her?
Laska!
She has to lay down.
So this is going to reduce inflammation.
- Reduce inflammation,
help to recover the tissue, the damaged tissue.
- Okay.
- Relax muscles.
(calm upbeat music)
It doesn't hurt.
It lasts five minutes.
- Okay.
All right, now we're doing some electrotherapy
and this is for both pain and reducing inflammation.
- So how long is this going to last?
- 12 minutes.
- [Jordan] Okay. - [Ale] It's like tickles
Laska, what do you think?
(Laska panting)
How long is each session?
- Like 45 minutes.
- Okay.
- In total with exercise and these things.
- Alejandra just left,
and she said that after about two months
of doing weekly sessions that that muscle
in Laska's leg should be rebuilt
in addition to me doing the exercises
at home with her at least once a day.
So yeah, we have...
we're gonna do an extra session the first week
and then after that one session per week.
So the cost for Laska's physical therapy,
would've been I think 330 pesos
if I were to take Laska to her office.
But since I don't have a car
it's a little bit complicated to get Laska to and from.
So therefore I asked if she can come here
and sure enough, that was an option,
it's just a little bit more expensive.
So it's going to be 550 pesos per session.
Alejandra said the first session is always the hardest,
so hopefully we got the most difficult one out of the way.
Laska, come here.
We're recording.
I have to talk to you.
You weren't very cooperative during that,
you were bouncing around a lot.
I think you thought you were all horse at one time
the way you were bucking.
What'd you think Laska?
Are you ready for more?
So we're now here or Laska's second physical therapy session
a few days later
and this time we're doing some other exercises
and also she brought a laser this time.
So what is this used for?
- This is used to accelerate
the repair of the tissues
that are damaged during the surgery.
- Okay.
I was actually with a different physical therapist yesterday
and she told me, hey I have this laser that I can use
where you have stitches
and it'll help it heal faster and heal with less scarring,
do you want me to use that on you?
And I was like, yeah, yeah, sure.
And she showed me some results of previous patients
who she had used it on,
and like, it looks so much better after using the laser.
And I couldn't believe the difference
from yesterday to today
and what the scar and
the area around the stitches looks like,
it looks so much better today.
(upbeat music)
(Jordan laughing)
Today is water delivery day,
so I leave all my empty garrafones out by my front door.
They come by, they pick it up, replace it with a new one
and I just have to leave the empties
along with 43 pesos for each one.
So I'm walking to breakfast this morning
through the neighborhood of Santa Fe in Juriquilla.
And in Santa Fe, they have the dumbest sidewalks,
they're just like weaving the whole time back and forth.
It's pretty annoying if you have two people walking,
like one person walking,
it's fine you can walk straight,
but two people you're like.
But this is a nice neighborhood,
they have a great dog park here.
There's another really nice park over yonder
that has like ducks and bridges and water and trees.
Yeah, I like hanging out here in Santa Fe.
And they also have places to recycle
which isn't super common throughout Mexico,
so that's kind of cool.
It's pretty interesting here in Santa Fe
and the surrounding neighborhoods,
you hardly ever see police,
however frequently you see their private security force.
They have private security
that patrols in these areas all the time.
It's a very, very safe area.
I've never seen anything bad happen,
nor have I even heard of anything bad
happening around here, knock on wood.
But yeah, I just thought that whole
private security thing was interesting
because I don't think I've ever seen that
anywhere else in Mexico
where you just don't really see police
but you have your own private security force.
Something else that's interesting about Santa Fe
is the entire neighborhood,
without exception, is made up of gated communities.
There's literally no standalone homes
that aren't inside a gated community.
For breakfast this morning
I'm at this place called Brioche
and it has really good French food,
but they also have a lot of really great
Mexican dishes as well.
If you saw a recent video where I went to a Korean Grill,
this is actually in the same complex as Korean grill is.
But I really like coming here, it's tasty.
It's not the cheapest but it's not super expensive either.
I think I ordered way too much this morning,
I guess I'm really hungry.
But I got a jugo verde, a green juice for 50 pesos,
a chai latte for the same price,
except I changed it for almond milk
which probably has an upcharge.
And then I got a cinnamon roll for 45 pesos
and then are entree as well.
So good.
And by the way, whenever you're dining out in Mexico
if you don't ask for the check
they're not gonna bring it to you.
But you don't even have to know how to ask
you can just sign in the air like this
and like that's a universal symbol here
for knowing to bring you the check.
Or you can say, la cuenta por favor.
Brioche Bakery is always super satisfying
but earlier I was thinking, you know,
this place isn't too pricey
but I think it's just that I'm used to the prices
in Queretaro that I forget how much cheaper
most of the rest of the country is.
Because Queretaro is a fairly expensive city
but I can still come to a place like this
and get a nice breakfast for way cheaper
than what I would pay for a similar experience in Phoenix.
And whenever I'm sharing prices,
remember that tax is included in that price.
Like if you go out to eat in the US,
you might have to add 30% to the menu price
to account for tax and tip.
But here, maybe you add 10 or 15%
because tax is already included, but tip is not.
And their expected tip are usually a little bit lower
of a percentage here in Mexico than they are in the US.
Before walking home I wanted to make a quick stop
in this health foods store here.
They have a bunch of options
including some harder to find products in Mexico.
So, this is a place I shop frequently
to get things like hemp hearts,
nutritional yeast, certain vitamins,
all sorts of other stuff.
I especially love getting these things here
for a healthy snack, they're taro ships
and they have a bunch to different flavors.
They're really good and they're only 29 pesos.
I feel like when you see exercise equipment
in a park in the US, there's never anybody using it.
However, here in Mexico, you see them in a lot of parks
and they're being used all the time, they're very popular.
This is my first to seeing baby ducks here.
The babies are so cute and I'm really close to them,
I'm literally only four feet away from them.
So I'm surprised there's not a mama duck
chasing after me right now.
Wow, I was just so close that I could have
easily reached out with my hand and touched them.
Crazy.
So that's how they keep all these guys around,
they feed them.
That'll do it.
So that's one of the nice parks
here in the neighborhood of Santa Fe.
I refer to the other one to Laska as the dog park
and I refer to this one to Laska as the duck park,
and she gets confused.
I say, do you wanna go to the duck park?
And then she thinks, I'm saying,
do you wanna go to the dog park?
By the way, if you're wanting to learn Spanish,
my favorite course can be found TangerineSpanish.com.
It's an excellent course and at great value.
So if you wanna check that out,
head on over to TangerineSpanish.com,
that's my affiliate link, and it will take you right there.
Again, TangerineSpanish.com.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the channel
I'll be releasing many more videos about life in Mexico.
And a while back, I had to go to the emergency room
several times and had different doctor's visits.
So if you'd like to learn more about medical in Mexico,
I'll link that video right here.
So you can watch that until I see you next Saturday.