We woke up together this morning. We had coffee and fruit together and talked about things. Daeng told me the gas burner was not working in the outside kitchen. I went down and looked at it. It needed replacing. I had to laugh as Daeng's Mother already had a pot of hot water going the old fashion way.
We also talked about the double shop house next door as the owner put up a big sign yesterday saying: "For Sale or Rent". It is in Thai, of course. We're told they want 6.5 million Thai Baht for it. The problem with it is it is bombed out inside. The last person there took everything with them when they moved out. Yes, everything including the light fixtures, the sinks, the toilets, everything.
I went to answer some emails and found we did not have any internet. I tried all the trouble shooting stuff and my laptop told me it was the provider. In any case, we got on my motorbike and went to CAT, the provide, on the way to the medical clinic. The guard on duty at the gate said they were closed on Saturday. I took a picture of the front door with my telephoto setting to see if there was a telephone number on the door. I am about 40 meters away, at the fence, and you can see my reflection in the glass door.
We hopped back on the motorbike and headed to the medical clinic to have the stitch removed from my head where the doctor removed one of the four bumps on my head. We got there about 40 minutes early so we just kind of wondered around the place. We did stuff like weighed ourselves and found out how tall we were.
Daeng weighs 54.7 kilograms and I was 116. 2 kilograms. She is 155 cm tall and they ran us out of the area before I could see how tall I am today. We felt like kids doing things that we should not be doing.
The nurse took my blood pressure and it was high, 155/85. I told her it was because of her beauty so she took it again and it was 138/78. We both laughed.
We had to wait about 40 minutes more and the doctor came in.
We went into a little treatment area and she looked at all the areas that she removed the cysts. She said they all looked good.
She removed the one stitch that she had put in where she removed the largest cyst.
We laughed about the surgical lighting.
The charge today was 150 THB, about $4.67 USD. That was 60 THB for the doctor and 90 THB for the hospital clinic. That's correct, they had to split the $4.67 in a 40/60 percent split. It makes my heart go pitter-patter. We love Thailand.
Well, onward to shopping for a new gas double burner for the outdoor cooking area. We stopped at a place right by the hospital clinic and looked as some.
We then went home and picked up Hlong for a little trip to the house they have a few miles out of town. We picked up a metal table there.
We stopped at this big, new home center named HOME SHOW. They have a lot of nice things but I thought the pricing was higher then the older places in town, like HOME MART.
We stopped at another place that sold gas appliances but they did not really have what we wanted. We went back to the place by the clinic and bought a new cabinet, double burner cook top with a chrome finished cabinet. We also bought a new LPG regulator and two meter of gashose. Total cost was 4,250 THB, about $133 USD.
Then home and installed it so it is ridged and level. Making it level in this outside cooking area is a little tricky as the floor slops to the gate. Anyway, we did it and it looks good and works great.
Those are cement boards under the legs. They will last almost forever.
As I was getting ready to take a shower, the son of the owner of the double shop house next door called. He told me his name was "Mack", who he was and asked if we wanted to buy the place. I explained that I would but could only offer him 3.5 million Thai Baht (about $109,000 USD) as there is nothing on the inside, not even a toilet and the drain piping needed to be re-piped just like ours needed.
You can read about us replacing the drain system by CLICKING HERE.
We talked for a while and I again told him I would be willing to give his Mother 3.5 MTB. He said he would tell his mother.
I told Daeng of our conversation and she said he had called her also. We said about the same thing so our stories were together. We will see what happens but 6.5 MTB is way to much for that property.
By the way, you can see our home listing by CLICKING HERE.
Tomorrow we plan on doing little plumbing while the laundry area is closed on Sunday.
On Monday it's a little road trip to Chiang Mai for a couple of days.
We went to the Kasemrad
Sriburin Hospital/Clinic here in Mae Sai at 9:10 AM this morning. We also decided that Daeng should see a doctor as she has had a nonproductive cough for over a week.
We had out vital signs taken and my blood pressure was very high today. I think it may have been due to the lady that was doing the intake. She kept asking me why I was there and was it due to an accident.
I kept telling her I was there to see the orthopedist
and it was not due to an accident, it was because I'm old. I must have told her five or six times. I finally took my folder out of my case regarding the joint lubricant injections and she then said: "Well, you'll have to see the doctor about that." Yea, that's why I was there.
While we were waiting I took my blood pressure again and it was down to about 144/80.
We waited about 10 minutes and Daeng was called into the doctors exam room. I went with her. the doctor asked her a lot of questions and listened to her breathing. She said Daeng had some allergies and the jungle smoke was probably what was making her cough.
She prescribed some allergy pills and recommend wearing a face mask when she went outside.
When we came out of the Daeng's exam room, another nurse said I would be next to see the orthopedic doctor. He was a very nice man and spoke perfect English.
I showed him everything from Doctor Gibson in California. He was also very knowledgeable and told me that they usually used a different brand of sodium hyaluronate other than SUPARTZ. He called the hospital pharmacist into his exam room and we talked about how long to get it and the cost.
Because of the cost, the pharmacist only had enough to do one ejection in stock so they could only do one knee today. I need six, one in each knee for three weeks. The cost for the six treatments, three in each knee, over three weeks would be 19,320 THB or about $600.00 USD.
She told me they could have everything for me here at this care center by next Friday. The doctor and I agreed we would start next Friday at 9:15 AM.
My cost today for the consultation was 240 THB ($7.50 USD). For Daeng with the medicine was 550 THB ($17.00 USD). Daeng thought her doctor's visit and medicine was very expensive.
When I told her how much mine was going to be she just shook her head. I told her that I had to pay $699.00 USD to the doctor that did the same treatment in California last June just for my co-pay.
She said: "Are you telling me that it is cheaper here in Thailand?" I said: "Yes, by almost $100 US dollars and that was without any insurance here."
She had trouble understanding why I would have to pay that much in the United States when I had insurance.
I told her I have trouble understanding that, also!
By the way, we were out of the hospital/clinic at 10:30 AM. Everything including paying for the services was 1 hour and 20 minutes.
We then stopped at a bamboo/wood dealer by our house as we need to replace 3 or 4 of the bamboo poles that hold the clothes lines on the roof. We put the bamboo posts for the clothes lines on the roof about four years ago. For the four post replacements I want to try wood this time.
We found four straight 2 1/2" by 2 meter wood posts for a price of 120 THB, that is about one US dollar each. While we were talking I sat in a bamboo chair that he had made. It felt really comfortable. He said he would sell me four chairs and the table for 1,200 THB, about $37.00 USD. I asked Daeng if I was hearing that price correctly.
He said he could deliver the four wooden posts, the table and chairs after lunch. I gave him a deposit of 320 THB and told him I would give him the rest when he delivered. He said don't worry, we could pay him the rest when I had time.
We then went to Tesco/Lotus to buy some milk, jelly, tire air pump, pick-up truck cover and batteries for our automatic night light.
I bought a small tire air pump for 299 THB, about $9.35 US. When I used the to fill Hlong's bicycle tires it worked great, filling the tires to 40 PSIG in less than a minute.
When we arrived home they were delivering the wood and bamboo chair and table.
It was a good day.
Also, the hospital/clinic called to remind me to see the dermatologist tomorrow at 9:00 AM. The research goes forward.
