Dr Lettuce

Now that everything has reached a succesfull conclusion it's probably time to talk about Dr Lettuce.
Dr Lettuce is a Mexican doctor  by the name of  Fausto Miguel Lechuga Ortiz, Lechuga means lettuce in English.
Dr Lechuga is a Opthamologist in La Paz, I went to see him following an incidence onboard that caused me to suffer a hard blow directly into my right eye, I actually felt my eyeball compress, it seemed okay but the next day I started having problems with light flashes and dark shadows across my vision, mostly on the right side. I realized that I had probably damaged my retina and this was confirmed by examination. So that very same night I reported to the Fidepaz hospital and Dr Lechuga treated my eye by injecting a soluble gas into my eyeball, this was about as unpleasant as it sounds, the bubble held the seperated layer of retina in place, it fortunately hadn't torn, I had to keep my head back and at an angle to allow the bubble to press the seperation in place. The next day Dr Lechuga treated the seperation with a laser to basically burn the edges and hold it in place. I then had to move very carefully and keep my head at the same proscribed angle for another week. Subsequent examination looked good, it was healing perfectly but my vision was clouded with debris from the impact and the subsequent treatment. He advised me to take it gently for the next month, no straining or heavy lifting.
Last Tuesday I had another full exam and everything is great, my vision has returned to it's original acuity and the repair is now a permanent fix.
I will have to say that this hasn't been a lot of fun for me, but the care I recieved here in La Paz was excellent and the difference between the Mexican and American medical models couldn't have been more apparent, for example nobody ever asked me for money, I had to make  an effort to pay the bill, which was predictably about a tenth of what the treatment would have cost in the US.
The sun still shines, life is good.

Michael