Brazil: Sao Paulo

After we got off the plane in Sao Paulo, they had a wheel chair waiting for Jena and we rushed around from the gate to baggage claim to get our luggage. Because when we got off in a hurry the plane was ready to leave they didn't get all of our luggage off. We got Jena's back but not mine. We waited a long time trying to get things sorted our with the airlines and get a hotel.

The airline put us up in a hotel near the airport for the night. It was a crazy ride in a shuttle van from the airport to the hotel, the shuttle was crammed full of people and the driver was going very fast. We finally got to the hotel and contacted our surgeon. He got us an appointment we another doctor in Sao Paulo for the next day. It was May 19 or 20 when we tried coming home the first time. The next day after getting off the plane suddenly we caught a taxi from the hotel to the doctors office. The taxi ride was wild, the traffic in Sao Paulo was horrible and people were speeding around and changing lanes haphazardly. I remember we stopped at a Pharmacy to get some stuff for Jena. We ended up getting some adult diapers and tape to help soak up the fluid that was coming out of her side. We finally got to the doctors appointment and after meeting with him we determined we needed to go back to Curitiba back to where our surgeon was. After the meeting with the doctor we had another insane taxi ride to the airport and barely made it in time for the flight back to Curitiba.

The airline put us up in a hotel for the night and our surgeon contacted one of his colleagues in Sao Paulo to have him examine my abdomen the next day. We used adult diapers to soak up the liquid that kept pouring out of Jena, and we soon realized that when she took a drink of water, there was a gurgling sound and then the adult diaper would fill up with the liquid she just drank.

She felt somehow that she was going to have to stay in Brazil for a while, which came in handy later when the doctor confirmed that she had a leak in her stomach and needed to stay. She kept her composure pretty well until the doctor left and then she wept. She wanted to go home so badly!

At this point, Joey's mom needed to go back to work at home, so she flew home from there. We, however, still needed to get a plane ticket back to Curitiba and stat! We had help from a lovely person called Fabiola...she had worked with our surgeon and was so helpful and comforting!