Thailand never ceased to amaze me as a Filipino medical tourist seeking for a bisalp.

I was over the moon after being approved for a bisalp in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last July. After my schedule with McCormick Hospital was finalized, my boyfriend and I immediately booked flights to Chiang Mai for August. I packed for “Round Two” to Thailand almost a month later.

This trip was years in the making. I’ve always wanted a body I feel safest with and feel like it’s my own. I want to be free from unwanted pregnancies and reduce a significant risk for Ovarian Cancer– one of the deadliest cancers for women. I can’t deal with the anxiety of living with unwanted fertility in a culture where women are expected to embrace motherhood – regardless of how they feel about it- like the Virgin Mary. Going abroad, I couldn’t believe my luck. I will soon be forever child-free.

Departing for Thailand; Met an unlikely ally…

We chose to fly with Thai Airways. Thai Airways has the ideal departure and arrival times from Manila to Chiang Mai. Suvarnabhumi Airport was highly convenient. Their C.I.Q. transit system impressed us, especially for my boyfriend, who will fly back solo for the first time due to his limited leave transit in Bangkok.

Following the advice of a fellow CF, I declared my purpose of travel to Thailand as medical tourism. I showed the medical certificate Doctor Manatsawee made when we met at Sriphat and the appointment slip from McCormick Hospital to the IO (Immigration Officer). This was my first foray into medical tourism, so I didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully, my medical certificate only indicated that I needed a bilateral salpingectomy as “preventive” surgery to lower my Ovarian Cancer risk.

The IO assigned to me that day turned out to be a sweetheart. She read my medical cert and found I am going to Thailand for laparoscopic surgery. I told her it was a “preventive” surgery because I have a family history with a myriad of cancers- with breast cancer ultimately taking my mother at the age of 46- and no doctors here would approve such a surgery on a 30-year-old woman like me. She told me that I was wise enough to seek treatment abroad. The IO lamented she had to go to Singapore for spine surgery because of how hard it is to deal with doctors here. She asked how I found my doctor, and I told her I read about him on Reddit. She stamped my passport and wished me the best.

Transit in Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)

While our flight departed from Manila some 30 minutes behind schedule, we arrived in Bangkok just in time. We followed the signs leading to “Domestic departures” (or something). I remember going downstairs to find a booth for “C.I.Q. Passengers” near the AIS stall and a money changer. The ground staff gave us “C.I.Q.” stickers to wear to identify us as passengers transiting to a domestic destination. Our passports were stamped in Bangkok. Then, we were off to Chiang Mai.

Back to Chiang Mai, Thailand

We arrived in Chiang Mai before 9 PM. After I replaced my DTAC sim from last month, we booked a Grab to our Airbnb- Siam Lanna Guesthouse. Piak, our Airbnb host, let us self-check in upon arrival. We spent our first night in Chiang Mai, having dinner at Kalare Night Market. We enjoyed the crispy Thai pork belly; my boyfriend loved Chicken Pad Thai. The following day was a typical, touristy day for us. We went to as many Wats (temples) as possible, ate Khao Soi curry soup and more pork belly, and exchanged my 2600 US dollars for 91,000 Thai Baht (THB). Now I have the money to pay for the bisalp plus more, even if it costs 80,000 THB in case of complications. I started fasting after 9 PM, 12 hours before admission time, as instructed by my appointment slip.

First day in McCormick

We arrived at the gynecology department in McCormick Hospital at precisely 9 AM. The nurses led me to the cashier to pay a down payment of 50,000 THB. They will bill me the rest upon discharge. I handed the receipt to my boyfriend for safekeeping as the nurses led me to the changing room. After providing a urine sample, I changed into standard-issue, comfy McCormick Hospital clothes. The nurse drawing my blood for my blood test told me she thought I was Thai. The same blood test needle turned into my cannula for the IV fluid line. They rolled me to X-ray and ECG before taking us to our private hospital room in the Helen Newman building.

Private Room Review

We got a standard private room and were impressed by its size and amenities. This private room differs from the tiny standard private rooms in major public hospitals in Metro Manila. My room was twice as large as my Ahma’s private room in Makati Med years ago. The room had a big flatscreen TV where my boyfriend put his HDMI cable to good use. McCormick’s internet speed was faster than our internet at home. We also had a microwave for heating food and a bathroom with a Japanese-style toilet (including a Pinoy/Thai-style bidet if a Japanese bidet isn’t enough for you). There was a Nativity picture of the Virgin Mary showing Baby Jesus to the Magi on the wall near the door.

I can’t believe the irony of it all. It’s a room with the Virgin Mary of all Biblical figures. Mary embodies the femininity Filipinas like me are supposed to live up to. Be selfless and nurturing, have no sexual desire of their own except to please a man or to procreate, and fully accept motherhood as “god’s will”- just like Mary. Mary is also the Patroness of Ateneo- the university that hopes every student will become like her, continually surrendering to God (aka whatever the Catholic Church stands for).

I came to Thailand to become the opposite of everything society expected me to be in the form of Mary. “Woman for others ” no more. Tomorrow will be the day I will never have to be her.

Thai Hospital food, Flatscreen TV, and a cold bedpan

My boyfriend and I ordered steak from the special menu to kick off my hospital stay. My standard lunch soon arrived, along with the steaks we ordered. While hospital food elsewhere is punishingly bland enough to purge you of any lust for worldly pleasures, Thai hospital food is the opposite. All my meals there were full of flavor and energy, almost sensual. You don’t have to feel FOMO missing out on all the delicious food Thailand offers when you’re in the hospital.

For lunch, I had braised pork. My lunch also included a herby soup and sweet pumpkin with coconut milk (Ginataang Kalabasa). One of the nurses told me to eat as much as I could until midnight. I finished everything and ate half of my steak. I saved the other half for merienda. My boyfriend went to a 7-11 across the hospital to buy snacks and sneak me a bottle of Coke Zero.

For the rest of the day, we played with the flat-screen TV. My boyfriend played Nanowar of Steel songs, which made me remember the glorious day I saw Nanowar of Steel live in Milan last year. In the evening, we binge-watched the entire Season 12 of Classic Doctor Who.

For dinner, I had stir-fried pork, sweet mung bean soup, and a vegetable soup with a transparent, chewy mushroom-like thing.

Nurses came almost every hour to take my BP or temperature. Google Translate helped bridge the language barrier with the nurses. After dinner, two nurses cleaned my lady parts with a vaginal douche and administered an enema. The cold metal bedpan touching my bare buttocks was annoying. But I am glad we had a sparkling Japanese toilet as I purged my bowels from the enema. I had a last sip of water before I went to sleep.

Tomorrow will be my surgery. I can’t hardly wait.