ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 3
This post won't make much sense to you unless you read how this adventure started. Here are the links to my previous posts where I described this adventure: part 1and part 2.
The doctor stated that my partner was stable at that time and only in following morning we would know for sure if the surgery was needed or not. It was up to the chief surgeon to decide it. Until then, she was keeping him in the hospital under close observation.
Talking more with her I learnt that the hospital was equipped with CT scan, ultrasound and a surgery room. Not bad for a small village like Vilcabamba!
She looked at me and asked me if I had anything to eat so far that day. I hadn't, I totally forgot about it. She took my hand and told me to go have lunch; she would keep an eye on my buddy. She smiled while whispering, there was no need for me to faint again.
I took her advice and left for lunch. As soon as I came out of the hospital a strong sun light greeted me. The sky was blue, with very few clouds and the sun was shinning brightly. A warm wind was sweeping lightly the dusty road I took towards the centre, where the restaurants were.
It looked like a perfect day in the mountains. Then something clicked. It was the word perfect. Nothing good happens in a perfect day; I know this from my own experience. Then I tried to rephrased my thought. Instead of a perfect day, I could have said warm sunny day, just to give myself a faux peace of mind while I started to mumble I am not superstitious, by Europe, a Swedish band I used to like.
I entered three restaurants, looked at their almuerzo del dia and decided I was not able to eat a big meal, due to my nausea. I settled for three corn buns and two bananas for the moment. Maybe for dinner I would be feeling better and be able to eat more.
I walked to the hostal, took a short shower and hurried back to the hospital. I was back in less than ninety minutes. My buddy was still sleeping but his figure was more relaxed. His blood work results came and it showed his appendix was irritated, his liver enzymes were elevated and his white cells count was not too high above the normal range. Two hours later he woke up and said his pain was still there but slowly decreasing its intensity.
I spent the night in the hospital with him and his roommate, a funny Colombian who had injured his leg in a crazy bike stunt. The nurses and the doctor checked up on them both each three-four hours, giving them their medication, changing their glucose bags.
The following morning, they have been seen by the entire medical staff: the ER doctor from the previous day, who worked for twenty-six hours, four or five nurses, the internist, the surgeon, the chief of the hospital, the general physician and couple of resident students. One of the nurses took blood from him again and one hour later she gave me the good news that the results were much better.
He had to be better because he looked better, seemed to have more energy, talked more, joked around with the nurses, and he was smiling. He was actually impatient to be released from the hospital.
After the second medical check up visit during the day, the doctors agreed to discharge him, only after they had prescribed him antibiotics for another five days, and advised him to watch his diet and never eat food sold on the street.
In the end, before taking off, I addressed to the doctor in charge of his case the following question: Doctor, how much do we owe you? Or how much do we owe the hospital?.
He seemed not to understand my question although my Spanish was quite eloquent. He was confused. I asked him where should I pay for all the care they have provided. He looked at me and smiled while telling me: You owe us nothing. You don't have to pay anything, Mrs.!
I explained to him that we were not Ecuadorian residents, therefore we could not benefit for the CAJA services for free. He disagreed insisting there was nothing to be paid for. He wished us lots of health and a safe flight back home and hurried to the next room patients. Two minutes later he returned to remind me to take the prescriptions for my buddy from the hospital's pharmacy.
I headed to the pharmacy and handed the prescriptions to the pharmacist, waited for him to prepare the drugs and took my wallet out, being ready to pay. The pharmacist saw me and started to laugh. Him too, said I do not need to pay.
It was my turn to be confuse. What was wrong with these people? You didn't need to pay for medicine?. He gave me four of the five medicines I needed, apologizing he did not have the fifth one, but letting me know that it was available in the pharmacy across the street.
I thanked him and went to the pharmacy where I bought the missing drug for no more than $2.50 USD. Where on Earth do you buy antibiotics for five days with these money? And as a foreigner, where do you get such a good treatment on ER, and you do not pay anything? For sure not in QUEBEC! Not in North America as well!
I returned to the hospital where my buddy was ready and waiting to leave. With a serious face I asked him to take a guess on how much we had to spend for the hospital and the medicines he was supposed to take the next days. His lowest guess was close to $ 2,000.00 USD. He could not believe the real figure: was $2.50 USD.
We thanked all the medical staff we met on our way out, and headed towards the exit door. We still had the feeling that someone would stop us or would scream at us: Hey! You did not pay! Stop! We were stunned. All we could say after couple of minutes was:
Here are other travel related posts:
ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 2
ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 1
ECUADOR SERIES: DRIVING ON THE AVENUE OF VOLCANOES
ECUADOR SERIES: QUITO’S OLD TOWN
ECUADOR SERIES: MITAD DEL MUNDO + CABLE CAR RIDE IN QUITO
ECUADOR SERIES: ECUADORIAN WOMEN AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
ECUADOR SERIES: OTAVALO, THE ARTISAN MARKET MECCA
ECUADOR SERIES: COTACACHI, THE CITY BETWEN TWO VOLCANOS
ECUADOR SERIES - DUE DILIGENCE TRIP
ECUADOR SERIES: TIPS FOR TRAVELLING TO ECUADOR
PANAMA SERIES: FROM BOQUETE TO VOLCAN
PANAMA SERIES: HACIENDA LOS MOLINOS
PANAMA SERIES: PANAMA CITY’S SKYLINE AT NIGHT
PANAMA SERIES: THE GRINGO PRICE
PANAMA SERIES: TEN FACTS OR MORE ABOUT BOQUETE, PANAMA
PANAMA SERIES: BOQUETE’S FLOWERS AND COFFEE FESTIVAL
PANAMA SERIES: VISITING DAMARLI ESTATE IN BOQUETE
PANAMA SERIES: CARIBBEAN PARADISE - BOCAS DEL TORO
HIKING IN MONT-ROYAL PARK, MONTREAL
ZUMMER FUN BUS RIDE IN CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
THE STONEHENGE OF ROMANIA: SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA
LAURENTIANS MOUNTAINS: COTTAGE TRIP AT LAKE CACHÉE
OTTAWA LIGHTS SHOW ON PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
HIKING AT DANUBE’S GORGES, ORSOVA, ROMANIA
DECEBALUS CARVED STATUE, ROMANIA
PIRATES TREASURE PLAYGROUND, CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
DOLPHINARIUM 2, CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
DOLPHINARIUM 1, CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
GONDOLA RIDE IN MAMAIA RESORT, ROMANIA
BEACH DAY IN CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
BUBBLES - INDOOR PLAYGROUND IN CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
BAHIA DE PAQUERA, NICOYA GULF, COSTA RICA
EXPLORING AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
MACKINAC BRIDGE, MICHIGAN, USA
CHASED BY TORNADOS IN MINNESOTA
MINNEHAHA FALLS REGIONAL PARK, A GEM IN BETWEEN THE TWIN CITIES
BANFF, A RESORT TOWN INSIDE THE BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA, CANADA
OLD PORT OF CONSTANTA, ROMANIA
MORAINE LAKE, A SURREAL BEAUTY IN ALBERTA, CANADA
TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE A LIVING WHILE TRAVELLING THE WORLD
FEELING UNINSPIRED? VISIT A WELSH RETREAT: GLADSTONE’S RESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
TURDA’S 400 FEET UNDERGROUND AMUSEMENT PARK, A HIDDEN GEM OF TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA
VISIT TO SAINT-JOSEPH’S ORATORY IN MONTREAL, CANADA
Unless stated otherwise, all photos used in this posts are taken and owned by myself. If you wish to use any of my images, please contact me!
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave your feedback in the comments, I would love to hear your thoughts!
David Letterman several years back told of slipping and breaking his ankle -- or something like that -- while visiting Germany. He also wound up in the hospital (naturally). His total bill came to something just over $6.00. He couldn't believe it either.
This thing with your friend would have easily cost you $10,000 in the U.S. Possibly as much as double. Our health care system is a scandal. The last time I wound up in the hospital ... I was glow-in-the-dark yellow from liver failure ... which was the only reason I went in the first place. One doctor asked me, "Why did you wait so long?" Stupidest question I ever heard in my life. If I hadn't reached the point where I literally could not stand up by myself -- I wouldn't have agreed to go then.
Walter Cronkite was quoted as saying, "The health care system in the United States is neither healthy, caring, nor a system."
Believe it!!
In Canada I would have had to pay couple of good thousands as well; still much better then US. Though the ER in here is a pain in the ass as there is a waiting time of 8-12h until being seeing by a doctor. Why they insist of calling it ER I have no clue! Like you said, if you aren't dying, don't bother going there!
Years back I considered moving to the US but the so called medical system was what determined me to stay back.
FOR TSE: ---> So, did they ever for sure decide what was wrong with him? Was it food poisoning? Did he have an inflamed appendix? Inquiring minds want to know. (And if they don't know, that would worry me even more. Because that means it could happen again -- and no one knows how to fix it.)
The doctor told us it was food poisoning. Also the fact that the corn he ate was held in buckets with water didn't help much. Luckily, it didn't happen again. So far so good. Though he still eats street food while travelling, even after this experience.
Some people -- you just can't teach.
I'm glad to know he's feeling better now.
That's called Socialism - You know, that thing Americans hate so much. :-P
Yes, Correa's 21st century socialism!
Wow that's absolutely amazing! Glad your buddy did not need surgery after all!
Who would have ever thought that in such a remote area we would benefit from all the medical attention we needed, and for free? It was mind-blowing!
Fantastic! So glad to hear no surgery, although it did sound like they were somewhat well equipped. Still can't believe no charge for the hospital and minimal for the meds....what a blesssing! Good to know this emergency ended well!
We couldn't believe it either! I was expecting to pay at least 2-5K for this experience. When I was that they were having residents doing practice in there I was even more surprised.
Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue 334 (12/08/18)
KUDOS TO ECUADOR!!!! Such a nice story, probably the last I would read today so thank you for ending my day on such a positive note. Medicine can not be free they say, up yours I say, sure it can 💚
I totally agree with you!
Oh, I'm glad you released the next part, because at the end of part two I wanted to kill you!
So the partner is alright? When I read about a severe pain on the abdominal I immediately though, fuck appendix or stones. I've had stones on the livers before, they seriously hurt.
Exciting reading, it really catches our attention.
Thank you! Luckily he was fine but that experience didn't stop him from eating street food in other countries. Liver or kidney stones are no fun at all for anyone, especially while travelling!
Congratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @mrprofessor and earned you a partial upvote. We love your hard work and hope to encourage you to continue to publish strong travel-related content.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!
Learn more about our travel project on Steemit by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord.
Thank you!
Hey! You are in my country! I'm glad you are having a lovely time , glad your partner is ok. Where do you travel next? Maybe i can help you with some pointers ☺️ . Happy stay in Ecuador!
Posted using Partiko Android
We fell in love with your country, not only for the way this incident got handled, but for so many other reasons. We are no longer in Ecuador but we do plan to go back in the near future.