Last Saturday night I got a terrible headache, so I took some Advil and went to bed early in hopes of shaking it. After one of the worst nights sleeps of my life, I still had it in the morning. I figured I was just a bit dehydrated so I got some water. All that did was add vomiting to my headache.
After stubbornly staying in my bed resting trying to keep some Romanian knock off gator-aid down, I finally went to the sick bay around 4 in the afternoon. I had a fever and they said that I should go to the hospital if I was still sick on Monday.
After another restless night, we arranged transport to the hospital for me, Robin was kind enough to go with me. They asked if I wanted to go to the private or the public hospital. The Race required all of us to get health insurance so I said I would like to go to the private hospital.
We pull up to this sketchy little brick building with lots of people inside, so we ask again if this is the private or public clinic, and are told private. So we go in and wait for a while and see a nurse who asks whats wrong and takes my vitals. She then tells us that we need to see the doctor and so we go wait in the line to see her.
She said it was most likely malaria or meningitis, so she referred me to the hospital. She asked if I wanted to go to South Rand or Johannesburg, I didn’t care so I picked the faster one. After not having to pay we realized we were in fact at the public clinic.
We pulled up to South Rand and I was a little sketched out. It was a large, old brick building surrounded by a 12 foot high barbed wire fence and lots of people standing outside. We walked in to a sea of people, sitting standing all over the place. There are like 5 different lines and nothing to indicate where we should go to wait.
I got to the front of one line and was told to go to counter 3. I got to the front of that line and was told to go to the help desk. Finally we got in the right line and got the paperwork started. After a few hours they called my name and I got to walk down to room 47 where I handed my file to the nurse. After another hour or two of waiting I got to see a very nice doctor who repeated what the first doctor said. Malaria or Meningitis.
She prescribed a blood test and a smattering of pills for vomiting and a shot for the headache. I’m terrified of needles, they are defiantly one of my biggest fears. I managed to let them take my blood and got my shot and then we waited at the pharmacy for my medicine to be ready.
After a bout an hour and a half of waiting at the pharmacy, I realized that for the first time in days my head was no longer pounding with pain. We eventually got the pills, but only after tracking down the pharmacist as she was leaving to go home.
The next day, I was feeling much better, but I wanted my test results so I called the hospital. Turns out you can only pick up the results in person so we had to go back to the hospital. We arrived around 10 and waited for them to pull my file for 2 hours. When we finally got back to the area where I was the day before it was well after noon. We were then told that test results had to be picked up before 11 and only the doctor could give them to me.
After hours of waiting, the doctor I had seen the day before came out of her office and saw me. She immediately went and grabbed my file and called me into her office. No Malaria, but the test indicated I had an infection. She asked if I needed anther shot for pain and I declined. Then I was sent on my way.
I was pretty happy I didn’t have Malaria, but I was a little worried that they saw that I had an infection and sent me on my way.
It was in this moment that I realized that this is the reality of healthcare for the majority of people in this country- sit for forever in crowded hospitals, get tests and be unable to get the results and then when something is identified, not be able to get the cure.
Luckily, I had health insurance so I decided to go to the private hospital Tiny had originally asked them to take me to. We arrived and I was amazed at the difference. It was just like any nice hospital in the states. I walked right up to reception and was told exactly where to go, there was a restaurant that smelled amazing and made me realized I had only eaten once in the last three days.
After paying the fees, I got to see a doctor in about 30 minutes and he ordered all sorts of tests. The hospital had a weird system of billing in that I had to pay for the hospital, doctor, blood test, and xray separately, before the service could be rendered. It was crazy and I was basically lead around the hospital by my credit card. The results came back in about an hour and I got a clean bill of health. The most likely cause of all that pain was a virus that my body had defeated on its own. While it was great to get back tests that say everything is fine, it would have been nice to know exactly what happened.
By this time, it was well after dark so Tara and I had the hospital call us a cab to take us home. We got in the cab and we started home. After a couple of blocks Louie, our driver pulled a u-turn and started taking us back to the hospital. I looked at him a little confused and then he explained what was going on. Like any cab driver, he knew all kinds of shortcuts through the city and had decided to go a different route.
He said he had originally forgotten about some new roads that had been built for the World Cup and that the new way would defiantly be the best. It really didn’t matter to me, I just wanted to get home safe and get some sleep.
Turns out we got to drive right by the stadium the World Cup Final was played in and we got to hear Louie tell what it was like just 6 months ago when the city was packed with tourists. The stadium was also amazingly beautiful with all its lights on in at night. It was really a special treat to get to see it.
After all of the madness with the medical system, I’m defiantly grateful for the health I have enjoyed most of my life, and my eyes were opened to the struggles of people around the world who really don’t have the option to pay to go to the nice hospitals.
