One of the things that I was least looking forward to coming on the race was being sick in foreign countries. I hate being sick in America, so being sick in a third world country does not exactly appeal to me. On Monday of last week I began feeling slightly under the weather. I thought it was just a cold. I felt slightly better on Tuesday. Typically I am a person who avoids the doctor, but Wednesday morning I woke with severe abdominal pain and nausea. Everyone was worried so I had to go to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. So some kind volunteers and my awesome team leader Becca volunteered to make the 45 minute trek down the mountain to the hospital for me to see a specialist. We arrived at the hospital or “medical mall” as Becca and I would refer to it because it has every medical thing you could possibly need here. I was so blessed to be at ine of the nicest hospitals on the island. We arrived around 12:30 pm and started searching for the specialist I needed. I learned more lessons from this short hospital visit than I needed.
Lesson number 1 to going to this hospital: Almost all of the doctors offices are closed for siesta from 12 pm – 3 pm. So we luckily got an appointment at 3 pm with the gastrointestinal doctor and waited.
Lesson number 2: You don’t have to fill out any paperwork, but they will ask you for your address. Telling them you live on the mountain in the city of Lajas in a tent will get you funny looks.
The doctor arrives back at 3:35.
Lesson number 3 (and a continual lesson I am still learning today): There is no privacy when you have to have all of your symptoms translated and be examined with said third party in the room. Get comfortable quick because it will only get worse. I am seen and after the short exam, he is pretty sure I have appendicitis. I am skeptical because I have been down this road before and it was my kidneys so I tell him that is what it is (I am not a doctor). He calls and has me taken to the ER for further examination and tests.
Lesson number 4: When your translator leaves, the already hard communication gets even harder. Luckily a couple of the doctors spoke English. But if you can take a translator with you, I would highly suggest that you do!!!!! Maybe even look up the drugs you are allergic to in the local language, if possible, as that was one of the hardest things to initially communicate.
Lesson number 5: There is absolutely no communication among the doctors and patient charts are simply an American thing. After I went for my sonogram, I was seen by a doctor who spoke a little English. He did the same exam the first doctor did and then he left. At this point I had one of the worst headaches I have ever had combined with the same intensity of nausea. Doctor number two comes in about an hour later and does the same exam again and tells me the sonogram was normal. The first ER doctor comes back shortly after that, redoes his exam and tells me I need a sonogram.
Lesson number 6: This is all in God’s hands. My confidence in the doctor’s is going down and my symptoms are getting worse. I tell the doctor I have already had a sonogram. Said doctor is now going to call the surgeon to come see me. Doctor one comes in and does the same exam for the fifth time that day with my pain increasing and tells me that she is pretty sure, maybe 90% sure that I have appedicitis and need to have surgery immediately. She leaves and brings back doctor two and the hospital’s administrative person to tell me that insurance only covers $500 and I would have to pay $2000 to be taken up to a room and another $5000 for surgery which happens to be the complete opposite of what I was told earlier. I look at Becca and we make a few calls and tell them we will check ourselves out of the hospital and come back tomorrow if it is really bad especially since they are only 90% sure that I even need the surgery. That 10% that I may not need it is initially enough for me to say goodbye.
Lesson number 7: The doctors in the Dominican Republic are pushy and maybe pushy is what I needed in the moment. They tell me it is a very bad idea to leave. They get the surgeon to come see me and she gives me a good “you are out of your mind for wanting to leave” look and proceeds to tell me that I need surgery immediately. So Becca and I discuss the pros and cons. I go to the bathroom and can’t even get there by myself so I go through with the surgery after waiting for everything to be paid for. On a good note, we find out that the doctor never actually called insurance like they said, they just asked a random person about it and my insurance does cover the surgery and I will not have to pay for any medical care the rest of the trip because my deductible has officially been met.
Lesson number 8: Going into surgery sort of feels like being on Grey’s Anatomy in the operating room. The doors to the other operating rooms are open and you can get a glimpse of each surgery going on as you pass to go to your operating room. It was great and and experience I hope to never have again.
Lesson number 9: Coming out of the anesthesia is scary especially when you can’t communicate with anyone.
Lesson number 10: Since I was at a nice hospital, they provided my bed sheets and my liquid diet foods, but most hospitals here do not. One thing is for sure, they do not provide hospital gowns except during surgery. I was wheeled back to my room around 1 am and moved to my hospital bed and the gown I was in for surgery was immediately removed and I was asked to get dressed again. I definitely refused in that moment. I was also in my own private hospital room that was almost as nice as it would be in the States.
Lesson number 11: You may have no clue what is going on and what the nurses are doing. They get just as frustrated with you as you do with them with the language barrier. Thanks to Becca and some guest appearances from our awesome translator Jhosue, we made it through. But they don’t really care how much the pain meds hurt going in to your IV.
Lesson number 12: They may not let you go home because of a fever even if your temperature hasn’t been taken in 12 hours. When you do get to leave, the instructions for going home are not very clear and you have to pay the remainder of your bill before they will remove the IV to let you go home.
I am now safely back on the mountain after a slightly rough ride up. Today is really the first day I am feeling like I am getting better. I am still in pain but I have been able to get up and walk around some. I go back tomorrow for a follow-up appointment and Thursday we are leaving our ministry site to go to our month 1 debrief for a few days and then head to Haiti. I just wanted to get a blog in your hands and there have been many people asking about my experience in the hospital, but be on the lookout for a couple more blogs about English camp before I had to go to the hospital and what God has been teaching me in the coming week or so! Thank you all for your prayers during my recovery process. Also be praying for the general health of our squad as there have been many people down and out with a variety of different issues.
