If you read my most recent blog entry (“Rosa”) then you’ll appreciate why Bobby and Britney chose for Brit to have surgery in a private hospital, even though the public hospital is essentially free. By the way, for those of you who may be new to my blog, Bobby and Britney are good friends of mine. We lived and worked side by side in an El Salvadoran orphanage in 2007, and they now continue their ministry in a different part of El Salvador.
Last fall Brit & Bobby were forced to have a medical exam in order to renew their El Salvador residency cards. This led to the discovery of a tumor on Brit’s thyroid gland (throat area). Ultimately, it was decided that she needed to have the tumor removed. Due to God’s amazing timing, I was able to extend my stay by a week and be with them for the week of Brit’s surgery.
I hear there are some really good private doctors and hospitals here, but this one…. Well, let’s just say that I was a little suspect when the doctor didn’t do any of the routine pre-surgery stuff, like telling the pt. to not eat before surgery, or doing chest x-rays, lab work, etc. On the day of surgery, Brit was walked to her room. They didn’t ask questions about her health history nor did they take her temperature, blood pressure, etc. Once the surgery was over, the surgeon and his assistant came to the waiting room and spoke with Bobby and I. He showed us her tumor (a ¾ the size of a ping-pong ball) that was floating in a clear liquid in an open glass jar. The lid in his hand had “Gerber” printed on it. He closed the lid and said he was now sending it off to be tested to see if it was cancerous….in a Gerber baby food jar! From the swinging double doors in the waiting room we could see Brit lying on a stretcher in recovery. We could also see that only one other surgery was scheduled that day for the O.R. When they wheeled Brit back to her room, she was the only patient on that floor of the small hospital. Once again, they never took her pulse, blood pressure, temp, etc. Actually, during her entire stay in the hospital they never did these things. There were 2 beds in her room, one was the manual crank style, the other was electric, but the controls were located in such a way that somebody other than the patient had to maneuver the controls. The beds were very old and rusty. The mattresses were….well, let’s not go there. It took a great search through out the hospital when we requested a pillow for Brit’s comfort. I will say, however, that each room had an air conditioner unit, and hers actually worked! And the shower had hot water…a real rarity in this part of the world. We all took a shower there just to enjoy the hot water. It was the first hot shower B&B had since Jan 2008. The nurse came every 4 hours to check on her and give her a shot of pain medicine and nausea medicine via her IV line….even though Brit told her she wasn’t having any pain or nausea. They didn’t allow her to get out of bed or eat that day….but by dinner time she had walked to the restroom (which was in her room) and eaten a large hamburger Bobby smuggled in from Wendys.
The doctor came in the next morning. Bobby, Beatriz (a young woman that lives with them), and
I had stayed with Britney all night. I think we looked and felt worse than she did. When he removed the bandage on her neck I was amazed to see the large metal clamps (much bigger than staples) that he used to close her incision. The MD said we could go, so we thought we were ready to pay the bill and get home. We were past ready to leave and Brit felt and looked great, no complications at all.
That’s when we ran into financial complications. We already knew that every patient had to pay the bill in full before they were allowed to leave, and the MD told us that it would cost no more than $2400 for 2 nights. Brit called the hospital a couple of days before the surgery to confirm that she could use a credit card to pay the bill. However, when we went to pay the bill, the cost was $2600, and the fee for the MD had to be paid in cash (or it technically could be paid with a credit card with a 22% fee added to it). Next problem…the ATM machines only allow a person to get $400 out per day, and we needed way more $400. And worse yet, B&B didn’t have the amount needed in their checking account. (The person who wires $ from the USA is not good about getting money into their account in a timely manner each month.) After many calls, someone was able to reach the MD and he permitted Brit to pay his portion of the bill at her follow-up appointment the following week. Whew!
Ultimately, Brit’s test results came back showing that there were no cancerous cells in the tumor or lymph nodes. She was up on her feet, washing clothes by hand, sweeping/mopping the floors, and her normal daily stuff the day after surgery. Aint God good!
Last fall Brit & Bobby were forced to have a medical exam in order to renew their El Salvador residency cards. This led to the discovery of a tumor on Brit’s thyroid gland (throat area). Ultimately, it was decided that she needed to have the tumor removed. Due to God’s amazing timing, I was able to extend my stay by a week and be with them for the week of Brit’s surgery.
I hear there are some really good private doctors and hospitals here, but this one…. Well, let’s just say that I was a little suspect when the doctor didn’t do any of the routine pre-surgery stuff, like telling the pt. to not eat before surgery, or doing chest x-rays, lab work, etc. On the day of surgery, Brit was walked to her room. They didn’t ask questions about her health history nor did they take her temperature, blood pressure, etc. Once the surgery was over, the surgeon and his assistant came to the waiting room and spoke with Bobby and I. He showed us her tumor (a ¾ the size of a ping-pong ball) that was floating in a clear liquid in an open glass jar. The lid in his hand had “Gerber” printed on it. He closed the lid and said he was now sending it off to be tested to see if it was cancerous….in a Gerber baby food jar! From the swinging double doors in the waiting room we could see Brit lying on a stretcher in recovery. We could also see that only one other surgery was scheduled that day for the O.R. When they wheeled Brit back to her room, she was the only patient on that floor of the small hospital. Once again, they never took her pulse, blood pressure, temp, etc. Actually, during her entire stay in the hospital they never did these things. There were 2 beds in her room, one was the manual crank style, the other was electric, but the controls were located in such a way that somebody other than the patient had to maneuver the controls. The beds were very old and rusty. The mattresses were….well, let’s not go there. It took a great search through out the hospital when we requested a pillow for Brit’s comfort. I will say, however, that each room had an air conditioner unit, and hers actually worked! And the shower had hot water…a real rarity in this part of the world. We all took a shower there just to enjoy the hot water. It was the first hot shower B&B had since Jan 2008. The nurse came every 4 hours to check on her and give her a shot of pain medicine and nausea medicine via her IV line….even though Brit told her she wasn’t having any pain or nausea. They didn’t allow her to get out of bed or eat that day….but by dinner time she had walked to the restroom (which was in her room) and eaten a large hamburger Bobby smuggled in from Wendys.
The doctor came in the next morning. Bobby, Beatriz (a young woman that lives with them), and
I had stayed with Britney all night. I think we looked and felt worse than she did. When he removed the bandage on her neck I was amazed to see the large metal clamps (much bigger than staples) that he used to close her incision. The MD said we could go, so we thought we were ready to pay the bill and get home. We were past ready to leave and Brit felt and looked great, no complications at all.That’s when we ran into financial complications. We already knew that every patient had to pay the bill in full before they were allowed to leave, and the MD told us that it would cost no more than $2400 for 2 nights. Brit called the hospital a couple of days before the surgery to confirm that she could use a credit card to pay the bill. However, when we went to pay the bill, the cost was $2600, and the fee for the MD had to be paid in cash (or it technically could be paid with a credit card with a 22% fee added to it). Next problem…the ATM machines only allow a person to get $400 out per day, and we needed way more $400. And worse yet, B&B didn’t have the amount needed in their checking account. (The person who wires $ from the USA is not good about getting money into their account in a timely manner each month.) After many calls, someone was able to reach the MD and he permitted Brit to pay his portion of the bill at her follow-up appointment the following week. Whew!
Ultimately, Brit’s test results came back showing that there were no cancerous cells in the tumor or lymph nodes. She was up on her feet, washing clothes by hand, sweeping/mopping the floors, and her normal daily stuff the day after surgery. Aint God good!
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