Hospital Update
category: Jims Guatemala

It’s been over 20 years since I spent any quality time in a hospital, so I don’t have a good basis of comparison. I think I am a grumpy patient, I get that from my Dad. They just came in to take three MORE vials of blood and 4 more slides. Either way, I am cool as long as they only take stuff OUT, and don’t put anything IN. I have no trust of hospitals. They can have all the blood and poop they want, and X-rays are pretty noninvasive. But when they first mentioned a body-cavity exam, I jumped out of bed and was going for my backpack. Luckily, I asked for clarification, and found out that “body cavity search” in Spanish means you get an ultrasound… a little different than in the USA.

Then the wheelchair showed up to take me to the ultrasound. “Um, I’m not getting in that thing,” I told the baffled looking nurses. “Come back when I’m 80 and we can talk about it.” The second bit at least made them chuckle, and they let me walk myself.

The ultrasound tech was friendly, and basically checked out all the organs I know the words for in Spanish… and a few I don’t. He said that they all looked fine, and that he hadn’t seen anything in the X-rays either. (I checked his lab coat, and he’s also the radiologist, apparently.) He DID find and photograph an anomaly on my vesícula biliar, though, but he said it probably isn’t anything I should worry about.

But guess what, I did worry! That was the one organ he mentioned that I didn’t know the English for. I returned to my laptop, and confirmed my guess: gall bladder. Ironically, my dad just had his removed less than 2 months ago. Nothing will probably come of it, but I can’t help wonder if they would do surgery for that here, in Guatemala City, or if they would medevac me to the military base in Panama? Blech.

But, in general, I can’t complain too much about the care I am getting…yet. Sure, the instrument tray is rusty, the rooms are without heat and straight from the 60s, and they use mercury thermometers right after I’ve had some water… but I can let that slip. The nurses are friendly, the doctors are willing to talk, and they use disposable syringes and lancets. Lets hope it stays this friendly.

Posted by: jfanjoy