Sick

A few months ago I wrote about my experience going to the ER in Vigo due to some cuts I had on my knee. Unfortunately, I've had another reason to head to the doctor this week as Tuesday I started feeling sick. Being stubborn (which I come by honestly, for those of you who know my parents), I suffered through classes Tuesday, started losing my voice Wednesday and yet still conducted class all day, and Thursday I kept on with fewer classes but also less voice.

I figured all I had was a sore throat and maybe a sinusitis which seems to come more and more frequently, so what was the point of going to see a doctor? All they can do is treat the symptoms and nothing really is cured by a doctor's visit. Today, however, I woke up feeling worse and decided that rest and hot tea would not be enough.

My program pays for a private health insurance program and through that program I have a rather huge list of doctors I can go see, the problem is not having a doctor, but determining the right one to go see and then getting an appointment. Upon waking up today at 10:45, I spent an hour going through the list trying to decide if I needed to go to the ER (which is much more commonplace here than in the states), the general hospital or a general doctor. A Spanish friend had told me to just call the hospital, explain my symptoms and get an appointment, going to the ER if I needed. I made several calls that varied from harassed nurses saying, "Okay, now just tell me what you really want!" to no answers to a couple clinics explaining that after 11 on Fridays they no longer assign appointments but you must go to certain clinics that are open all day and take walk-ins. Eventually I did the latter.

I went to the general health clinic associated with the hospital next to my house and waited to give my name. I felt foolish enough trying to explain what I wanted and needed, spelling my name and giving information about my healthcare program--not because I couldn't express myself in Spanish for once, but because I had/have no voice and was speaking in less than a hoarse whisper such that the nurse leaned closer to me to hear.

Then went by an hour and fifteen minutes of waiting. I knew I would have a long time to wait, but after 45 minutes and having seen two or three people go in before me who arrived after I had, I began to wonder if my name had been properly added to the list. I was finally taken in by the one family practitioner on duty at that time and she sat down and said, "Alright, tell me what's up," but almost immediately got up after I said, "Well, that's a bit difficult." She spent two seconds with a flashlight in my mouth, another two feeling my neck for swollen glands, and then maybe a couple minutes writing my prescription which is a medley of medication to be taken, some, for the next fifteen days.

Woohoo. I'm so happy. Not. So my long weekend spent to be planned doing a bit of traveling has been cancelled. Next Monday, Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday I have the opportunity to go hiking with friends and couchsurfers, but that will all depend on my health. Supposedly my voice should be back Monday, but if it's not I have to go see the doctor again. Here's hoping everything heals up this weekend and the weather turns around for a nice week in the mountains next week!