Justin and I have been curious about Mexican health care and I thought getting my teeth cleaned would be a good way to test the waters. Justin had a different plan. He wrote to his friend Jeffery:
Had my 1st experience with Mexican health care last night. I was doing some pruning in the courtyard of the place we're staying ($100/month, BTW, because we know the caretaker and he knows we're in the market and that I'll help with the grounds
while we're deciding what to do.) Anyway, I inadvertently tried to poke my eye out with a stick. I wasn't successful, but the plant was a pencil plant, which has a toxic juice inside. I flushed the eye in question 30 seconds to a minute 3 times, then again for
10 full minutes. Paula in the meantime googled the side effects of exposure to pencil plant juice and they are quite horrific, especially to the eye.
 |
| Justin with Dr. Jessica |
"Dr. Jesica" saw me within 10 minutes. TEN MINUTES!!! At home, we might still be filling out paperwork.
Her English was excellent so of course I was able to tell the story with confidence and in greater detail this time and at two points she exclaimed, "Oh, my God!" To which I responded, "Please don't say that!"
Treatment commenced almost immediately and consisted of flushing my eye 3 or 4 more times, first with saline and then an anti bacterial. At some point she asked Paula to see what she discovered. The flap of cornea that was peeled back from whatever
is underneath it and flopping around in the eyewash like some exotic fish caused her rather quickly to sit back down before she fell down. Treatment concluded with application of an eye patch, a prescription for a pain killer and some drops, and a stern warning
to see an ophthalmologist in Merida in the morning.
All pretty standard I guess, but here's where the story takes a turn. Paula asked where we go next and the doctor said something like "Wherever you were going." And then we more or less took turns with the following.
...So do we pay at the front window?
...No.
...Do we pay you?
...No.
...So you need our insurance card?
...No.
...But we have to pay.
...No, this is my job.
...But we have to pay.
...But there is no charge.
We then took turns with a series of ums and ahs and a final, "Oh!" Some of which may or may not have actually been expressed, a profusion of praise which most certainly expressed, and we left.
We drove out of the parking lot and a few doors down to a tiny pharmacia just a few feet off the curb and still open. Paula hopped out and it seemed she was back before she left. I assumed they were unable to fill the prescription but nope,
she had dropped the bag in the door pocket, and we were off!
"How much?" I asked. "120 pesos," (about six bucks,) she said.
And there it was. An ER visit that might have cost hundreds in the states and prescriptions that could have been at least a hundred more totaled six bucks in Mexico.
Merida Clinic is a large, modern building of perhaps 7 stories chock full of doctors of all stripes. The specialist we saw can be found in room 321. Another streamlined process that included my name, dob, and where we are staying got us in the
office less than 20 minutes after Paula dropped me off at the door and the outcome is perfect. It turns out that if you keep a cut cornea stabilized under a closed eyelid under something like, say, an eye patch, it will reattach and heal itself in about 12
hours. Pretty miraculous. The good doctor did a complete eye exam anyway, said everything is perfect, and cleared me to do anything I want, except poke my eye out with a stick. Cost? 600 pesos, about 30 American. They wouldn't accept my insurance card and
aren't set up for credit cards so we paid cash. We may submit the bill to insurance but we've been really healthy, it's December so there's no way to make our deductible, and it's thirty bucks...so probably not.
   |
After I parked I headed to the information desk.
The attendant never asked my name. She
just handed me the note telling me where Justin was.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment