Mi Pobrecito!

A month ago, Pedro pulled his hamstring playing soccer. He was in a lot of pain and some lovely purple bruises developed over the following days.

(1st injury)

He took some pills for the pain, I gave him some therapeutic massages and after a month he was convinced that he could go back to playing soccer. I warned him that he needed to take it easy--I was thinking maybe half a game and he was thinking the usual 2-3 games.

So today he went off to play soccer and a few hours later I received a call from him. When he said hi, I knew something was wrong. He said his leg felt good for the first game, but during the second game he felt the pain again! He should have listened to me! So after he arrived home we went to the nearest clinica.

(2nd injury)

Medical care in Peru is another phenomenon I will never understand. First of all, in the US, you would never go to the emergency room for a pulled muscle. You´d be at the end of the triage line and have to wait for hours. We walked into the emergency entrance (but it felt like we were walking into the morgue--there wasn´t a soul there!). We talked to the receptionist, paid the fee for seeing a doctor (75 soles=$25), and waited in a curtained room. The nurse came in, did the usual blood pressure and pulse taking, and said a specialist would be right in. Maybe 20 minutes later, the doctor came in, examined Pedro, then left. The nurse returned and immediately started talking to me, in Spanish of course. I had to take a paper to the pharmacy to get some things that Pedro would need--some ace bandages, a shot (including the syringe) and some pain pills.

I took the order to the pharmacy, which was at the end of a LONG hallway. Of course, you have to pay for the items at the cashier, not at the pharmacy. I swear, they take pleasure in making people stand in lines in Peru! Anyway, the nearest caja (cashier) wasn´t open, as I mentioned the place was like a morgue. I had to walk back down the long hallway to the receptionist who was evidentally the cashier at this hour. After paying (90 soles=$30), it was back down the hall to the pharmacy to pick up the items, and then a fourth pass back to the room where Pedro was waiting.

When I returned to the curtain, Pedro´s leg was already bandaged and he had already been given the shot! Why had I just gone up and down the hallway to get all of those same things? To REPLACE the ones the doctor had used!

While I can´t complain about the price of a trip to the emergency room, I still can´t wait to be back home! Here´s some pics of the patient. Mi pobrecito!