Thursday, August 30, 2012
Since Monday, I've been limping around the apartment due to an unfortunate misstep while going down the stairs. I basically slid down three of them on my left heel. I barely had enough time to congratulate myself on staying upright when the pain started.
Ever since then, I've had no trouble using the foot, but I'm unable to put any weight on my heel at all. (knifing pain = bad). So long as I walk on the ball of my foot only, there's no pain. Today, I got out of bed, and having forgotten about my injury, I started walking as I normally do.
OUCH! It hadn't seemed to heal at all.
I decided to have a doctor take a look, just to make sure half of my heel bone wasn't floating around unattached down there.
So here's story of my very first India Dr. appointment. I called a medical center we drive by almost every day, and told the lady about my ankle, and asked whether they had anyone who could look at it. She set up an appointment at 1:30 pm. A photo of the waiting room. Don't we all look so happy? (It's just like home :) )
Ever since then, I've had no trouble using the foot, but I'm unable to put any weight on my heel at all. (knifing pain = bad). So long as I walk on the ball of my foot only, there's no pain. Today, I got out of bed, and having forgotten about my injury, I started walking as I normally do.
OUCH! It hadn't seemed to heal at all.
I decided to have a doctor take a look, just to make sure half of my heel bone wasn't floating around unattached down there.
So here's story of my very first India Dr. appointment. I called a medical center we drive by almost every day, and told the lady about my ankle, and asked whether they had anyone who could look at it. She set up an appointment at 1:30 pm. A photo of the waiting room. Don't we all look so happy? (It's just like home :) )
Forty five minutes after my 1:30 appointment time, I was still sitting here. (Also just like home. ) But when the doctor was finally free, he poked around on my heel, I yelped in pain, and he sent me downstairs to x-ray.
The cool part in India? You get to keep your x-rays. They took one from the top (not sure why), and from the side. Behold, my bones.
And with my superior Paint skills, I've highlighted the ouchie.
The doctor looked at the x-rays, and pronounced me a bad candidate for amputation, and recommended I take some anti-inflammatory and pain meds and shut up. I thought that sounded like a pretty good idea. All in all this was a good experience, but I must admit -- the very best part of being in India was the bill.
We carry what we consider 'emergency insurance' here in India, which means we purchased a plan that will cover hospital stays only. The rest of our medical expenses are 100% out of pocket. In the United States, this would be a very bad thing, as x-rays can run $250 and up.
My total bill for today's visit? (Two x-rays and consultation charge) - 700 rupees (about $14). I thought about asking them to go ahead and x-ray everything, so I could build a cool paper skeleton from the scans.
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