I seem to be doing a tour of health services in various countries.
Las Vegas Urgent Care
In Las Vegas I had an infection that required fast care, and I was able to go to an Urgent Care clinic, which was great.
There are many of them, and some have long hours and are open 7 days a week, so we were able to go at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday and I had my meds by 8:30 a.m. Of course, the downside is that if you can’t afford to pay for such services, you are out of luck. That said, it was only US$90 for the appointment, which was far less than it would have been if I had had to go to an American hospital.
Stockholm Emergency
Next up was Stockholm, where I broke a leg.
We were on an easy hiking trail but somehow my foot slipped on a slick rock, ankle twisted and fibula split.
Both the people who helped me hop to a place where a vehicle could reach me and the Uber driver warned me that I should expect a “long” wait in Emergency.
I guess I just got lucky because my wait was all of about 10 minutes. The hardest part was simply finding the right entrance to the hospital, because there was construction everywhere and apparently Emergency has different locations depending on the nature of the emergency.
My super-kind Uber driver not only hunted till he could find a reasonably close entrance, he parked the car, went inside, got me a wheelchair, and wheeled me to the correct location (which involved taking an elevator). Thank goodness Uber now lets you add tips. His was enormous. But even not knowing that, as I was thanking him, he said, “It could be me someday.” Sweet.
(DH, meanwhile, rode my rental electric bike to the shop for an early return, then had to bus back to the trailhead, get his bike and pedal to the hospital.)
It was the nicest Emergency ward I’ve ever been in.
Calm, clean, and the staff all seemed to genuinely like each other and be helpful and cooperative. When DH couldn’t find the right part of the hospital the person who later did my cast (I’m not sure what her exact position is. Not a doctor, I think, but some sort of nurse?) offered to go get him. She also, when I commented that my phone was almost dead, said that she also had a Samsung phone, and so she plugged mine into her charger for a while.
It was also efficient. I was only sitting in a chair for 5 or 10 minutes before they brought me in and gave me a bed. They offered pain killers right away. Saw the doctor within about 20 minutes, then off to x-rays about 10 minutes later. X-ray results took maybe half an hour, and not long after that the doctor came back with the results.
She had thought through the implications of my flying in a couple of days so they put on a soft splint cast that was sliced open in the front so that there would be room for swelling during the flight. She also put me on a blood thinner to lower the risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is a higher risk when travelling with a leg cast.
London A&E
We were told by friends that the only place I could go to get into the system for new x-rays and a long-term cast was at a hospital A & E (Accidents & Emergencies).
Since we are in the centre of London, this was no simple feat. I suppose ambulance drivers know where the emergency wards are, but Google and Uber sure don’t.
The first Uber driver dropped us off at a children’s hospital. (OK, no jokes about my height here!) The second took us to the main entrance of the UCL Hospital, which seemed promising since it had a level entrance for me to crutch in through. But it turns out that the A&E entrance is around the corner, and not connected indoors. It also has a few steps you have to climb to get in!
Even though we went early, it filled up quickly, but was still remarkably fast; nothing like the the zoo I’m accustomed to in Emerg at places like the Royal Alex or the University Hospital in Edmonton. And, considering that I wasn’t in immediate danger or extreme pain, I was actually seen and an x-ray done amazingly quickly: just over 1 hour!
Now I have to wait for a call from the Fracture Clinic, where they will book an appointment for a new cast. But the doctor(? again, not sure of her role) who saw me before my x-rays said that the job they’d done on the cast in Sweden was better than what would have been done here, and that they would want me to stay in the flexible cast for the first two weeks anyway.
So now I’m at home, grateful that the London heat wave has broken (our little apartment has no air conditioning), and waiting for the “mobility scooter” that I’ve ordered, which should arrive sometime tomorrow and give me the freedom to escape these four walls and do a bit of exploring.
