Another small town example; the 27-year-old Doctora who sewed me up in the emergency room is our maid’s niece. Our maid (Mari) has a photo of Rodrigo and me in her home (she asked for a copy of one we have). While the Doctora didn’t recognize me when she was sewing me up, she must have thought about it later and remembered the photo in her aunt’s house. (In the photo I’m wearing the same jacket that I was wearing that ominous night.) The Doctora (Claudia) called the ranchito (our phone number was part of my check-out process) and talked with Mari. She said that she called to see how I was doing. Interesting. I wonder if she does that with all her emergency room patients.
I didn’t go back to the hospital to have my stitches removed. I went to our regular doctor and German-Mexican friend, Ricardo. As I was having my stitches removed, I asked him if I should have a tetanus shot.
“They didn’t give you one in the emergency room?”
“I don’t think so. The only shots that I got were in my eyebrow. It has probably been 20 years since I’ve had one. Do you have the shot here?”
“No. The only place they have it is at the Centro de Salud in La Lejona.”
He charged me nothing for the consultation nor for removing the stitches. (He says that Rodrigo and I are family, although he is straight, married to a beautiful British woman and has a tri-lingual 10-year-old son.)
So after shopping for a dinner party we were hosting that night (including a five pound filet mignon for only $25 USD), I found my way to the Centro de Salud.
The waiting room was packed. I was standing in line at the entrance but people kept cutting in front of me and waiving little booklets in front of the staff. Maybe they had appointments. So finally, in my best Spanish, I asked a staff member if I was in the right line for what I needed. He told me that I was not and pointed to a desk in the corner of the lobby that was relatively un-crowded.
Being the only gringo in the place, I’m sure that I stood out like a sore thumb. So it was no surprise when a nurse stepped up to me and asked me what I needed. When I showed her the note from my doctor she started asking me questions; Did I have some kind of card? Did I have any records of my vaccinations? Had I ever had a tetanus shot?
“No,” “No,” and “Yes.”
She then took down my name, address and age, completed a form and gave me a little book as a record of my vaccinations. She led me into a very clean examination room and told me that the shot was to be in my “pompis.” So I dropped one side of my pants and showed her probably the whitest ass cheek that she’s ever seen in her life. (I thought for a minute that she was going to ask to borrow my sun glasses.)
She deftly administered the shot and explained that a little soreness the next day is normal. (It is amazing how much Spanish that I now understand and at the same time, how little that I speak.) When I asked her where and how I pay, she told me that it was free.
No comments:
Post a Comment