I just spent twelve days in this hospital in Alajuela, Costa Rica. I had an endarterectomy. The problem was discovered 2 years ago. After tests after tests after tests, the decision was finally made to give me the procedure. The biggest symptom I had was dizziness due to the restricted flow of blood to my brain. I had reached a point where I had to resign from my job and was relegated to the use of a cain to get around. 

 

The surgery was 2 1/2 hours long and according to the surgeon was time well spent. There were two different places that had to be cleaned where the blood flow was 80% blocked. In other words, I was a walking stroke waiting to happen. Now I am at home beginning a 3-5 week recovery period. 

 

I want to talk about the stark differences between my hospital stay here verses the one(s) I had in the states. The last one there was when I had open heart surgery in 2001. I was admitted on a Tuesday and released on the following Sunday. Five days for that and twelve days for this last event. The reason for the big difference is because here they have no, or at best very little, a concept of time. An hour, a day. The difference just does not register to a Costa Rican as it does to a North American. For that reason, I had to confidently assert myself otherwise I would still be laying there while the doctors continued to waffle and waver on what and when to actually do something. 

 

There are no private rooms. You are assigned a bed in a ward with 5 other men. No TV and in my case another inconvenience, no one speaks English. I read three books and blew up my cell phone watching Youtube videos. The beds are the old crank versions.           

                          

If you have had hospital food before you know how inferior it is. However, the food in a third world country hospital wishes to be elevated to the inferior level. My saving grace was that my wife was able to smuggle in some eatable snacks and juice boxes. The nurses were kind enough to look the other way as I sneaked the consumption of them. I got the sense that they were willing to give me some leeway since I was the token Gringo.    

There are private hospitals here but I was in one in the 90's and they really aren't much better than the social ones. The interesting thing is that many from the states come here for certain procedures because the cost is so much lower. I guess that some people will tolerate certain conditions in order to save a few bucks. Then there are those of us that have no choice. We live here and have no interest in leaving. 

         

                                                        Hippocratic Oath