Hospital Visit

No worries, there is no emergency or dire situation.  Thought I should throw that disclaimer out there before anyone freaked out.  I’ve had a cyst on the back of my hand for about two years with no problem, but it’s started bring my hand pain in the last couple of months.  Considering healthcare is pretty cheap here and we don’t have insurance back home, we thought we’d test the waters about getting it removed here.  This is the before picture of my cyst:

We had no idea how appointments were made so we just went to the hospital to get an idea of what to expect.  Little did we know that appointments aren’t necessary!  We came during the free consultation period (3-5pm) and waited for about an hour to see the general surgeon.  We went in his office and gave him the low down.  He said there is no way I was feeling any pain, as the cyst was not by any nerves.  Thank you Dr. Compassionate.  But he was willing to take it out.  Come back tomorrow before 10:30 he says.  The best part is that he gave me a prescription for everything needed for the surgery.  The injection, the wrapping.  Later he made me go get a “large needle.”  Again, not the thing I want to hear.  It ended up being about the size of a coffee stirrer and was hollow inside. This was what the doctor would use to drain my cyst.  We went once at 10 and were denied but then returned at 12 to this wonderful hospital:

We waited again for about an hour (we were ready with books this time).  While we waited, patients on stretchers and wheel chairs were just rolled up to this end of the hall and left, waiting for a doctor or something.  There is little to no patient privacy here.  Then he called me into this unmarked room at the end of a hall, with a setting that reminded me of the 1950s.  I quickly scanned to assess the sterilization of the room and the tools.  It passed my test.  I was instructed to lie down on the table and stretch out my hand.  Mike came in with me thank goodness (I’m not a huge fan of needles, ask my mom).  They cleaned the area and then used local anesthetic.  The procedure was uncomfortable and nerve racking for me (though I didn’t watch it) but I was thankful I felt mostly a hard pressure and weird movements of my hand.  Mike watched the whole thing and said I should be glad I missed the show, didn’t look pretty.  Anyways, after using the hefty needle, they injected me with something that was supposed to break down the capsule that encased the cyst.  During the whole thing, they spoke mostly in Marathi or Hindi, unless they were telling me to hold still.  It was hard to be comfortable when they weren’t communicating with me what was going on, but Mike was the most compassionate person in the room and took care of me and my anxieties.  One doctor was teaching the other how to do this surgery and then there was a nurse.  The whole process took about 10 minutes.   I felt really queasy afterwards and had to sit down while Mike took care of the billing.  The doctor wanted to get an X-ray to see if there was any bone because there was still some swelling.  While waiting (this was my favorite part of the whole thing) I saw a man with hair around his ear lobes that stuck out for at least an inch.  Built in ear-muffs!  It had me instantly laughing and feeling better.  Here’s me after the whole deal with my x-rays and wrapped hand:

The whole process was a learning experience and I was telling Mike that you should always embrace the chance to visit a international hospital to get a full cultural experience.  Some interesting observations we had:

1.  No appointments, first come first serve

2.  Cheaper than the US (the whole thing (injection, wrap, doctor, x-rays, drugs and all): under $20)

3.  There is little to no description from pharmacist.  The drug for reducing swelling did not come in a box and had no instructions attached (no side effects, no how to take instructions, nothing!)  I had to look it all up for myself.  I don’t know how other people do it!

4.  Patients must be very proactive to get information from the doctor.  I questioned everything and asked a lot of questions because I knew what questions to ask and how it should be done.  What do people do that don’t know how to ask, do they just assume the doctor knows everything and doesn’t need to understand themselves?

5.  The pharmacy was just a room that had people running about filling prescriptions but there was no educational piece with the patient. 

6.  There are a lot of people.  everywhere in India there are a lot of people.  It certainly had the hospital hustle and bustle feel. 

7.  Doctors don’t seem to make bank here, unless there is an outside fund that salaries come from because treatments are so cheap. 

8.  The toilets at this hospital (at least the one by general surgery) should be avoided at all costs.