In all of our years of travelling, I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had to visit a doctor or a hospital in a foreign land. If you truly want to get a sense of how a country treats its citizens, get sick. A hospital visit gives you an insight you wouldn’t normally get to have. You can add it to your list of adventures and experiences!
We have been very fortunate that all five of those visits were for us, not our children. I guess it’s true what they say, children are resilient. Well, that or maybe us adults were so tired trying to keep everything going that we were ripe for infection and injury. A little of column A, a little of column B.
Let me recap for you our experiences. Luckily nothing was ever too serious and we were able to get great medical care everywhere. The biggest differences was in the cost.
Ireland | 2015
In Ireland, I came down with a case of laryngitis. While the kids were probably relieved I couldn’t speak, I was in agony and although smoothies helped, I knew I’d need a trip to the doctor. It was well passed office hours so we went to the ER. As I wasn’t in any way emergent, we anticipated being there for quite some time. Surprisingly, I was in and out with a diagnosis and a prescription in under three hours. Amazing. It only cost us the price of the prescription and I was speaking again in less than two days.
In Jamaica, I got stung by a jellyfish. Ouch. We do not live close to water so this was a brand new experience for
us; the only way we knew how to treat this was from the old wives tale that you should pee on it. No thanks. It was close to midnight when this happened so our options were limited. The resort sent us to a sort of clinic – I am positive it wasn’t a full on hospital. We were not allowed in the doors – they were double bolted – until we could show them a VISA card. We had to guarantee that we could pay before they would look at us. I’m glad I wasn’t having an allergic reaction. Once inside though, wow. They were amazing. Patient and understanding as they dealt with us ignorant, landlocked dwellers. The visit and treatment cost us less than $200US. Not bad at all.
In the US, I got extremely ill and had to spend an overnight in the hospital. Great care, but boy, the invoices that showed up a couple of weeks later were shocking. If I had to do that one over again, I’d probably tough it out in the hotel room and cross my fingers that I wasn’t actually at the end of my life. I was fortunate that not only was I okay, we had insurance that paid for 95% of it. I was still more than $200 out of pocket though…
In Mexico, I missed a curb and landed hard in the middle of the road. Within three seconds, all the men in a 15 foot radius ran to help me up. My husband and children were so stunned that they were frozen in place for those 3 seconds. I was fine, but I had a good case of road rash and blood was pouring out of my elbows. Hmmmm…I can’t imagine the road in Mexico is the cleanest place. Better get it properly checked out and cleaned. This was a simple case of going back to the resort and seeing the doctor on call. He was amazing! I left there with an armful of extra dressing and cleanser to take care of it, with the option of going back to see him twice a day if I preferred that. (I didn’t.) We didn’t have to pay anything extra for any of that. Nice.
Disney Cruise | 2018
And finally, Jason was the fallen soldier while we were in Florida. If you’re unaware, at certain times of the year, Florida experiences torrential rains for about 30 minutes every afternoon. Jason’s feet never got the chance to dry while we were walking around Disneyworld. By the time we were on the cruise ship 10 days later, his feet were a mess. We convinced him to see the ship’s doctor and rightly so, he had a case of cellulitis. Eek. Two rounds of antibiotics and treatment of the skin were the doctor’s orders. Jason was just happy that he was still allowed to enjoy a glass of wine or two with dinner. Yes, that was doctor approved. Over the course of the week, he went back to get the dressing changed and to make sure the infection was clearing up. This treatment was included in our cruise fees. Phew!
Listing these out, I see that I am the weakest link. I prefer to think of it as selflessly falling on the sword, taking one for the team, bearing that cross. #selfless
Overall, we have been extremely fortunate in our severity of illness, or lack thereof, and the excellent care we have received wherever we needed it. Would zero incidents be better? Of course. I still think though, that for four people, five visits in twenty plus years is pretty darn good. We’ll still keep paying our insurance premiums.
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