Abscess

A guest blip today as I couldn't figure out how to otherwise capture this particular image. I have been bother by a growth under my arm since Monday, but today it reached critical mass and I decided I needed to see a doctor as the home remedies were doing nothing to alleviate the pain and discomfort. My usual doctor was sick and unavailable. The dermatologist we have used was working a rotation at the Navy Hospital and unavailable. I was left with few resources, so turned to one of our Mexican friends.

She called a friend, who called another friend and I was quickly hooked up with a doctor at the local hospital's emergency room. The only issue was he didn't speak English. No problem, we have been living here six plus years and my wife has a pretty good grasp of the language. 

We arrived and were whisked past the masses waiting in the lobby by the doctor we were here to see. He led us into his office, which was overrun with nurse trainees. They cleared out while he examined my growth, but were soon back to check the computer, ask questions, and generally fill up the little office/exam room. The doctor decided the abscess had to be lanced (not the word he used). A flurry of nurses, nursing students actually, entered and equipment was set up. Excruciating pain followed as the student nurse forced the accumulated pus out the hole the doctor had cut in the top of the abscess. All the while, other students were coming and going behind the center of surgery and a couple of patients from the main section even passed through on their way back to the lobby. Usual Mexican chaos, but pretty unexpected at a medical facility.

Once the pain was over and the wound bandaged, I (rather my translator wife) was told the pus was so foul smelling that I needed a couple of antibiotic injections. Injections was a word lost in translation as it turned out to be an hour and a half intravenous drip rather than a couple of quick shots. During this time, others continued to come and go - the cleaning lady, another patient and her husband, a non-stop parade of students - very entertaining plus it gave us something to watch instead of the slowly (much too slowly as far as we were concerned) dripping IV. 

I was finally discharged with instructions and medication for the next week, through the very door a number of others had used during my stay. The entire cost was 1,500 pesos (less than $75 usd). It would probably have cost ten times that much in the United States and the process would have been much less entertaining, though undoubtably more what I am accustomed to in terms of privacy and cleanliness. Not for everybody, but then that is Mexico in general.