Quiero ver al médico

My 2 doctor's office building

What is more un-nerving than having to find a new doctor? Maybe it’s finding new doctors for absolutely everything. It seems there are very few GP’s here – you must see a specialist for everything. The past two weeks we’ve been running the gamut of appointments with everyone from Dermatologists to an Endocrinologist to a Veterinarian to getting lab work done – for 3 of us. Each experience has been “interesting” and some of them have been more of a challenge than others. Thank heavens for Pamela, an American who is a registered nurse and has set up a business of recommending and organizing medical contacts. Because we are in a tourist area and there are a lot of expats living here, all of Pamela’s doctors are carefully chosen to speak a bit of English. And the facilities, while basic and clean, are fully equipped. Most Mexican patients would feel that a doctor’s office in the US would be luxurious. One of the major benefits is there is no long waiting period. That is, if you can afford the specialists who mainly treat gringos or Mexicans who have more disposable income. From what we’ve been told, the IMSS, the equivalent of the NHS in the UK, is run just like the NHS but sometimes wait times can be even longer. In smaller villages, the IMSS may be a good solution but in larger cities like Puerto Vallarta the services are vastly over loaded. Foreigners can apply but there are a lot of restrictions and few really want to.

First off we both visited a Dermatologist because of the strong sun here year around; we have to be careful of our skin. Steve’s pasty white British skin is more susceptible than mine although he’s acquiring a tan just from his walks. Even though I was a complete sun worshiper when I was younger (yes, I did the whole slathering in oil and frying for hours thing), the Doctor said that I have extremely good skin and must have good genes. I then had an appointment with the Endocrinologist. I love her! She’s a petite young woman who looks all of 15, but she so knows her stuff. She ordered lab tests that the doctors in the US wouldn’t even consider even though I’d asked. Her English is minimal, but it’s a darned sight better than my Spanish and we managed to communicate. My doctor and I were right, and the US doctors were all wrong. My lab test showed a thyroid deficiency that only shows up with special tests.

Our local hospital

My last appointment led to lab tests at the laboratorio. I was told to fast the night before and to show up (no particular lab – my choice and it was up to me to find one) sometime between 7 am and 10 am. I dutifully fasted and arrived at a nearby hospital at 7.30, only to be told the lab technicians didn’t come in until 8 am. The receptionist spoke English, thank heavens. I went back at 9.30 just to be on the safe side. A few days later Steve also had to go to the lab, and I had to go back for another test, so we knew this time not to rush in first thing in the morning.

The lab technician is a wonderful woman who speaks absolutely no English. She asked me to complete a form with basic information (all in Spanish of course) and then she took my blood. I’ve been through this process enough, so I knew the drill. A slight communication issue occurred when she tried to tell me that the lab would email me the results, but I finally understood. I’m not used to receiving my own lab results, which I then had to take to my specialist.

Dr Tamayo with a
slightly larger cat

One sick little guy!

During all of our various medical appointments we noticed that our cat, Ali, had a tumor just above his left eye that seemed to be growing since we’d moved. We had already made contact with a Veterinarian who gets my vote for the best in the whole world. Dr. Tamayo said that he would do surgery on Ali the following Monday. Dr. Tamayo was born in Mexico but lived in the US for 21 years, so his English is excellent, not to mention that he has a wonderful accent. Having him explain the problem and explain what he would do in English was a refreshing change. Ali came through the surgery OK but had to wear a cone so that he didn’t scratch his stitches for almost 2 weeks.  He was so drugged when we brought him home that he didn’t move, eat or drink any water. The following day, by late afternoon, he still wasn’t responding and his left eye was having some discharge. We took him back to Dr. Tamayo, and he gave him some subcutaneous fluids. Ali was running a fever and his left eye was infected so we went home with antibiotics and eye medicine and one very sick cat! Have you ever tried giving medicine to a cat?

Feeling much better

Two weeks later after multiple trips back to see Dr. Tamayo, Ali is almost back to himself and not fighting us as we put in the eye drops. We finally got the lab results from his cyst, and it was benign so we celebrated with some extra treats (cat treats for him and a margarita for us).

We’ve been amazed that at every appointment but one, we’ve walked straight in with no waiting. The one time I did have to wait for 2 hours was probably not usual. Of course, that was the time that I didn’t take my Kindle. I did text Steve who was waiting at home to let him know that I was waiting for the doctor and not crashed into or cut off by a crazy Mexican driver.

farmacia we didn't go to

Getting our prescriptions filled has also been an intriguing experience. You don’t need a prescription for anything that we are on – blood pressure or cholesterol. You just go to the pharmacy and ask for what you want. Of course they don’t speak English, so you need to know what the Spanish name for your drug is. The pharmacists also don’t keep any records of who you are or what you purchase. That’s entirely up to you. There seems to be a farmacia on every street corner and sometimes there’s one or two in between. Some of them are tiny, about the size of your closet, and aren’t always recommended. We opted for a larger one that was recommended by Pamela and the specialists. And for the gringos who don’t want to risk a Mexican farmacia, there’s always Walmart, Sams Club and Costco. We’ve compared prices and the Mexican farmacia is cheaper so we’ve gone this route.

Our farmacia

As I mentioned, one of the major differences we’ve noticed is that it takes much less time to get an appointment. I was able to make appointments with two separate doctors within a week of calling. I’ve learned that calling to “hacer una cita” (make an appointment) when the other person doesn’t understand any English is a whole other experience and another blog for another time. Except for my one 2-hour wait, we’ve not had to sit in a waiting room. We’ve not even waited for Dr. Tamayo. As soon as we take Ali in, he's right there to take care of him. In the US, I couldn’t ever figure out why if I have the first appointment of the day, did I still have to wait at least 45 minutes to see the doctor? I’ve also found doctors here in PV to be more thorough and take more time with you. In the US, I felt as if the doctor was rushing through a 15-minute appointment so that they could get on with others (more patients, more money, right?). Here, an appointment is an hour, or however long it takes, and the Doctor takes their time. The downside is that since it’s a cash-based society, you pay the cash up front, even for lab work, and there’s also no insurance coverage for outpatient services. Appointments with specialists are “top dollar”, meaning that fees for an hour range from US$35 to $50 and follow ups are no cost. Costs are a very small fraction of what they are in the US.

Hopefully we are now pretty well established for medical resources. We still have a few things to sort out but major things such as registering with our consulate and getting doctors established are now done. This is good because we begin our rather intensive Spanish lessons this week. We’ve not had a chance to explore much the past couple of weeks other than walking around old town. I’ve found a brilliant hair stylist, Javier, who speaks a little bit of English and two nail salons where they speak no English. It’s made for some entertaining appointments. Hopefully my Spanish lessons will help when I go back. I’ll keep you informed.

Coming up on the 15^th and 16^th is the celebration of Mexican Independence Day. Decorations of red, green and white have been up for over a week now downtown and most of the stalls have some mementos to help celebrate. There will be a magnificent festival on the night of the 15^th with ample food, music and fireworks. We plan on attending along with most of the PV residents. If we aren’t having a typical monsoon that evening, I’ll have pictures to post.