The Hospital

No matter how great a Socialist Health care system looks on paper... its not all its cracked up to be.
I started to feel sick on wednesday morning so i left the school around 10am to go sleep it off.  I ended up staying home all day.  Elmer tried to force some alkeselzar mixture down me to help with my stomach but because i hadnt eaten anything it just made me feel even more sick.  I was supposed to go to Managua at 7am thursday morning to get things prepared for the next group coming up but i called in sick as i didnt think i would make it.  I spent all day thursday in the house as well being as lazy as possible and sleeping half the day without any luck of feeling better.  Friday morning at 2am, i couldnt breathe because i had such bad cramps in my stomach.  I woke my roommate up to ask what time the clinic opened.... its the closest thing to a hospital they have.  6am.   Luckily there is an emergency doctor that stays there overnight.  after throwing up, curling up in a ball from pain and shivering uncontrollably from fever, a truck from the school came to take me to the hospital. 

The hospital.  A building on top of the hill that has about 8 rooms.  the beds are wood  with a ´mattress´ that is about half an inche thick.  that is it.  Here, there is no one here to take care of you, change sheets on your bed, bring you food.  You have to bring someone with you.  So 2 of my roommates and Elmer brought with us sheets, a sleeping bag for a blanket, water, toliet paper and a pillow. 

After some more throwing up and a quick examination, they put an IV in me with fluid to rehydrate me, medicine to make me sleep and anti'parasite medicine.  I then was showed to my room that i shared with another boy who was about 14.  It was a long night to say the least.  Horrible cramps that i couldnt breathe through, fever, uncontrolable shaking, diaharea and headache.  After about an hour and half, my 2 roommates left to go back home to work and Elmer stayed with me.  I dont think he slept at all.  Every time i woke up he was there to help me as i couldnt sit up, could barley walk and couldnt move my IV stand to the bathroom.  I spent all day in the hospital.  Tons of people came to visit and bring Elmer food and coffee as he refused to leave my side.  At 1pm i was allowed 1 hour to go home and shower but then i had to come back.  At 8pm friday night I was allowed to go home so i could sleep in my own bed and i was given medicine to help me continue to feel better.

The ONLY plus side to this type of health care is it was all free.  Everything else sucked.  in 17 hours, a doctor looked at me 2 times.  and a nurse checked my IV maybe 5 times and only asked how i felt and the left again.  it smelled, it was dirty, there was no light in the bathroom, there was no water after 3pm friday, the bed was uncomfortable, there were ants crawling on me, i had to bring all of my own stuff.  I do not want to have to deal with that ever again!   O, and to top it off, i  had to go back on saturday to get an injection of more antibiotics... in my BUTT!!!  OWWWWWWW!