A Hospital Tale (with photos)

A tale of three toes...

Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a far away land called Bali. One day, she was attacked by a vicious parasite that made her very, very sick! On one of the days when she was starting to feel better, her handsome Prince Charming helped her walk to the beach and rented a pair of lounge chairs under a large umbrella so the princess could get some fresh air and relax.

Relax was the last thing this poor Princess could do! Every 2 minutes she was approached by another woman trying to sell her something: "Manicure? Pedicure? Bracelets? Bangles? Braid your hair, pretty lady?" Nothing interested the poor Princess, except the pedicure would be a nice treat and would hopefully make the other ladies go away so she could sleep. $5 and ten pink toes later, the Princess was able to sleep soundly.

Or so she thought...

Little did the Princess know that her bliss was not to last long.

A few days later, after a trip to the hospital and lots of antibiotics, the Princess was beginning to feel better. Her Charming Prince decided to take her on a tour of the countryside for fresh air and sightseeing since he knew she had felt all cooped up all week long.

*WARNING - graphic photo to follow!*

It had been a beautiful ride through rice fields and along black sand beaches. But on the way home, it started to rain - hard! The Prince had nothing to shelter his Princess with so he sped his galiant steed (er, motorbike) down the highway towards home as quick as he could! Just minutes from safety, a mean, nasty, disgruntled motorbike fender was envious of the Charming Prince and Princess and viciously cut the Princess' toes as they rode by!

(doesn't look as bad since it's all taped up. I decided to spare you the ugliness without the bandages.)

Outraged by such a malicious attack, but with no time for retaliation since the Princess was bleeding profusely all over her royal sandals, the Charming Prince dashed to the International SOS Hospital to save

his darling!

Would he make it? Would the Princess walk or surf again?

In answer to his desperate plea, the most Noble Doctor in all the land happened to be working that night in the hospital. With expert care, he tended to the wounded Princess and saved her pretty little toes. The kingdom rejoiced!!

and the Princess lived happily ever after,

and with this little tote to carry her meds.

Hooray!

and to Hospital one more time...

I just can't stay away from the hospital, apparently.

We rent a motorbike every Sunday so we can go to church. Since we have the bike for the entire day, Sunday afternoons have become our time to tour around the island. We went to Keramas surf spot and up to the beautiful rice fields in the countryside. That evening on our way home it started to rain hard. We had no jackets and I was still in my church dress so JP was hurrying to our apartment. About 5 minutes away, as we were weaving our way through the traffic-jammed cars, he came a little too close to some parked motorbikes and my toes scraped against a motorbike's fender. It cut 4 of my toes on the left foot, 3 of them pretty badly. By the time we got to the apartment my sandel was covered in blood. We went inside and washed off my foot to get a closer look at the cuts. It looked as though stitches might be necessary. So I hobbled back downstairs and onto the motorbike to ride to the hospital...for the 2nd time in a week.

The doctor was amazing. He seemed to have the skill and precision of a brain surgeon who, since no brain surgeries were needed at the moment, was glad to practice his expertise on my poor little toes. After painstakingly disinfecting and examining my toes he declared that stitches would NOT be needed. Whew! I was in so much pain that I didn't want even more inflicted upon me. He then proceeded to bandage up my toes with such carefulness and skill as I've never seen in a Kaiser ER. Seriously, both JP and I were quite amazed at the talent, thoughtfulness, patience and care this doctor was taking on just plain 'ol cut toes. We could tell how much pride and joy he took in his work.

The whole visit was over less than an hour later. They gave us an itemized bill and it was so refreshing to see that weren't charged $10 per cottonball and other such nonsense that can be found on Emergency Room bills sometimes. It all added up to $200, including 2 more prescriptions for pain and antibiotics, in addition to the antibiotics I'm already taking for the parasite.

JP had asked me earlier this week what I wanted to take back with me to the US as souveniours of our trip. Considering we've spent almost $300 on hospital bills, I'd say that my parasite and bandages will be plenty. :)

Hospitals and Earthquakes

It's been quite an eventful week. I'm finally on the road to a full recovery. Yay! :)

This morning I was abruptuly woken by a small earthquake. It lasted about 15 seconds. No damage and no injuries, but still quite a shocking way to wake up! But all is well. :)

Being sick this past week gives me an opportunity to tell you a bit about the health care and hospitals over here. Most Indonesians don't have health insurance. If someone gets sick, you just pay for treatment out of pocket. And yet the treatments are so much cheaper than if you had to pay out of pocket in the USA. Interesting...

I started out feeling very achey, like the flu was coming. Then the bad stomeache cramps started. Diarreha and vomiting for 4 or 5 days can really leave a person feeling week. We had tried to find some over the counter medicine, but with little luck. They don't have NyQuil or Beptobismal so I hardly slept a night. We did find some medicine but it didn't do much. We finally called a local friend and asked for a recommendation for a doctor or hospital. Naturally, we were both weary about what kind of sanitation and skill we would find in a local hospital.

The International SOS Medical Clinic was recommended and we took a taxi over there immediately. Much to my surprise, and great relief, it was clean, safe and well-staffed by very skilled and knowledgeable doctors and nurses. It's an Australian company that has SOS clinics all over the world, catering mostly to travellers. My doctor spoke great English and she was very knowledgeable about all the things I mentioned in my health history and I was immediately comfortable with her competence.

The doctor visit was $68, the lab tests $10 and the medicine to kill my parasite was $30 = $108 total. Not bad for no insurance and paying out of pocket!! Could you imagine how expensive it would have been to pay out of pocket in the US?! Plus, no waiting and the clinic is open 24/7. Perhaps "free healthcare" isn't the answer...perhaps the US should take a closer look at health insurance and why it's so expensive in the first place and what it's doing to make plain-ol-treatments and doctor visits so expensive without it...why do we need a health insurance plan at all?

What's your thoughts?

Things to come...

Sorry I haven't posted in a week!! I've been a bit sick so I haven't left our apartment for a few days. I'm finally venturing forth so a local mini mart with internet access since I seriously need some food. :)

But, I have some big plans of things to come:

• Video tour of our new place and neighborhood
• Surfing Footage (there were some BIG waves the other day)
• Photos and video of the people in their daily life over here
• Video of the amazingly skilled crafstmen. Seriously, such talent over here!

Anyway, so as soon as I'm feeling a bit better I'll finish up those projects and post them. I already have the photos and footage, I just need to formet and edit them. Take care!

Food, Glorious Food

I'm already getting hungry just posting these photos. Here are some examples of the food available 24/7 here in Bali...

Bananas are always aplenty. Just walk down the street to find dozens of banana trees lining the roads. This one below used to have bananas growing all the way down to the flower, but most have already been harvested.

These coconut stands can be found everywhere. This one was at the airport! :)

JP and I ordered some food at the Food Court at Discovery Mall in Kuta to see what it would be like. Here's my Chicken Satay with a soy sauce/peanut sauce. Yum!

JP orderd the BBQ Ribs. They came "off the bone" and it was mostly fat. Too bad since they look so tasty! And served on a cow-shaped skillet as a reminder of whence they came. haha!

There is this bakery at the Discovery Mall called Bread Talk. They have so many unique and inviting types of bread for main dishes or desserts or just as a snack.

This California Cake was filled with cream and covered with, of course, none other than California Raisins! :)

Check out the perfectly rectangular loaves of bread. Wow.

Those chocolate muffins made my mouth water, too!

And what bakery would be complete without something covered in chocolate? :)

Okay, so most of these foods are for tourists and not really what the locals eat. But we spend most of our meals either in our hotel or in Kuta which is a very touristy place. I'll see what we can find that's a more realistic representation of what the Balinese people eat. :)

Serangan Fishing Village

Last Sunday, after church, we decided to take a leisurely stroll over to a nearby fishing village that, we were told, was an excellent place to find large seashells. Well, we didn't find any shells, but we did see a lot of pretty cool stuff. We ended up walking about 6 miles!

Serangan is actually a separate island connected to Bali by a bridge.

All those tiny dots in the water are fisherman. They wade out up to their waist or chest to fish.

I don't think that boat is going anywhere anytime soon. :)

Some of these ships look like something out of Pirates of the Carribean!

The entire island is made up of this white coral. So even the dirt and dust are white! Crazy.

Here are some houses in the village. Cement floors. No glass in the windows, just bamboo "curtains"

We could've bought our very own rooster! This is how they sell them. We did see some cock fighting going on. JP wouldn't let me get close enough to see the action. He thought it would be too gruesome for me.

The locals were all very friendly and loved having their pictures taken. Notice that no seatbelts are required. haha

Seaweed is also harvested here. They pull it from the ocean and lay it out to dry on the sidewalks. Then they sort it and cut it up to be used in food and probably sold to some local spas for treatments.

Fisherman

Catch of the day! These guys were pretty big.

BBQ Fish-ka-bobs! Yum! They smelled so good and I don't even like fish!

They had these fish stands everywhere. Only $1 for a fishstick and scoop of rice. Not a bad meal! This is actually what I envisioned us eating over here. But these stands are only in the non-tourist areas.

Another local going for a stroll. :)