I spend the early hours of the morning sorting gear back into the duffle bags so that I can manage them in the room and at the airport. I’m hoping that they will release him on Thursday. Watch the morning news, learn that the Swiss have selected Valencia, Spain as the host city for the America’s Cup. I miss morning rounds, but R tells me that surgery is scheduled for 9:30 and that they want his foot elevated for 24 hours before he goes on crutches. He certainly won’t be released before Friday.
Entering the surgery “theater”
Now we find out the downside of the public health care system: waiting. They don’t send for R until 11:30, and everyone is acting like this is normal. R’s wardmates are entertaining enough, which is out of necessity since there is no tv. A hip replacement, a car wreck and a paragliding accident. Matthew, from Holland, crashed his paraglider in Queenstown on his 3rd solo, and was disappointed to be named a “student pilot” in the paper.
I also discover that this system fosters old-style patient-physican interactions, where the patient complies rather than questions. I am clearly causing a lot of stress on the nurse by asking why I won’t see the surgeon after the surgery. She has the reasonable expectation that I should be satisfied to wait for morning rounds like everyone else. For someone who has been trained by the American system that the patient participates and negotiates for care, being passive is hard.
While I wait for R to come back, I run into the hospital social worker, Christine. She’s trying to help the flying Dutchman Matthew get back to Queenstown, because he had left his wallet in his rental car when he went flying and has no money or credit cards until he meets up with his possessions. Christine is perturbed at the nurse’s failure to explain to me to ask to speak to the junior surgeon, the registrar of the surgery, and intermediates this request for me. She also explains how I will get the prescriptions filled when we go, and checks into the billing situation.
Apparently in NZ there is a national scheme to cover the medical costs of all accidents and we won’t be billed unless we switch to private medical care. Not even the helicopter ride. I suspect that it is partly a worker’s compensation issue, and we have been told it would even provide disability coverage if R were permanently unable to work. We did not come here to be a burden on the NZ taxpayers, but it doesn’t seem like there is a mechanism to pay anyway, so I figure it can be sorted out when we are back in Auckland if necessary.
Pain free at last
R comes back from surgery about 3 hours later, delighted with his surgeon and the procedure. He chose to have a spinal anaesthetic, so he was able to converse with the surgeon during and afterwards.
R says: Actually, the surgeon talked only to her compatriots during surgery. Focused. I chatted with Roger the anesthesiologist and Sarah, the head surgical nurse.
They took radiographs in the surgery suite to make sure the plate and 6 screws were properly positioned. Now he keeps the foot elevated, reactivates his gut, and avoids infection. Best of all, for the first time since the accident, he is not in any pain – spinal block will not wear off for a few hours.
I wait and wait and wait, and remind the nurse, and the next shift nurse, that I want to speak to registrar. Finally, about 8:45, the house doctor comes. No one is getting it that if we are going to get out of Invercargill before Tuesday, the booking agent needs to get our tickets before the weekend. I am a little worried that tickets at any price can’t be obtained – who knows what size aircraft they bring here. The house doctor is nice enough, but he’s only read the charts and won’t commit, so I surrender and resolve to be at the hospital in time for rounds the next day. At least the house doc confirms R’s impression that the surgery went well
The Burger King supplies a fine burger, fries and the smallest soda cup I have seen since Japan. At least there is a real ice machine, the first I have seen in NZ. It’s nice to talk to Michael for a bit before I study up on Queen Elizabeth’s relations.
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