After a few nights in ICU Layne is pretty much back to normal and she has been moved to a general ward where care is dreadful, classic third world indifference, six women to a room, no air conditioning and nursing staff that are more like prison wardens than care givers. It has become ugly.
I got a letter in Dutch from the hospital which I think is an angry demand for money to pay for ICU which gives me the impression people don’t pay their hospital bills as it’s all bold face and one sentence I translated said something to the effect there will be consequences. Pretty nasty stuff for a first request and there is no amount mentioned. Just weird. That’s on my plate today so I took my maximum $1,000 out of the ATM yesterday (500 on each of our debit cards) in this ridiculous credit card free society.
As far as Layne goes her care is reduced to zero pretty much. My first move on the ward was to go to the nurses station when I arrived at four pm for visiting hours and asked politely if anyone spoke English. The butch chief nurse looked away and said something to the others which I clearly, and to their horror, understood to be a remark to the effect that I was in a Dutch speaking country and better get with the program. To which I replied that nursing in other countries was an honored profession full of compassion but clearly wasn’t getting it here. Then the head bitch said in fluent English I needed to take the letter to the administration offices downstairs tomorrow. No shit I had figured that much out for myself. I was figuring it was time to go as this department was not for us. Laynes vital signs are such she is no longer attached to a machine measuring them.
It got worse. I prepared a sentence in Google translate saying lathe had had a bowel movement and went back to the nurses station to break up the party. They read my phone and I went back to her bedside. Nothing happened.
Five minutes passed and I went to protest and the line was that three nurses had forty patients and she’d have to wait. So I said let me ease your burden I want to take her home where I can give her better care than you can with your indifference. There had been five nurses sitting round the table talking and I know what harried overworked nurses look like. This lot did not look like that as I remembered from my own time in the hospital, an experience which gave me the greatest respect for the toughest job in health care. Trust me these were nowhere close to nurses working at the limit of their capacities.
Finally one showed up after they told me I couldn’t discharge her and said snarkily “Will you help?” The other patients in the ward were astonished to see me help clean Layne and by the end of visiting hours I had won them over and they promised to keep an eye out on her. I left her very reluctantly but she had a fan from the van and they allow cell phones in this ward so I can communicate with her now.
My plan is to pay the bill and take her home today so we will see what happens. My plans to fly to Europe are off obviously which as much as I hate flying is very upsetting but inevitable. Our next move is to get Layne rested and we have the apartment till the end of the month when our immigration permits expire so we have time. By the way photos aren’t allowed in the hospital so pictures today relate to the title as I drive around town hither and yon. Paramaribo (“para-marry-beau”) known locally as “Parbo” is a very spread out suburban kind of city, no high rises or clusters of office buildings as you can see. Drive on the left and most drivers are pretty relaxed.
The funny thing about the apartment is I had to move us out Monday because there was another renter. When Layne wasn’t feeling well in Guyana we left early and asked if we could add on ten days to our rental and the landlord said fine but it was already rented out Monday night so Layne found another pet friendly room for last night. Thus I wasn’t keen to get her out of the hospital on Monday but today we return to the apartment and Layne can settle in for as long as she needs.
Obviously I haven’t been to the mall in town but the most popular fast food place I’ve seen is this one all around Paramaribo. So as a change from hospitals I present “how to eat lunch with your fingers even if you don’t know how to order.”
Parking oddly hasn’t been much of a problem around Paramaribo and I stopped here to try the food. I had no idea how to order but I got help from the guy at the back of the line when I asked my usual first question and luckily he wasn’t a nurse at the hospital and he said yes, he spoke English, so I asked him to order for me as I had no clue. He was game and I bought his lunch which he ordered to go and I washed my hands at the sink in the dining room before I opened my break from a difficult day.
It cost about five bucks I think and looked like airline food with a packet of lethal hot sauce. There is no cutlery and you eat with your fingers. When in Rome…
I could not figure out how to eat the gravy without a spoon but there it is. Lamb was off my interpreter told me so I had chicken and it was good. The green beans and potatoes was my favorite part as I tore off pieces of naan and scooped stuff up. I had to change my shirt (and wash my hands again) after lunch. I looked around and saw other people using their left hands so I figured I was okay if I did too.
Muslims use their left hands to wipe their backsides and recoil in horror when left handers like me forget their manners and pick up food with their left hands. This was not a one handed meal. I also noticed a sink when I went to buy Layne a mango smoothie on my way back to her cell. They are a common dining room accessory apparently.
I did notice the city cemetery on my drives and I took a picture as I passed. Frankly it looks like an uninteresting jumbled mess. Perhaps that judgement is a reflection of my mood.
May you live in interesting times.
