Scrape Me Off the Floor

No day is drama free in the lives of the wandering duo. Today we spent the entire morning camped out in a medical facility getting Reagan's foot operated on. (Badly infected ingrown toenail). First we went to the local doctor. His office was in a tiny room that had plywood tacked to the walls and stackable patio furniture for chairs. His desk, reception area and filing system were all piled into the same room as the exam table. He had Reagan sit in a picnic chair and show him her foot. Then he declared the case too difficult for him to solve and sent us to the "hospital" in Szerencs. On the way there I got yelled at once again by Adrienne for not having our passports with us. Seriously, she is getting on my last nerve with her mixed messages. First she tells me that I never need to carry it in Szerencs, then she yells at me for not having it with me. So we drove the two minutes to get the darn passports. Sheesh.

Next stop.... terrifying medical facility. We walked into what can loosely be described as communist and borderline third world. All of the tiles on the floor were cracked, ceiling and walls peeling and coming apart, flurescent lights flickering in and out, dirty chairs arranged in the middle of a dirty room full of dirty people. I wanted to take pictures to be able to accurately document this, but I thought Adrienne might start yelling at me again. Our name was called and we were taken into a room that instantly horrified me. The table was uncovered and had stains on it. There was a bucket of bloody rags and bandages under the table. The sink was grimey and in the middle of the procedure room were four desks shoved together where the doctors and nurses sat, ate and did whatever. The floor was filthy and had clearly not been cleaned let alone sanitized. There was plaster all over the place from casts getting set. The equipment carts were dirty. And on and on. It was literally the filthiest place I have ever seen. Yet this was normal. And the infection in Reagan's foot was so bad at this point that I was starting to fear that it would go into the bone.

Adrienne and I had to pin Reagan down to the table when the doctor put two needles into her foot. She was crying and screaming hysterically from the pain. I don't know what the doctor did, but by the time he was done with the two anesthetic shots, Reagan's toe was covered in blood. I have had this surgery before, and there was zero blood on my foot. It also did not hurt the way Reagan was hurting. I did make sure that the needle the doctor used was a fresh one, newly unwrapped from a sealed needle kit. They did not however clean the table or cover it, and they did not wear gloves. All they did was swab her foot with iodine.

Then Reagan had to lay there and let her toe get numb. Next thing I know I am waking up on an examination table in some other room with my feet being held in the air by one doctor, while a nurse lays wet towels on my head, and another doctor is slapping me in the face and yelling at me in Hungarian. Apparently I had finally abused my protein intake enough that my insulin levels got all out of whack and I went into insulin shock. The stress from worrying about the surgery for Reagan and seeing the dirty hospital caused me to put myself unconcious. A team of doctors had to carry me out of there and revive me in another (dirty) room.

While I was knocked out Reagan successfully had her surgery with Adrienne holding her hand. Unbelievable. Now Reagan is as happy as a clam with a giant toe swaddled in bandages, and I am frantically researching protein options to get myself back on track. I have known for a couple of weeks now that my hypoglycemia was getting out of control because I have had tremors in my hands that make it hard for me to hold things. Now I am carrying almonds with me everywhere I go.

Just another day in the life.... I will say this much though, the medical staff was very kind and did their job well. It just was not a sterile or sanitary environment to be practicing medicine in period.