The day we found out we are leaving India, I got an eye infection. Like I do with many medical things, I ignored it and hoped it would go away. I stopped wearing my contacts and wore my funky new glasses. But my funky new glasses give me a headache, so 5 days later when it still wasn't getting better I decided it was time to go to a doctor. And here begins the delight of medicine in Delhi . . .
1. I try to find a doctor. Instead of looking in the yellow pages, I ask a few people, check my Delhi Network book, and send a message to the Yuni-Net email list last night. A woman I know sends me a list almost immediately of 10 recommended opthamologists.
2. In the morning I start calling the doctors close to my house. All the numbers are mobile numbers and the doctor himself answers every time. One doc named Dr. Verma said he would be in his office (a bit far from my house) all morning, but I could come to his house (closer to my house) between 4 and 6 pm today. "I don't have to make an appointment?" I said. "Just come sometime between those hours," he said.
3. Graham and I pick up Isaac and Russell from school and stop by Dr. Verma's house on the way home. I am steeling myself for the circus that usually erupts when I go to the doctor with all of my kids. We walk in the gate and the guard escorts us into a small room with all the usual opthalmologist equipment at the front of the house. We wait literally TWO minutes for the doctor to come in. He comes in, examines my eyes, tells me what's wrong, writes me a prescription, I pay him Rs. 300 (US$7). Done. The whole thing took TEN minutes, and we even had some conversations about Lasik and why my glasses might be giving me a headache. No copying my insurance card (US$7 was the TOTAL COST of the visit), no filling out extensive paperwork, no signing disclaimers, no seeing an assistant before the real doctor. Just plain and simple medicine.
4. Rich goes out in the rain with Graham at 8 pm (isn't he a hero?) and walks through the alley and across the street to the chemist (pharmacy). He shows the guy the prescription, the guy finds it and hands it to Rich, Rich pays Rs. 38.20 (US$0.90) and walks home. No waiting in line, no waiting for the prescriptions, no insurance cards, no paperwork. Medicine without the bells and whistles is still medicine. NINETY CENTS for two prescriptions!
I am NOT ready to face the fun of healthcare in the good 'ol USA. I AM ready for this eye infection to go away so I can think straight without my glasses on. Maybe I will go for that Lasik . . .
5 comments:
I can recommend a LASIK doctor... if you're in the market before you go... 35000 rupees and I'm completely happy with my new eyes.
OK, so on this topic I actually do have EXTENSIVE knowledge NOT just an opninion. I know you were just waiting on pins and needles for me to chime in - so here I am!!
When I was pregnant with Rome I got TWO ulcers in one of my eyes due to wearing contacts. These are actual holes in your cornea. I didn't know about the ulcers until I developed a raging infection in that eye. The doc told me that I couldn't wear my contacts for up to six months. I was really upset about that because I had been longing to be able to wear my contacts when I delivered so that I could actually see the baby and not have to deal with glasses. I was even more upset to find out that most likely I could never wear contacts again because it would re-aggravate the ulcers and lead to more infections.
So I wore my glasses, and whenever I even tried to wear contacts I could feel the irritation and the infection wasn't far behind. That's when Jeff started talking about me getting laser eye surgery. He was so adament that I should get it that he did ALL the research and found the very best place he could to have it done. This wasn't because he hated my glasses, he's not quite that shallow, it was because he knew my glasses made me miserable.
He found a place called Durrie Vision here in Kansas City. It is world renowned, and has the most up to date procedure. It was AWESOME. I had the procedure, saw cloudy for a few hours but by THAT NIGHT could see the program bar on the TV. Before, without my glasses I couldn't have even seen the TV itself, let alone little tiny words. By the next day my vision had totally cleared and I could see 20/20.
It is expensive, but it's worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY. There isn't any pain - just some dry eye for the first few months. It's absolutely the very best thing I ever did totally for myself.
luvs, aby
PS - you are AWESOME at remembering names from college. Let's make this reunion happen!!
OK, so on this topic I actually do have EXTENSIVE knowledge NOT just an opninion. I know you were just waiting on pins and needles for me to chime in - so here I am!!
When I was pregnant with Rome I got TWO ulcers in one of my eyes due to wearing contacts. These are actual holes in your cornea. I didn't know about the ulcers until I developed a raging infection in that eye. The doc told me that I couldn't wear my contacts for up to six months. I was really upset about that because I had been longing to be able to wear my contacts when I delivered so that I could actually see the baby and not have to deal with glasses. I was even more upset to find out that most likely I could never wear contacts again because it would re-aggravate the ulcers and lead to more infections.
So I wore my glasses, and whenever I even tried to wear contacts I could feel the irritation and the infection wasn't far behind. That's when Jeff started talking about me getting laser eye surgery. He was so adament that I should get it that he did ALL the research and found the very best place he could to have it done. This wasn't because he hated my glasses, he's not quite that shallow, it was because he knew my glasses made me miserable.
He found a place called Durrie Vision here in Kansas City. It is world renowned, and has the most up to date procedure. It was AWESOME. I had the procedure, saw cloudy for a few hours but by THAT NIGHT could see the program bar on the TV. Before, without my glasses I couldn't have even seen the TV itself, let alone little tiny words. By the next day my vision had totally cleared and I could see 20/20.
It is expensive, but it's worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY. There isn't any pain - just some dry eye for the first few months. It's absolutely the very best thing I ever did totally for myself.
luvs, aby
PS - you are AWESOME at remembering names from college. Let's make this reunion happen!!
Hi Mindy, I've been meaning to comment for a few days and haven't gotten around to it.
I'm very relieved to hear that you are going to continue blogging. While India was the initial hook, it is really your writing style and perceptions that make me an addict. (I especially loved the parallelism in "Aby's 2nd question and whiplash"...and perfectly described how it feels to revamp your frame of reference.)
Hey Mindy! It's been forever since I've checked your blog, since we've been traveling, but apparently a lot has happened. I'm happy for you guys to be moving back to the US. I'm sure it will be an interesting adjustment. Also, I'm excited to see you this summer in Utah. Hopefully we'll get some time to really talk. And I just love you writing. See you soon!
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