Health & Wellness Health and Hospitals

I have faith and respect for some of the doctors here.
Brian I'll tell you about my experience here. My adventure started in Bahrain. I went to the specialist hospital in Bahrain because I could hardly walk due to severe back pain. They were no help whatsoever. I did walk away with a prescription for Celebrex (bad stuff that was). The Orthopod here told me to ditch the Celebrex as it banned in Europe and N. America.
My wife (GF at the time) dragged me to see the local Orthpod. He poked, he prodded, he twisted stuff, the only thing he didn't do was make me cry.
Day 1 he gave me some drug or other and said come back tomorrow, day 2 same-same, day 3 same-same. On Day 4 I asked him "do you have a plan?". He said YES I DO !!!, if the problem was "A" drug #1 would have fixed your back, If the problem was "B" drug #2 would....etc. He explained his approach was the cheapest method to diagnose the problem. In the west doctors/nurses would have crapped all over him. I actually thought his approach made a lot of sense. He couldn't fix my problem with a drug so he sent me off to Cebu for an MRI. The cost was something like $250 USD.
We got back to Dumaguete with the MRI pictures. Doc looked them over and said; "well you have a disk that's flattened and a couple are herniated so the bones are pressing on the nerves. I looked at him and said "WOW THAT'S GREAT! Can you remove the disks and fuse a few vertebrate?" I was serious, I mean he could make the pain go away. He looked over his glasses at me and said yeah I can do the surgery`BUT ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR F,,N MIND``. He said he had 6-8 things he would rather try before surgery.
To make a long story short he sent me off for physiotherapy to strengthen my stomach muscles which keeps the spine from pinching the nerves.
So I do believe some of the doctors here are pretty good.
This post is a little long already. Some other time I`ll tell you about my step daughter spending time with an older man...the Neuro Surgeon.

 

When I first came here I was taking 11 tablets each morning and I think 5 or 6 at night, now I am down to 3 each morning and hope to soon ditch another and only 1 at night. The Doc here has been fantastic in helping where as the Doc's in oz only seemed interested in prescribing more pills to take. Actually I had one Doc in Oz who I trusted as he was straight up with me, and he was Chinese!

 

I am going to tell you a of true story about SUMC a few years ago.....I was in the ER with my daughter, and I observed I did not see a cardiac defibrillator (VERY important if you come in in cardiac arrest!), and I inquired where they kept the defibrillators (I was used to one being on every floor and in every dept of hospitals). The reply I got did not set well with me..."I don't know where it is"...implying they only had one and they didn't know where it was in the hospital! I also knew that the ambulances (transport vehicles) did not come equipped with them, either. This was quite concerning to me, and I hope they have improved the number of defibrillators. You might ask the next time you are in, how many and where they are located.......

 

If I took all my meds as prescribed, by the end of the day it would be 28 pills. I take significantly less than that depending on the day.

Western doctors are certainly impressed with the perks offered by the Pharmaceutical Companies.... Oh wait, I ment effectiveness, yup that's it, effectiveness of Big Pharma...

 

Then I guess we from the UK can count our Lucky Stars on cost, I am on 11 only but at a cost of 8.60 (532peso @62 to the Pound per Item) I really think I am in the right place. Not sure at all what the rest of the worlds' Meds cost but just now, the UK is not a good choice to be ill long term

 

Each to our own Davy but Mine has done a d*mn Good job on me over the Last 5+ years

 

I could probably figure a cost but not worth the brain power LOL. The formula would be non-reimbursed travel expenses to Manila VA divided by either prescribed number or taken number of pills. The prescriptions themselves being free.

 

Out of curiosity I would like to know how my Cardiovascular Consultant in the UK views what is happening to me now so I have just scanned and sent him last months Lab reports, ECG report, Xray report Ultrasound Report, and a copy (2 pages) my Present Prescriptions. I doubt with the time difference I will get a reply today but I will post his remarks as and when. Luckily the Bloods will tell him all he needs to know together with the ECG and Ultrasound he will be able to tell me if I am on the right Track

 

I managed to find the X-Rays of my leg (Attached below) You can see how close the break is to my hip joint, when I had the steel plate in all of the screws came loose because of so little bone to attach the top of the plate, which cause the plate to slap against the bone and made the infection worse by allowing it to get between the metal plate and the bone stopping healing.

Now what has happened; the bone that runs from my Hip joint has pushed upwards shortening my leg by 6 inches, and the bone that comes from my knee joint has formed a ball on the end from constant rubbing against the top bone, which has then partially formed over the ball, creating another joint that rotates and pushed upwards as I walk.
In the words of the original Doctor who took these X-Rays in 2009 and called out for his colleagues to come look at the X-Rays; "F***! Wanna see a guy with THREE Hip Joints?"

I have sought advice from many Doctors and Hospitals regards replacing my hip joint with an artificial one and all say the same thing, due to the complications with the original steel plate my body will most likely reject an artificial joint leaving me in a worse predicament than I already find myself in, so better the devil you know than the alternative...

I TRY to be positive... I died 4 times during the operation that stopped my heart before I 'came back' and I realise I should not be here, I am lucky to be here, I AM BLESSED TO BE HERE! I should have died when I had my accident which was a head-on crash of a combined speed of 180kph (Bike accident; the 1st in 8 years of riding) where the car ended up running me over, breaking my right arm above the elbow, my right wrist, my right leg and hip and crushed my pelvis bone from hip to hip (where the Dr said I had in excess of 89 fractures to the bone.)

I do have bad days more than good but I have a much different outlook on life nowadays and realise what is and what is not important and try to stay focused on that. It really annoys me to see people who could work and support themselves and their family yet are too lazy to do so, I worked for around 10 years after my accident at various shops to help support my wife and kids before the pain became too much for me, but even a bad day can be a good day if you look at what is really important in your life.

In Oz I use to spend around $75.00 per fortnight (approx. 2760php) and now I am down to under 1000php per month! If I was still in Oz it would be higher as the Doc wanted to give me that Rat Poison stuff to thin the blood and stop clotting due to the Hemochromotosis producing too much Iron in my blood, with the high red cell count I was at level 488 when I came here and the Doc at SUMC has now told me I am down to 144 where-as 150 is normal levels. The ONLY advice I ever got in Oz was that eventually the Hemochromotosis would "kill me one day". Here at SUMC the Dr explained to me FULLY what was happening to me, and what I needed to do to try and improve my situation, which WORKED! So; WHY couldn't my TWO Dr's back in Oz do the same thing?? I am SURE I AM in the right place now!