As I mentioned in a comment on Mitchell's blog, I, too, have been having leg - hip in my case - issues. Yesterday was my trip for medical care and my experience reinforced my decision to live in Belize. My friend Melanie drove me to Belize City, a 2 hr 45 min easy drive to see my orthopedist at Belize Healthcare Partners. I almost didn't recognize the place due to the ongoing construction of new facilites. I was about 15 min early for my appt, but they took me right away to get my vitals after I checked in. I had a bit of wait (35 min past the appt time) to see the orthopedic surgeon. Super nice guy. He tentatively agreed with my thought that I was experiencing pretty extreme trochanteric bursitis that had also affected other connective tissues in my left leg causing swelling and pain all the way down to my ankle. He sent me off for x-rays just down the hall. Four x-rays later, I waited again for the films and for Dr. Sosa to return from his lunch. He reviewed the x-rays with me and noted that the femur was perfect, a little arthritis in both hips, and little loss of bone density in the hips that didn't warrant any urgent attention. (But I will take it up with my primary care physician at next visit in June. Probably need a dexascan to make any decisions regarding treatment.) Then the physical poking and prodding of the affected area commenced. Treatment was discussed and agreed upon - 1 injection of a systemic (not physically targetted into the bursa) corticosteroid that would help with whole leg swelling very quickly, 12 days of a quite strong NSAID ( I tolerate NSAIDs very well as long as I take them with food), rest and ice for 2 weeks. I don't tolerate rest at all! I did talk him into letting me use my indoor rower very gently to try not to lose muscle mass. The injection left me sleepless, but so worth it to get up with a major decrease in pain this morning. As the day has worn on the pain has actually eased even more. To the point that I am going to have to be very stern with myself to take it easy! Icing it right now after having been on my feet to walk the dogs and to do some things that must be done. Fitbit says 3 miles so far. I often do 8 miles a day, so I think I am at my limit now. And the dogs still need their last walk of the day in 5 hours. So - the burning question - what was the cost for the exam, the x-rays, the NSAID, and the injection? My friends, it was less than $300BZ, which is $150US! Can you believe it? And I was out of there in less than 3 hours! And everyone was so pleasant and professional! And I made the appt only 4 days ahead of time! Hard to take issue with any of that.
If you have ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) scroll by the next photo and maybe even this paragraph as quickly as you can! One of the things I used some my steps on today was a short walk to see this massive Central American Boa lounging in the sun. It must be 12 feet long and is as big around as my thigh right up at my hip (have to make the title of this post work). Its head is nestled in the brush pile, but 90% of the full length is visible. Such a gorgeous specimen!
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| Look at how glossy and iridescent its skin is! It must have recently molted. I bet it is sleeping off its first post-molt meal. The tip of its tail is right at the bottom edge of the photo just to left of center. Its head is under the dead brush at center near the top edge of the photo. At least 20 inches in diameter at its largest. |
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| Passion fruit flower buds. The vine is covered with buds which will open over the next few weeks. Hoping for a better fruit-set this year. No fruit at all last year. So that's a low bar to leap over! |
Interesting post - glad to hear of your excellent treatment at the medical centre. I am not ophidiophobic, as far as I know although I have never come across such a large snake. How exciting to watch the development of the passion fruit flowers! Keep us posted on their progress.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about large constrictors is that they don't move all that fast. They like for their prey to come to them. Some of the passion fruit flowers were opened nicely by dusk, but too dark for photos. Tomorrow!
DeleteI love snakes, but people who don't probably appreciated your alert.
ReplyDeleteHoping for a fast recovery for your hip. That sounds like very good medical care. And no pain in your wallet!
My hip is so much better today, but I got less than 3 hrs of sleep last night. I am bushed and am already in bed as I right this reply. Computer off and lights out in 10 minutes! There are still some things I go to the US for - my eye surgeries, hormone therapy, bone density testing - that aren't available here, but the range of quality healthcare is rapidly improving in Belize without a rapid increase in cost so far! The doctors have always been excellent, many are trained in Cuba at their outstanding medical schools. Now the facilities, diagnostics, and equipment are catching up.
ReplyDelete12 feet? I’m not hi I’d about snakes, but I do have respect and since I know little about identification I’d keep my distance no matter what. But 12 feet!!! So glad you got good help with the hip! As you know, I don’t tolerate rest either. Be good! Be well!
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be I’m not phobic about snakes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the "phobic" correction because I couldn't tell what you were talking about! I had to make a correction on the snake ID. It is a Central American Boa, not a red-tailed boa. And the females get larger than the males, so this one is probably a female. I keep my distance from snakes until I can figure out what they are. Belize has several deadly vipers that can be aggressive.
DeleteWhat a good news post! I mean, I'm sorry you've had to seek treatment for pain but it sounds as if you're seeing someone who absolutely knows what they're doing and having confidence in your health care providers is terrific. I had no idea that Belize was so up-to-date in that way.
ReplyDeleteYour boa is a beauty! I am not snake-phobic but I'm not sure how I'd feel about seeing a snake of that size in the wild. Better the wild than in my house!
We, too, have passion flowers here. They are so alien-looking and so beautiful.
Alien-looking is the perfect way to describe the flowers! That is the third truly huge boa I have seen around here. But local folks have told me that this area around our property is historically known for large boas.
DeleteMy leg is so much better today. But one of the meds is messing with my sleep big-time. I think I will just do have a dose earlier in the evening to see if I can manage some sleep. My Fitbit tells me the past 2 nights I have had no sleep at all. I was up working at 2:30 am this morning. I did go back to bed and slept from 4:30 to 6:00, but it was too restless to register as sleep.
Wow, that is some snake! I look forward to seeing your passion flowers. We have some too though probably slightly different from yours!
ReplyDeleteThe passion fruit flowers can be so variable and alien (as Mary called them). I would love to see your passion fruit flowers for comparision.
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