My broken foot and medical care in Mexico

When we woke up that first morning in Santiago, I felt like my foot was healing but after wandering around the market area, my foot was starting to really hurt so we decided to go back to the hotel to get the bike and ride 2 up on Milton’s bike and tour more of the city.  Most of the streets here are a combination of dirt and cobblestone, so I was grateful to be a passenger rather than a rider for awhile.

The neighborhoods here are so amazing.  There is life and activity everywhere.  Cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, bicyclists, all share the road.  They weave in and out, tailgate all the time, and pass each other whenever presented with enough room to get by; there are no horns honking in frustration, no yelling or flipping off the other drivers or any other displays of road rage, just people living their lives.  School children and teens walk by wearing their school uniforms. In the morning before school, I see them helping to sell things before school starts. People sell  fruit out of roadside carts, others wander down the street selling bags of papaya and jicama or just sit on street corners with bags of limes for sale. Everybody works here; works hard, and usually with a smile.  I love that the town is just bustling with energy from early in the morning to late at night. It is a living breathing city filled with intense and vibrant sounds, colors, and smells.  Intense and vibrant, I think those are both accurate words to describe what I’ve seen her in Mexico, an intensity and vibrancy for life that I don’t see very often in the  states.

We rode up one particular narrow cobblestone street and found ourselves on top of the city looking out over everything below us.  At this point, my foot was hurting so bad that the thought crossed my mind that it was not getting better and I needed to get off of it soon. So back to the hotel we went where I elevated it while Milton took some time to visit a local gym.  He said it was very bare bones but they had what was needed to get a good workout in and all for only 25 pesos, which is a little less that 1.50 USD.

By the time he got back, I had already began to search for a  local hospital where I could get an X-ray of my foot but didn’t mention that to Milton until about 6pm.  I knew that the both Milton and Dennis had it in their minds to be leaving the next day and I really didn’t want to slow us down anymore than I already had.  But as they were making plans for where we would go the next day, I finally mentioned that I didn’t think I could go and that I needed to have someone check out my foot.  Next thing I knew one of the employees for the hotel was getting us a taxi and we heading to the hospital.  When we arrived at the hospital, I hobbled into a small waiting room full of people and behind the glass was an empty desk where the receptionist should have been.  There seemed to be no order to any of it, so at this time my confidence in getting good treatment was not high but I figured I would just go along. I mean many people get medical treatment in Mexico so there must be adequate care here somewhere and besides, it was only my foot and as Milton would always say to the kids, “it’s a long ways from your heart”.  Someone finally came to the window and our interpreter told her what my situation was and after some back and forth between them and some heads being shaken no, we were told that she recommended we be seen at one of the local clinics for treatment because it would be too expensive for us otherwise.  According to our interpreter this other place was only a few blocks away.  Luckily we caught a cab because his idea of a few blocks was entirely different from mine.

At the next place,  which was down a dirt road, there was only one young man sitting in the waiting room and again no one at the reception desk.  I was beginning to wonder if this was just how they did things here but it was a really short line this time so I was good with it and then I heard a blood curdling scream off to the right of us.  Milton and I both looked at each other and kind of laughed but inside my head I was running through all types of scenarios that would elicit that type of scream, something imbedded in the body that had to be removed, abscess that had to be drained, limb that had to be amputated without anesthesia.  I had no idea, but the only door that was open in the direction of that god awful scream, was slowly closed after someone realized that we were there.  So we did all that we could do which was sit down to wait.  After just a few minutes a woman came out from behind one of the doors with a slight smile on her face followed by a chunky  little boy about 10 who was wiping tears from his face but looking well otherwise. He had no obvious signs of injury, no bandages on, and all his limbs were intact.  He probably just got a shot.  Whew, no anesthesia free amputation occurred there that night.

Someone followed them out of the room and our interpreter caught him and again relayed our situation to them and again there was more discussion and heads shaking no.  The doctor had already left for the day but there was another clinic just down the street.  Heard that once before but again we left and caught a cab. Down another road, this time a combination of dirt and cobblestone and when we arrived at the next clinic we were given the same story,  the doctor had already left. This clinic did attempt to help me though, they gave  me some pain relieving ointment to put on my foot and told us to return the next morning and the doctor would see us at 9am. We decided to come early to make sure we were the first ones in line.

View of street while waiting for clinic to open.

At 7:30 the next morning we were waiting out in the lobby of the hotel for our interpreter and by 8am we were on our way back to the clinic. We arrived there by 8:15 and still had to wait for them to open at 9am so I sat on the sidewalk and tried to elevate my foot on a tree.

Consultoria Medico in Santiago, Nayarit.

Patiently waiting outside the Consultoria Medico in Santiago, Nayarit.

A little before 9 someone arrived and opened up a door and then brought out some plastic chairs for us to sit in.  While I was waiting I looked up the words written on the buildings to see what they meant and Milton talked with our interpreter and found out he had two kids 7 and 11 and that they played baseball.  He also had spent a little time living in the states which is where he learned some English.

A little after 9am the doctor arrived. Her name was Dr. Joana Lizeth Guerrero Corderon and she brought me into the room, brushed a little dust off of the examination table and Indicated I get up on the table and swing my left leg up so she could examine my foot.  She was very gentle as she examined my foot. She pointed to some areas and I assumed she was asking about pain so I shook my head yes or no as appropriate.   When her exam was complete we thought she was saying there was no break and I was thinking great, I have to live with this, but she was really saying that she needed an X-ray.  In the meantime, she prescribed some medication for pain, equivalent to naproxen, which we filled next door at the Farmacia and off we went for an X-ray.

My left Foot.

Again we had to take a cab to go back across town to get the X-ray.  We were the first to arrive, and it looked like they also were just opening up.  As we sat there waiting, the television was on and playing american pop videos, I could finally understand something.  A receptionist/xray technician came in with her little son and as she worked, he ran around and played.  After the X-ray was taken, she showed it to me and sure enough there was a break in my 4th metatarsal on my left foot.  In a way I was relieved to have confirmation that the pain was more than just soft tissue damage but bummed as I didn’t know how this would affect our journey now.  We took the X-ray and headed back to the to clinic and she looked at it and said I needed a splint and to see a specialist who was an hour away in Tepic.  At first I thought she kept saying dermatologic but when I said orthopedic, she said yes and she gave us his card, called, and made the appointment for us that same afternoon at 4pm.  The last time I was referred to an orthopedic specialist in Washington the wait time was over a month out.

Pre placement of splint.

The doctor preparing the splint.

Splint being applied.

Splint applied, new dancing shoe or starting early in my halloween costume.

After the splint was placed we took a cab back across town to our hotel and waited until time to leave for Tepic. Since our appointment was at 4pm we decided to give ourselves 2 hours to get there so at 2pm we went in search for a cab.  The cab ride to Tepic was an event in itself.  He drove fast, tailgated, and passed in situations that would never happen in the U.S but I sat back and trusted that since he did this all the time, it was no big deal.  We found the orthopedic doctor’s office right on time and the cab driver made sure we got in to where we were going,  The building his office was in was filled with other doctor’s offices and also had a Farmacia.  It was all very professional looking and just like back home, we had to wait a little while for the doctor to see us.

After about 20 minutes of waiting, Dr. Alejandro Avalos Flores, an Orthopedic Traumatologia specialist, met us in the waiting area and escorted us to his office.  He talked to me about my accident and how it happened, where did the bike hit me and other appropriate questions and after he looked at my X-ray, I got the good news that all I needed was either a cast or a walking boot for 6-8 weeks, no surgery needed at all.  I was so relieved.  He even said that he would okay me riding the bike when I felt up to it as long as I got the walking boot.  According to him the boot was rather expensive but it would give me the most freedom.  We quickly decided on the walking boot. Unfortunately, he did not carry the boot in his office but said the store where we could purchase it was close. When Milton asked how far away the store as he would have to walk or get a cab, the doctor said he would take him in his own car and help him pick the boot out and so they left me to  rest in his office, luckily I had brought a book so I was content to wait right there.

Being examined by Dr. Alejandro Avalos Flores

After about 20 minutes or so and they were back, boot in hand.  The doctor applied some topical gel to my foot called Artridol, which I am to use twice daily for three weeks, a light ace wrap, then the boot.  He gave us some free tubes of the gel and then wrote me a prescription for Arcoxia to help with the swelling that I would take for 1 pill daily for 14 days.  Come to find out, the medication is not approved in the U.S but it is approved and used in 80 other counties so I am okay with it.  All total, minus the cab rides, for the doctor’s visits, the X-ray, medications, and the boot came to 327.92 USD.  Pretty amazing!! Both doctors were wonderful and for the orthopedic doctor to take the time to drive Milton to pick up the boot, we are both so impressed with him going above and beyond.  I can safely say that without hesitation, I would gladly seek medical care in Mexico if ever needed again.   Fingers crossed that I won’t need it . But considering we often like to take the road less traveled, and that the condition of that road isn’t always the best, I can make no promises!!

Us with Dr. Alejandro Avalos Flores.