jim65wagon
Well-known member
We stopped for a light lunch on the way home and spent a quiet evening resting up. I know I was still lagging from the flight over. Beth and I went to bed fairly early and slept well. Well, we slept until 2:24AM that is. My phone rang, it was Umar. Madeline was having bouts of stomach pain and her dizziness from earlier in the day was much worse. Umar and Rizwan (his Brother in Law) were going to take her to the hospital. Of course, Beth and I would go with them, no question about that. Within just a few minutes we were standing at the gate to the courtyard. As I opened it a little car pulled up to the house. We hopped in the backseat with Madeline and with Rizwan behind the wheel we sped off to the hospital.
The hospital in Islamabad was surrounded by a fence and we had to drive past a guard shack, with Rizwan explaining that we did, indeed, have a medical emergency. The guards let us in and we parked near the emergency room door. Unlike ERs in the States, as we walked in this one, there were no crowds of people sitting in chairs waiting their turn. There were no chairs at all, actually. We walked up to the front desk and a couple of attendants asked Maddy and Umar what was going on.
They took Madeline's blood pressure, pulse and temperature. After just a few minutes we were directed to a privacy booth with a bed for Madeline. Not a minute after that a doctor arrived with more questions and gave Maddy a brief examination. He explained that he believed she was suffering from an acute viral gastro enteritis, and dehydration. He prescribed her some pain medications and directed the nurse to give her an IV for the meds and to combat the dehydration.
Umar, ever the concerned husband took photos of the medications prescribed. Then he called his doctor friend back in the States and asked her opinion of the treatment plan. She approved of the meds and Umar felt better. With the meds, Madeline began feeling better too.
We all sat around, while the fluids and medications flowed into Madeline's arm, and talked about the efficiency of the Pakistan Health Care system and how it differed from our experiences in the US. Umar got called away to fill out some paperwork and pay for the exam, IV and Medications. The bill came to $15,000 rupees, or for us Americans 55 US dollars. He and Rizwan was quite upset at the expensiveness of the treatment, as the average Pakistani only makes a few hundred rupees a week and that 15,000 could well represent a 2-4 weeks of wages. Us, being the rich Americans that we are in Pakistan, gladly paid in cash.
Since it was daylight by the time we were leaving the hospital, we all decided today's plan was to get some rest. Madeline especially needed it and tomorrow we would all be loading up into our big bus and heading north, our tour of Pakistan was just beginning.
The hospital in Islamabad was surrounded by a fence and we had to drive past a guard shack, with Rizwan explaining that we did, indeed, have a medical emergency. The guards let us in and we parked near the emergency room door. Unlike ERs in the States, as we walked in this one, there were no crowds of people sitting in chairs waiting their turn. There were no chairs at all, actually. We walked up to the front desk and a couple of attendants asked Maddy and Umar what was going on.
They took Madeline's blood pressure, pulse and temperature. After just a few minutes we were directed to a privacy booth with a bed for Madeline. Not a minute after that a doctor arrived with more questions and gave Maddy a brief examination. He explained that he believed she was suffering from an acute viral gastro enteritis, and dehydration. He prescribed her some pain medications and directed the nurse to give her an IV for the meds and to combat the dehydration.
Umar, ever the concerned husband took photos of the medications prescribed. Then he called his doctor friend back in the States and asked her opinion of the treatment plan. She approved of the meds and Umar felt better. With the meds, Madeline began feeling better too.
We all sat around, while the fluids and medications flowed into Madeline's arm, and talked about the efficiency of the Pakistan Health Care system and how it differed from our experiences in the US. Umar got called away to fill out some paperwork and pay for the exam, IV and Medications. The bill came to $15,000 rupees, or for us Americans 55 US dollars. He and Rizwan was quite upset at the expensiveness of the treatment, as the average Pakistani only makes a few hundred rupees a week and that 15,000 could well represent a 2-4 weeks of wages. Us, being the rich Americans that we are in Pakistan, gladly paid in cash.
Since it was daylight by the time we were leaving the hospital, we all decided today's plan was to get some rest. Madeline especially needed it and tomorrow we would all be loading up into our big bus and heading north, our tour of Pakistan was just beginning.