Tonight I went and saw an orthopedic surgeon and traumatologist to see what is really going on with this stupid lumbar, sacro-illiac region of my body, often referred to by me as my hip. Well, first I went and saw a general doctor and she referred me to this guy cuz he's much more conservative than the rest. She says basically that he is not trigger happy and doesn't resort to operating right away like some of the others. Well, after missing the first appointment due to yet another miscommunication between me and my Spanish-speaking boyfriend, I was finally able to make it. In Spain the doctors and such work in the morning, then take a break like just about everyone else during the siesta hours, 2-6 in the afternoon, and then resume business until God knows when to accomodate and respect the siesta hour and everyone else's schedules that revolve around it. So my appointment was for 8pm on a Wednesday evening. That in and of itself feels strange.
Anyhow, I rode my bike to the appointment and had trouble finding the place because like many doctors in Spain, they work out of an apartment. So, once I found the place I was asked for my insurance card by the receptionist, she swiped it and I signed the receipt before the doctor even saw my face. I was told to wait in the waiting room where I read fashion magazines in Spanish while thinking to myself how I wish I gave a crap about looking good, cuz DAMN these women look so beautiful and fashionable.
Then, he called my name and tried his best to pronounce it and of course, asked where I was from. When I told him I was from the United States, that's when I wished I would have stuck to my original plan of saying that I was from Canada whenever anyone asked. Since last year I had heard so much negativity about my country, I thought about doing a social experiment to see that if I said I was from Canada, instead of the U.S., if people would still be so negative. Well, needless to say I strayed from the plan and the doctor gregariousy spent the first 20 minutes of the appointment sitting across his desk from me telling me everything that he didn't like about the United States.
Apparently he had travelled to the U.S. a few times for things involving medicine but only for short periods and without speaking much English. He said he spent time in Atlanta, Georgia and San Francisco, California and I'm not sure where else. He started with, "you know what I didnt like about the U.S., is that you guys work too much, working all the time. You guys only care about the dollar. You don't care about literature, museums, or art. The only thing you guys care about is the dollar." Then, he said "you know that the Ku Klux Klan still exists in the U.S.? I couldn't light up a cigarette there but you can hang a black person." Then he said, "you know the people there don't even know where Spain is? When I would say "Spanish", they would ask me if I was from Mexico or South America. They thought Spain was in South America." At this comment, I couldn't help but think that with his strong accent and lack of English, by saying Spanish(meaning of Spanish decent), they thought he was talking about the language (Spanish) and therefore asking him where he was from. OR we're are just that ignorant about the rest of the world, like many like to think here in Spain. They feel so offended that someone might not know where Spain is when it's such a small country on the other side of world from us and "Spanish" means both a nationality AND a language. Anyhoo, what else??? Oh and he said, "but the worst part for me was the food. I would see these American movies where the cute boy falls in love with the cute girl and they go out to eat at a really nice restaurant. Well, I looked for those restaurants and couldn't find anything." He said he was in San Francisco and didn't find any good food. For me that just says something about one's taste (or stubborness) in food because as far as most people are concerned, that I have met at least, San Francisco is known for its wonderful selection of international food. So, I said "Did you try any Asian food there because San Francisco is known for having a lot of good Chinese and Japanese food?" And he said "Well, thats the thing, I don't like Chinese food."
So, anyways after the 20 minute schpeal about all the things he didn't like about the U.S., he asked me what was wrong and why had I come to see him. I explained about my hip and about the fact that I have had this pain for 10 years, more or less, but never had the kind of job where I had health insurance (something I view as a problem with the U.S. but he didn't seem to. lol.). Hence, I was not able to get an MRi (can you say expensive?) to actually see what was really going on inside. I basically told him that I would like to get an MRi done while I was here in Spain with full coverage insurance and he said without hesitation "okay" and wrote out the prescription/order to have it done. As simple as that. Gotta say once again that so far that has been the most impressive thing about Spain for me...fast, no non-sense, patient-oriented health care. I am so thankful for that.
Needless to say, I left with mixed feelings. On one hand, so happy to have had a doctor listen to me and to finally be able to have this MRi done and on the other hand, sad about how the world views the United States and wishing that everyone could see all the good people and wonderful things that I know the U.S. to be. But trying to convince anyone of that who only sees a small portion of our horrible media coverage and has never lived there is an act of futility. Luckily he was a very nice doctor and I just have to look past his over-bearing opinions and focus on the good he is doing for me as a physician. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right?
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