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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Pescador, I'm betting you and your lady(with a clean bill of health) will soon be down in your favorite place, catching fish, while all the rest of us
are only dreaming. Good Luck with all your trials and tribulations.
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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| Quote: | Originally posted by k-rico
Pescador,
I have a question. Were there any other symptoms like breathing problems or coughing? You said advanced lung cancer and "the" tumor. Would the usual
chest x-ray have uncovered the problem?
Best of luck. |
Actually, we had no symptoms that were noticeable. She had 135% of normal lung capacity, fished as long and as hard as I did, was still walking 3 or
4 miles on non-fishing days, and yes had a set of X-rays as well as an ultra-sound done in Santa Rosalia. We assumed that we would come home, go
through some tests, change medications and maybe have them put in a stint or something for blockage and be back in Baja by late summer. That is
perhaps why the situation was so devastating, as we had not even so much as a small clue that anything of that sort was wrong.
Because we were concerned about the high blood pressure and elevated pulse, we were watching things carefully and had an appointment with a
cardioligist on a Monday. That Sunday she noticed that her left arm was becoming numb so without delay we ended up in the emergency room of our local
hospital. They obviously found nothing that was directly related but there was something in the blood profile that caused some concern for the
emergency room doctor who ordered a CT Scan. As soon as the CT Scan was done, they found a small tumor in the lung and it was not until they did a
needle biopsy that we knew positively that it was cancer.
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Pescador,
Really glad they found it before she had real symtoms of lung cancer. Just keeping positive thoughts for her.
Sounds like you had a really good emergency room doctor.
Diane
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nevadacitynurse
Newbie
Posts: 15
Registered: 1-18-2008
Location: Loreto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cajones
| Quote: | Originally posted by nevadacitynurse
Sorry, I'm with Longlegs on this one. I've had great medical care in La Paz, even though their hospital is purple! |
Which of her contradictory statements are you with? The one that says medical care is better in La Paz than in the US, or the one that says one should
use ones judgment and head to the US if you think you have something serious? |
I agree with both statements. There are many instances where the care in La Paz could be just as good or better than the US...it depends on the
situation. There are lots of small towns in the USA that do not have the facilities or resources to diagnose or treat many illnesses (Baja doesn't
have the corner on that). When I worked in San Francisco, we saw lots of patients from all over the world. We had patients from as far away as
Russia (Chernoble), and from small farming communities in central California, who came to UCSF for bone marrow tansplantation. These people had first
gone to their own docs with "flu-like" symptoms, and when routine treatment for the flu failed, they were directed toward more in depth care, in a
larger city, in a "teaching" hospital. This doesn't mean they had "bad" care in the beginning, it's the way the disease presents itself combined with
the level of care available in a given locality.
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comitan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4177
Registered: 3-27-2004
Location: La Paz
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Mood: mellow
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I believe Pescador excluded larger cities like La Paz, Also when I was in town today I noticed the Cancer clinic it is very large building not part of
a Hospital. I also think that this thread should not go down hill........................... You can start that when she's down here
fishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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Crusoe
Senior Nomad
Posts: 731
Registered: 10-14-2006
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Nevadanurse is absolutely correct!!....While on a kayack trip years ago to some remote islands in the S.O.C., my female partner expierienced a
ruptured appendix. After a long hard slog to get her to the private hospital in La Paz, we found she could have not found a better time or place to
have this happen. The care and integrity and expertise of all the doctors and nurses and care givers and staff was a huge notch above anything we had
ever expierienced in the U. S.. The hospital was dead clean and quiet, with all the warmth and caring of your grandmothers kitchen. The final bill was
about 25% of what it woud have been in the U.S. as well. Our health insurance did not cover us for out of the U.S.A.. ++C++
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Cajones
Banned
Posts: 81
Registered: 9-13-2008
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Crusoe
The final bill was about 25% of what it woud have been in the U.S. as well. Our health insurance did not cover us for out of the U.S.A.. ++C++ |
If you had US health insurance, why would it have cost you anything in the US? 25% of zero is still zero.
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Cajones
Banned
Posts: 81
Registered: 9-13-2008
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cajones
Which of her contradictory statements are you with? |
| Quote: | Originally posted by Nevadacitynurse
I agree with both statements. |
Well, that explains everything. 
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DrTom
Nomad
Posts: 183
Registered: 6-17-2007
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"they were directed toward more in depth care, in a larger city, in a "teaching" hospital."
just so its not confusing, teaching hospitals are those hospitals that are the clinical setting for medical schools and their faculty. Mayo, Johns
Hopkins, UCSF, UCLA, Stanford, UCDavis, UCSD are examples. My point being is that teaching hospitals, often, but not always, have the best quality
medicine available. To give Canada its due, its academics are good, and it does have the gear, just not in every town like in the US.....Mexico city
and guadalahara have good medical schools and good hospital settings.
im glad to hear that a diagnosis is accurately made and the appropriate treatment has started......a tumor that isnt visible on a chest film or echo
but only on a ct scan is a tough one......good call on the er doc....
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lingililingili
Nomad
Posts: 449
Registered: 2-24-2008
Location: La Paz, Bahia Asuncion
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Speaking for us, our Insurance is Major Medical which means $5,000 deductible. So, Cajones for us, medical expenses can be very costly. BMG recently
had surgery by a dermatologist in La Paz which totaled $40. USD. This would have been a $300.00 minimum tab in the U.S. He received excellent care.
| Quote: | Originally posted by Cajones
If you had US health insurance, why would it have cost you anything in the US? 25% of zero is still zero. |
•Life is just one damned thing after another
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dao45
Junior Nomad
Posts: 93
Registered: 5-21-2007
Member Is Offline
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UDO!!! You go.Great spirit
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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Best wishes for a speedy recovery Mrs Pescador. Our thoughts are with you.
Maybe not totally related, but here part of an article in the CSM today:
Charlottesville, Va.
Seven hundred billion – sound familiar? Yes, that's the cost of the financial-services industry bailout, but it's also about the amount of money
America is wasting every year on unnecessary healthcare expenses.
If we could take the steps needed to save that $700 billion, we could take "just" $100 billion to cover the uninsured and have $600 billion left over
for Wall Street.
Here's the math: Our current healthcare spending is approximately $2.1 trillion (that's up from $1.3 trillion noninflation adjusted in 2000). We waste
an estimated one-third – or about $700 billion – on unnecessary procedures, unnecessary visits to the doctor, overpriced pharmaceuticals, bloated
insurance companies, and the most inefficient paper billing systems imaginable
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