I went in for my knee surgery and I must tell you all that this is another Great Czech Adventure. I had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am on the day before the surgery to check in. They spent about a hour checking my papers,…you have to go to a clinic the week before the surgery and have all your blood work, ekg, xrays etc done. This seems very efficient, however, that means that the rest of the first day, there is nothing to do. So I sat and corrected all of the exams from my students and when I was done, I read the first book I brought along. I must admit that the Doctors and nurses all seem excellent. The orthopedic department has its own mini hospital. They are in a separate building which has two operating rooms and 8 patient rooms. The regular clinic where you go for check ups and consultations is on the main floor and the others are up the stairs. Unfortunately the building is VERY old and scheduled to be replaced next year. The operating rooms seem to be fairly modern,..what I saw of them, but the rest of the facilities are right out of a 1930’s “B” movie. My first clue was when I tried to go from the clinic on the first floor where I check in to the ward, on the 3rd floor, and discovered that the elevator no longer worked. Strange for a place that does orthopedic surgery! The rooms on the ward are large with 4 bed in each. These are the old, iron hospital beds with the cranks to raise and lower them. In the room are the beds, a small table to eat at, three chairs and a sink. The toilet and shower are down the hall. Yes, down the hall is three toilets in one room, two marked for women and one for men. This is for 30+ patients! Oh, I almost forgot to mention, you have to bring your own toilet paper and towels. None are provided. After seeing the toilet,…very old with the water closet hanging from high on the wall, I didn’t even look at the shower. The one nurse who spoke English, advised me to not use it. The food is classic
It isn’t all bad. Twice a day, someone comes in and washes and disinfects the floors, sink and counter tops. The nurses regularly check on everyone and are friendly and helpful, even though none of them speak English. My room mates have enjoyed having this strange American in the room and we manage to communicate with Chenglish (Czech, English and lots of pantomime). My Doctor came and re-examined me the morning of my surgery at 7:00 am. Then he spoke to me again right before the surgery, around 10:00. At 4:00pm, he stopped in to explain about the surgery and then came back again at 7:00pm to see if I had any questions or needed anything. The anesthesiologist was fast, efficient and spoke pretty good English. I was only under for about an hour and woke with no lingering side effects and absolutely no pain. They let you bring your own medication and they even let me check my own sugar levels with my monitor. That is pretty good service!
Visitors can come anytime and mostly they bring food. It seems that during the communist times there was an extreme shortage of fruits and vegetables so it became a custom to bring oranges or bananas when you visited someone in the hospital. They still do that today. I kinda like that tradition!
I am hopeful that I will go home tomorrow or else Ken may need to bring me a Big Mac!! Oh, about my knee. It seems that the meniscus was not torn, but something called a lateral and the main problem was some sort of degeneration of something. So they fixed what they could and I will start therapy and hopefully will improve. In the meantime, it is crutches for 5 weeks!
p.s. They gave me a bill when I left and warned me that I had to pay it within 8 days. Total cost for everything,...181CZK about $9.00,... I guess I can bring my own toilet paper!
