johnBCCanada
Active Member
Hello
Just a cautionary note.
I am just back from the Camino. The second day I was there I started the day by stumbling on the steps of a municipal albergue. I walked on and thought that I had sprained my ankle. The next morning I was able to see a spanish doctor who I think was doing a clinic in the town I was in. We had no common language but she looked at the ankle, had the nurse bandage it up and sent me off to the farmacia to buy some strong ibprofen. I took a day of rest and continued, shortening the camino by a bus trip, but still walking. I am from Canada and stopping and coming back next year would not have been practical.
When I got home I went to the doctor who did xrays and has told me that I have a broken bone in my leg which of course hasn't healed as it should have.
I have no grievance with the spanish doctor who was helping a visitor to the her country who didn't speak spanish. I could have changed my plans when I hurt yself but I was too focussed on doing what I had been planning.
My cautionary note would be that it is not the best situation to get the best medical care or advise when there is no common language and when you as a patient may be very focussed on carrying on with what you have been planning and looking forward to. I think this is particularily true for those of us who come from a long way away and for whom it may not be practical to simply stop and resume again next year at the smae point.
Regards,
John
Just a cautionary note.
I am just back from the Camino. The second day I was there I started the day by stumbling on the steps of a municipal albergue. I walked on and thought that I had sprained my ankle. The next morning I was able to see a spanish doctor who I think was doing a clinic in the town I was in. We had no common language but she looked at the ankle, had the nurse bandage it up and sent me off to the farmacia to buy some strong ibprofen. I took a day of rest and continued, shortening the camino by a bus trip, but still walking. I am from Canada and stopping and coming back next year would not have been practical.
When I got home I went to the doctor who did xrays and has told me that I have a broken bone in my leg which of course hasn't healed as it should have.
I have no grievance with the spanish doctor who was helping a visitor to the her country who didn't speak spanish. I could have changed my plans when I hurt yself but I was too focussed on doing what I had been planning.
My cautionary note would be that it is not the best situation to get the best medical care or advise when there is no common language and when you as a patient may be very focussed on carrying on with what you have been planning and looking forward to. I think this is particularily true for those of us who come from a long way away and for whom it may not be practical to simply stop and resume again next year at the smae point.
Regards,
John
