Caleb Breaks Elbow

Before I tell you about Caleb's elbow, Natalia has moved out of her hiding place and beginning to branch out and try to live normally again (see previous entry). I don't have details, but will let you know when I get them.

Things have been hectic with various health challenges. I've been laid up with a stomach thing since Saturday and was already behind on the blog. The other health issue (as the headline states) is that Caleb was rollerskating and fell backward, landing on his hand. That's what hands are for, right? To cushion our falls so we don't land on more delicate things like elbows and knees? Not this time. He fell so hard on his hand that his humorous (upper arm) collided violently with the bones of his forearm, resulting in a fracture of the tip of the humorous. But finding all this out was another less-than-welcome Costa Rican adventure.

Before I continue, let me say that Costa Rica has socialized medicine. It's paid for with a tax of something like 15% on wages which are split between employer and employee, much like American Social Security is. Costa Rica also has no military whatsoever, and has clearly made tough decisions and sacrifices according to what it sees as its priorities. In contrast, it seems to me that in the US, we want to have everything: low taxes, universal health care, government bail-outs, a top-flight military, and to be able wage multiple wars simultaneously. The health care system here works fairly well here if you're willing to live with long waits in line, being treated as a number, and the occasional bad diagnosis by a doctor you didn't choose. These are small prices to pay in the country with 20% poverty. But there's private health care, too. If you have good health insurance, you can use it, and that's what we've normally done.

Caleb had been skating with his youth group and I picked him up at midnight. It was obvious he needed the elbow looked at, but it could wait till morning. Sunday morning, we took him to the Children's Hospital, a public hospital which is one of the best in Latin America.

When Joseph broke his elbow last November, we had taken him there because they always have an orthopedist there on duty. On that occasion, Martha had dropped us off at the hospital leaving us with the car and she took the bus back. We were there for less than an hour and left with Joseph in a cast. Joe and I drove back to the house and got there ahead of Martha's bus. It didn't cost us a cent. The strange thing, however, was that the orthopedist never said a word to Joseph and treated him as though he were a plaster of paris project in a college art class. Good care, no bedside manner.

So, satisfied overall with the treatment (and the price) Joseph got, we took Caleb to the Children's hospital. We also took him there because the private system doesn't always get it right with bones, either. When Caleb was six, he broke both bones in his forearm falling out of a tree. The bones had to be set, but after two weeks they were displaced again. They recommended surgery. We got a second opinion, and the doctor said he disagreed. We forewent the surgery and never had any problems with the arm.

But I digress yet again. Children, as in Children's Hospital, is defined as 12 and under. We did not know this. The day Caleb fell was his 13th Birthday. They refused to see him. Having been less-than-satisfied with the treatment Caleb got at the private hospital when he was younger, we went on to the public hospital, Calderon Guardia. This hospital made the US papers a few years ago when a fire broke out and 18 people were killed. But in spite of this, it's known for providing good treatment.

Unlike the Children's hospital, it took all morning to get Caleb X-rayed, diagnosed, and into a cast. They would call the next day and tell us if Caleb needed surgery. No call came. So on Tuesday I tried to reach the hospital from our home phone to see what was up. The emergency number for the hospital did not work, and I could not find any other number for it in the phone book. I was going to have to go there personally and wait in line to get someone to speak to me. Just then, we got a call on Martha's cell phone. The doctor said that, yes, Caleb needed surgery, and that we would have to drop everything, go to the hospital that morning, and fill out the paperwork before noon. The next day was surgery day. Otherwise, he would have to wait another week and the bones would have started healing.

We wanted to get a second opinion, but also needed to get the arrangements made if he needed the surgery. After going to the hospital, waiting in various lines, and filling out the paper work, it was all arranged to have Caleb there at 6 o'clock the next morning. After that, we called around feverishly to find someone who could see him that afternoon. By this time it was after 1. The doctor who had given him the second opinion seven years ago had retired. His replacement could not see him till the next day. Other doctors were not answering their phones. We stopped to pray that God would provided us with a good second opinion that day. We'd heard good things about the orthopedic specialist at the Catholic Hospital here. We had to call information three times to get a number that worked.

Finally we got through to his secretary and explained the situation. She gladly got ahold of him and he agreed to see us at 4:30. They took new X-rays and he said no to the surgery. We called the public hospital to cancel. His followup appointment is tomorrow, March 5. If you read this before then, please pray for good news. If after, please pray for the healing of his bones.

We'll keep you posted!