Oh what a night!

On Wednesday night we got our first taste of the St Martin Medical system and lets just say it is not an experience I ever want to have again. It all started about 11:30pm when Noah woke up and was having difficulty breathing. It has happened before and we knew that he really needed a breathing treatment. However, after some searching we realized that when we packed to come down here we neglected to pack his inhaler. So we quickly decided to take him to the emergency room. We loaded everyone in the car and headed to the hospital on the Dutch side of the island. After three phone calls and 4 U-turns we finally managed to find the unlit enterance to the emergency room. They gave Noah a shot of steroids and a breathing treatment and sent us home. About half way home we realized that he was actually getting worse instead of better and that he needed further treatment. Tangra had heard that the Drs were better on the French side of the island than they were on the Dutch side so we decided to try there.

On the way there I dialed 911 to get directions to the hospital only to hear "I'm sorry but it is hard to explain . . . can't you stop and ask a security guard somewhere?" Furious, I decided to ask the next person I saw, and of course it would have to be 7 drunk french guys who all pointed in different directions. The next person I came to said there was not a hospital but if I went back one block and turned I could follow that road to one. (Is it just me or does that sound confusing to anyone else?) So I went back to the next block and turned. The road was similar to an apartment complex driveway, but we did see a sign that said hospital and pointed in that general direction. However, after driving another 150-200 yds the road turned to dirt and looked like a construction enterance to a new subdivision. As I was turning the car around my headlights shined on a dark sign that was back off the road about 20' that said Hospital and had arrows pointing one direction for visitors and another of emergencies. We quickly followed the sign and arrived at the emergency room.

The Dr gave Noah another dose of steroids (this time orally) and then started him on another breathing treatment (this time they used adrenoline which treats inflamation of the throat instead of asthma and he quickly started breathing better.) After giving him about 3 doses they announced that he would need to spend the night in the hospital so that they could give him further treatments every 2 hrs until morning. However, given that we were paying out of pocket and this was not the first time this had happened we decided to take him home instead and come back if we needed too.

The next morning he was sounding much better but I wanted to be sure that it didn't come back so I took him to the Mullet Bay clinic. What a visit. The Dr and Nurses were all very nice (unlike everyone from the night before.) The Dr discussed everything with me and explained what each hospital had done, and then said he didn't seem to need anymore breathing treatments. He wrote me a prescription for two medications and they have really worked wonders. As I was getting ready to leave he handed me his card and said "Next time give me a call. I am on call 24-7 and I can meet you at the clinic anytime." Oh the other thing was that it cost me nearly $500 for the emergency visits and it only cost me $25 for the clinic visit. So lets see... I can get rude treatment, shady service, and pay hundreds for it or I can get friendly treatment, real service, and pay a minimum for it. I can definately say that, "I WILL NEVER GO ANYWHERE ELSE!!!!"

After all that the boys and I got home around 9am and quickly fell asleep until around 1:30pm. Now Noah is doing much better and we are all almost caught back up.

Till Later,

Matt