Doctors

Yesterday I had my second visit with Dr. Heriberto Engel at Hospital Aleman where we are insured. I made the mistake of assuming that because he had a small office where he sees patients outside of the hospital (just one block away from the hospital), that he would be connected somehow to patient records etc via some computerized system. Hah! Yes, at times even I forget I am in South America.

So I arrived for my appointment and he stared at me glassy-eyed but welcoming. "What's the problem?"

"uh, there's no problem. I'm pregnant and you told me to come see you after the ultrasound...remember?"

Long pause....

"ah yes - the Americans!!! come, come. Yes, your husband is very funny. Tell me again why do you want to stay here?"

He did a short exam and measured my uterus. Tried to listen for the heartbeat with a stethascope apparatus attached to a microphone box that looked like a relic from the 1940's. "too early to hear anything".

He weighed me and wrote everything down on a small flashcard. "I'll call you tomorrow morning from my office at the hospital and look at your test results". Yeah right I thought. Get a phone call at home from a doctor?

But today at 11am, the phone rang and his cheery voice reported all good news - I don't have HIV, nor Hepatitus or anemia among other things. Just keep taking folic acid. "I know in the US everyone gets these prenatal vitamins but here in Argentina our diet supplies all the nutrition you need so don't worry about anything else". Fine by me.