Scotland: An Epilogue

On Friday, immediately after the Scotland ride I managed to gracefully (not) fall down three steps in front of the hotel.   My left leg was under my right leg and my left foot twisted in an unusual manner.  This was on Friday and I limped along all weekend with pain when I put weight on it.

Our Irish guide Tony Boyd never anticipated this job.

Irish medical system.  With all of the discussion these days in the US about Medicare For All and the Single Payer System, it will be interesting to see how the Irish medical system works.  Prior experience with the public health system in Italy was very good.

Health care in Ireland is two-tier; public and private sectors exist.  The public health care system is governed by the Health Act 2004 which established a new body to be responsible for providing heath care and personal social services to everyone living in Ireland.  There is also a large private healthcare market.

On Monday I decided a doctor should look at it.  The hotel made a call and I had an appointment with a sports doctor 3:30.  I was charged 50 pounds sterling for this “consultation”.  This doctor was concerned and said I should have it x-rayed, but there is not an x-ray facility in Killarney.  So, taking this doctor's letter of recommendation, we hired a taxi, driven by Kerri, to take us to Mallow and return (64 km).  The taxi waits for us for 4 hours while we are in the hospital.  We don’t get back to Killarney until 9:30 pm.

After looking at the x-rays, the doctors in Mallow were pretty sure I needed surgery and they scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in Cork at 7:30 the next morning. No charge for this consultation, the two sets of x-rays or the special ankle dressing which must have used 10 yards of tape. We had another letter of recommendation.

So Danny, who owns the taxi company which Kerri works for, picked us up at 6:00 to took us and all of our luggage from Killarney to the University Hospital in Cork (80 km).  Our 7:30 appointment time came and went; they take patients in order of the severity of the injury, or that is supposed to be the process.  I finally see "the Doctor" around 9:30.  But I quickly find out this is not just a doctor; this is "the Professor", head of the orthopedic department at the university and everyone on the staff bows to him.  He doesn't look like my doctors in the US.  He's dressed in what looks like a fancy Italian suit, complete with a complimentary shirt, tie and breast pocket handkerchef.  No stethescope for this doctor; he has a leather brief case in his hand. After a cursory examination he declares that I need surgery, but that timing is not critical.  They can do it today in Cork or I can have it done in the US.  We discussed the pluses and minuses; we decided to have it done in the US.  They converted the x-rays to a CD for me to take to the US, gave me a walking boot, crutches and a letter for the US doctors.  There are no charges for the consultation with The Professor or the other services.

We're then sit in the small waiting room of the emergency ward at Cork University Hospital, Ireland with  5 pieces of luggage and no place to stay, wondering how are we going to get from Cork to Dublin, change our existing tickets on Aer Lingus from July 1 to tomorrow and schedule surgery in Colorado in the next day or two.  Now I know how immigrants feel, although we have less concern about finances than most of them.  Another cab ride from Cork hospital to Dublin airport is 260km.  We’ve probably spent $1,000 on three taxis in two days.. But we've got everything arranged through Brenda 's brains and tenacity.  We got to Dublin, spent the night in the Raddison and I'm currently sitting in the American Airlines Admiral Club with a free but poor gin & tonic.  We have an appointment with a highly recommended ankle surgeon at 2:30 tomorrow, Thursday in Frisco, Co. - 6 days after the accident.  

Life is sometimes strange and unexpected.

I've made a couple of observations through this process.

The first is how wonderful the Irish people are.  Everyone we had contact with; waiters, bartenders, taxi drivers were all Irish - intelligent, articulate, thoughtful and kind.  Their names were Irish - Danny Sullivan and Thomas Murphy.  For an example of thoughtfulness - remember the taxi driver to Cork? He texted Brenda that evening to see how we were doing.  I'm sure there are people from 3rd world countries working in Ireland, but we never saw them; we saw the real Irishman and they were a pleasure to meet.

The other observation is from the wheelchair.  Most of us have no idea of what it means to be disabled.  No one knows how helpless you can feel.  On the other side we don't realize how society is helping those who need help.  For instance, in the Dublin airport there is an organization OCS, Outsourced Customer Service, who accompanies wheelchair bound through the boarding process.  If you're flying from Dublin to the US this requires 2 security checks. Your      OCS guide gets you through all of the steps using their position to get you in front of the lines.  I was first on the airplane...A similar service at the Philadelphia airport is also by a contractor.  Until you’re in a wheelchair yourself you don’t realize how many disabled persons there are and also don’t realize the support they get.  But I hope not to have this learning experience again.

The conflict between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is known over here as “The Troubles”.  That may be a good name for this trip,

I’m supposed to be leading a bike ride in Ireland at the moment.  I’ve turned over responsibility to friends Glenn Guenterberg and Patrice Van Vleet, two experienced and competent bike tour leaders.  Of course I miss not being there, but I’ve cycled Ireland 8 times and am glad that others are enjoying it for the first time.