The injury saga continues... and it gets scary

After my... unsuccessful attempt to see a doctor yesterday for my injured ankle, I decided to try again. Today was blue skies and sunshine, a perfect day to visit the hospital's emergency waiting room.

Yes, I am going to the hospital. Specifically the emergency department. Not because I am in need of immediate attention, but because no one around here seems to know where a general doctors clinic is and they reckon I should just go and line up at the hospital's emergency department to see a doctor. It doesn't sound right to me but whatever, I am not repeating yesterday, so I guess we'll just see what happens.

To further lessen my chances of repeating yesterday I decided to taxi it directly to the hospital, thus avoiding any... funny obstacles the Universe feels it wants throw in my way. Shortly after I enter the emergency room to be greeted by a receptionist, she asks for my details and the reason for my visit. I felt a little silly standing in an emergency room and stating 'I hurt my ankle two weeks ago' as the reason as to why I am there. I go take a seat.

While waiting I feel extremely nervous and apprehensive about how health insurance is going to work. America is notorious for their absolutely abysmal and pathetic health care system they have for their citizens with even basic treatments costing a fortune (a visit not covered by insurance to a simple general practitioner is at least $300!). I couldn't shake the visions that my health insurance wouldn't cover the visit and I'd be spending all my remaining money on just this one visit.

Awesomely it is only 10 minutes before my name gets called. Wow, this place is efficient, I'm seeing a doctor already? Not quite. Instead I am guided by a nurse into a room where, for reasons still unbeknownst to me, she takes my heart rate, blood pressure and weight... they know it's just my ankle right? I felt like I was getting prepped for surgery... holy crap, maybe I am!?

I start to panic, a tally runs through my head of how much that would cost. It takes a few moments to remind myself that they haven't even looked at my ankle, thus it is highly unlikely I am to be operated on... yet.

Another 30 minutes later and the nurse calls me again, this time leading me down a bright hallway through some double doors. As I'm walking after her I'm searching for a standard doctors room like you'd expect to see at a general clinic... you know, the small room where the doctor sits at his desk, and you sit on the chair next to it and he asks you a couple of questions, then asks you to sit up on the bed so he can take a better look, and then he sends you home... nothing fancy.

Or expensive.

Instead to my horror I am lead into an emergency patient care room! Like, one of those big rooms with the proper hospital beds on wheels, with the curtains around your little cubicle, and the IV drip machines and the bright white floors and the other patients that you can hear but can never quite see and the strong smell of disinfectant in the air and the doctors in lab coats and... I really don't think I am in the right place.

The nurse asks me to sit up on the bed and wait for the doctor, immediately another tally starts to conjure in my mind of how much this is all going to cost. She returns after a few minutes and says something to me, I nearly have a panic attack because I thought she had just asked me to change into one of those white patient gowns... it takes a moment to register that all she asked was for me to take off my shoes and socks.

It takes 5 minutes for my heart to slow down again.

I can hear next to me some guy moaning, and on the opposite side a doctor is talking to some girl who I suspect has a broken leg. You know, injuries and conditions one would be expected to have in an emergency patient care room... I contemplate sneaking away there and then but knew my ankle wouldn't allow it.

The doctor soon arrives. I bet it just cost me $500 for him to say hello, I think to myself. We chat for a while, he feels around a bit and asks me how it happened. He looks surprised when he learns this is not an injury that I obtained that day (despite my being in the emergency ward), but he carries on anyway. While he is doing his observation I'm wondering if you get billed by the minute. Then my thoughts wander to health insurance companies, and how they are always trying to wiggle out of paying for anything. My heart starts rising again. I try to calculate how much money I have in my travel fund...

Suddenly I'm snapped back to reality when he starts talking again, I had nearly forgotten he was even there, although if anything was to grab my attention it was what he said next.

Doctor: "Ok, well I can't conclude anything unless I can see what's happening inside, so let's just get you in for an X-Ray shall we?"

An X-Ray!? How much does that cost!?

My heart skips a beat... or ten. All I wanted was for a doctor to twist my foot a bit, feel around, ask me where it hurts then send me on my way... this is not going anywhere near as I had expected. Things took an explosive turn for the worst yet again when he casually announces this next gem of an idea.

Doctor: "Actually, while we wait for it to be ready, lets do a quick ultra-sound also"

WHAT! That sounds even more expensive than the X-Ray! While we're at it let's wrap my ankle in diamond coated bandages, eat some caviar for lunch, and I can return to my hostel via limousine!

I wasn't handling it very well... an image flashes through my head of receiving a document from my health insurance company:

"We regret to inform you that we do not cover ankle injuries of idiots who visit hospital emergency departments in a foreign country, please see the checklist below. Pay immediately.

- Doctor said hello: $500

- Emergency room bed: $700

- X-Ray: $2000

- Ultra-Sound: $3000

Idiot tourist tax: $200"

Ok, I have to say something before this goes any further, I don't even know if I have the right documentation with me that proves I have health insurance. I catch my breath to prepare to speak up... oh, too late, he has walked away already. Again my thoughts contemplate the possibility of sneaking away. Damn, he's returning already.

I hear rattling from behind the curtain, something being wheeled towards me. Uh oh, this can't be good. The curtain gets pulled back, he returns with a cart... it's the ultra-sound machine. Things are happening so fast! Before I can say anything he's pulled out the gel, rubbed it on my foot, and is rolling the scanner around. Black and grey images appear on the portable screen next to him.

My panic is momentarily forgotten as my curiosity at how the ultra sound machine works, and how what is being shown on the screen is useful, gets the better of me. I ask a heap of questions and the doctor answers, pretty interesting stuff. 

Wait, no, who cares that it is interesting, there are more important things at present! My panic returns.

"So... umm... this is all covered by health insurance... right?"

"A lady will come over soon and talk to you about all that. Anywho, the X-Ray room should be ready momentarily"

He smiles and leaves again, pulling the curtain shut once more. I learned nothing... sigh. Suddenly the curtains are pulled back again, a lady steps in.

"Hi, I'm here to collect your identification, your health insurance details, and get you to sign some papers, okay?"

"Umm... k..."

The next 5 minutes are a blur. She starts rattling on about... no idea, I was too dazed to understand. I heard phrases like 'payment', 'health care provider' and 'sign here to say that you agree to let the hospital treat you, and that you agree that any complications as a result from said treatment is not of the liability of the hospital'. After signing about 5 pieces of paper we're done. 

"Ok, come collect your passport and documents when you are discharged. Have a nice day", and with a swoosh of the curtain she was gone.

I shouldn't have done that...

Oh crap oh crap oh crap, what have I done now... how do I get myself into these situations!? I turn my mobile on in the hope to call my dad, to have someone talk some sense into me. I'm dialing the number just as another nurse walks in, interrupting me.

"Aaron? Cool, we are ready for your X-Ray. Oh, no don't get up, just stay in the bed"

Yep... I got wheeled to the X-Ray room in a hospital bed, completely enforcing how over the top this whole visit has been...

In the hall I pass old men with their gowns hanging open at the back, and doctors and nurses rushing all around. In the room I wonder if X-Rays are charged on a 'per X-Ray' basis. He takes three of them... great.

I try and calculate how much that would cost.

I get wheeled back to my room, the curtains are drawn shut, and I am again left on my own for a while. The fears that this day is going to cost me thousands run through my head. I think back to yesterday, the most depressing day I've had in years. Then I think of today, one of the most stressful days I've had in years. What a swell trip I'm having!

The doctor returns. No broken bones. Basically I've ruptured a ligament in my ankle and it has inflamed, will take a month to heal. Awesome... I wasn't planning on traveling around these next few months or anything anyway. Sigh.

I get permission to leave from the doctor. Amusingly the nurse asks me to wait a minute, she wants to take my heart rate again. I ask why.

"Oh, well it was a little high when we took it when you first arrived"

Ha! You don't say...

I say my goodbyes, we chat about Australia and backpacking for a while, then I leave. And now, it's the moment of truth. The checking out. Every possible scenario is running through my head as I walk up to the counter. Any moment I expect to hear the words 'I apologize Aaron, but your health insurance company claims that this is an injury done back home, so you won't be covered. Please give us all of your money'... or something along those lines.

I sit down, the lady behind the window is the same one I talked to earlier, she finishes typing on the computer then turns to me.

"Aaron, I've called your health insurance company..." Oh man, here it is! I bet they've rejected it! All my travel money is now going to be taken away, it's all been for nothing! Stupid doctor and his X-Rays and ultra-sound machines...

I don't realize that I am literally holding my breath as she speaks.

"... and they've said that yep, everything is fine, they will be covering everything, all you need to do is pay $300 today which you can claim back once you're back in Australia. Just sign here, and you're free to go"

It takes a while to compute it all... I don't move for about 30 seconds. I suddenly realize I'm holding my breath and I gulp for fresh air, spluttering out an awkward "Wait... what?".

"The costs have all been covered, just sign here and you're free to go"

I don't believe her. I make her repeat, from the beginning, everything she just said to me. She does. I finish signing, get up from my seat, and ask her to repeat it all again. This time she glares at me. Time to go! I'm expecting as soon as I step towards the door sirens will sound and a net will drop from the ceiling, trapping me. This doesn't happen, yet.

I use their phone to call a taxi, then walk outside to sit in the beautiful sunshine while I wait, still not entirely sure what just happened these last few hours. I still wouldn't have been surprised to see nurses suddenly run outside after me, shouting 'wait, we made a mistake, you owe us thousands!"... but the taxi arrives and I don't see any crazed nurses, so I assume I am free to go.

On the ride back to the hostel, I swear the world looks happier... brighter, in some way.

Phew... I really need to learn to relax.

Not all fun and games

So, I haven't mentioned this on the blog yet, but I'm pretty injured at the moment. Hurt my ankle. Don't ask me how, there isn't really an answer, I think my body just doesn't want to be here.

As a result of the injury this entire past week, since I have been back in Los Angeles after my week in San Diego, I have literally done nothing besides sit around the hostel in an effort to rest up as much as possible. At first I dreaded being so confined on holidays, but then I realized; all those fun projects that I've always wanted to work on but never had the time to do at home? I now have unlimited time to spend on them! It was actually the most productive I have been in years ha.

After a week of rest my injury still wasn't healed as much as I would of liked so it was time to see a doctor. I couldn't figure out how health insurance works so the best I could think to do was to see a free medical clinic (thus not requiring insurance). After receiving directions from staff I limp outside to start my quest by bus... to find the greyest of skies and the heaviest of rains. Sigh... Los Angeles is sunny 95% of the year apparently, I guess this wasn't one of those days. Fine, I'll roll with it.

Little did I know that today was to hold one of those moments that are just so utterly depressing and pathetic that all there is left to do is laugh. And let me tell you, it was an absolutely hilarious day.

After about 30 minutes of sitting on the bus I figured I'd gone way too far. This was partly due to my lack of listening skills when receiving the directions, but equally due to the fact that it was nice and warm in the bus and outside was a raging storm. Eventually I sucked it up, got out, and caught a bus back the way I had come, eventually finding the correct street then catching yet another bus I needed. I sat on this bus long enough to be the last person on it.

The bus driver appeared concerned as he asked me "What stop are you after?"

"Umm... La Cena... La Cien... something... La Senorita..?"

"Ah, La Cienega. That's my last stop" It's at that moment the sky lights up and heavy thunder rolls past, the rain doubling in intensity... almost as if it knows I am about to get off the bus. "Ooh, I wouldn't want to be out in this storm if I were you" he says in a far too jolly tone for my liking.

"Thanks mate..." I drone out in reply.

We arrive at the stop, I pull my hood down tighter and jump out into the rain, hobbling straight over to some shelter at a nearby building, my ankle killing me. The skies were dark and the thunder loud, cars zooming down what look more like raging rivers than roads. I decide to give up on waiting for the rain to stop and start my 2 block walk to the clinic, a fresh round of thunder cracks over head and I look to the sky to admire its beauty... just as a wave of water from a passing car engulfs me, drenching my shorts. Cool. (and yes... shorts... I don't know why I'm wearing them either).

And that's when it hits me, the extent of my situation.

I'm in Hollywood, completely alone, every step consisting of pure agony as I hobble along the streets at an excruciatingly slow pace, drenched to the bone, freezing, surrounded by the greyest of skies in the moodiest of days and the chilliest of rains, trying to find a clinic I'm not even entirely sure of its location. And as I stood on the unrelenting side walk I just had to ask myself "How did I end up here?"

This wasn't quite what I envisioned when I dreamed of this trip a year ago...

I thought about all the events that had led me here, it really seemed like all of this could have been avoided so easily, yet somehow everything fell together so perfectly and here I am. I've been in situations like this before, although this was by far was one of the worst in recent memory. Despite my bleak situation however I wasn't angry, or sad (well, I was, but not that much)... because this truly was a typical 'Aaron moment'. I knew I couldn't have been in a worst situation even if I had planned it.

So I came to the conclusion that there was only one thing left to do... a smile broke out, and I laughed my absolute head off. For like, a good 5 minutes, I just couldn't stop chuckling. It was so surreal, to be laughing in the face of such misery, but I couldn't help it, it was too strange of a situation and place to be!

And yes I am quite aware that there is a very fine line between 'staying positive' and 'clinically insane'... that line was pretty blurred by this stage.

So with a smile on my face I continued to hobble down the street in pain and the pouring rain. After another 10 minutes however, finally hope was near for I could actually see the clinic just on the other side of the road. Through a curtain of torrential rain mind you, but I could see it nonetheless. 2 hours of travel and I've made it! I eagerly wait for the lights to change to cross the road...

3... 2... 1... They change, it's so close!

I'm still laughing as I cross the road, a mixture of relief and anticipation swelling within as I look forward to being able rest my ankle and enjoy the warmth of the clin... oh, hang on... what's this? There appears to be a river of water flowing along the roads' curb, 2 meters wide and 25 centimeters deep, completely blocking my path...

I am literally stuck in the middle of the road unable to get to the footpath.

I walk along the road trying to find somewhere I can cross... I can't see any. I crack up laughing again, suddenly figuring that the day has been insane enough that what's a little more insanity going to hurt? My solution? I decide to simply walk right through the river, the water easily rising above my ankles, completely submerging my already freezing shoes and socks to the core. Awesome!

With my water logged shoes that now feel like squishy bricks I flip-flop up the steps and enter the clinic, immediately drawing looks from the waiting patients as I walk up to the reception desk with a very noticeable 'squelch, squelch' sound on the tiled floor, leaving huge puddles in my wake. I ask to see a doctor.

She gives me a look over before answering.

"Sorry sir, but we are completely booked and understaffed today and are not taking any walk-ins under any circumstances"

Sounds about right. I ponder this for a moment, smile, and have only one thing to say to her:

"Can I use your phone to call a taxi please?"

San Diego rocks

Carrying on from the epicness that was 2 days at Bolboa Park, today Tim and I hired some bikes and rode our way to a museum that is stationed on an actual retired US Aircraft Carrier. Or in other words, the aircraft carrier is the museum. This was definitely a first for me.

And guys, riding bikes! I can not recommend or praise highly enough how much fun and better hiring bikes to explore a new destination is. The freedom is just so awesome, not to mention the fun of dodging traffic and figuring out the laws of a new country on the fly ha! Anyway we soon arrive at the aircraft carrier... it was pretty impressive from the outside to say the least.

And now you get to walk inside and on top, pretty cool.

Tim and I got separated pretty early on, which is no big deal as this happened frequently during our Balboa Park visit yet we somehow always managed to find each other at the perfect time to leave, so I was confident that that would happen again.

Two hours of waiting later however and Tim was still no where to be found. Not happy.

Travel Buddy growing very agitated as we wait for Tim

I kept myself busy by reading the 2nd book of The Hunger Games series (which is pretty epic). Eventually Tim re-appears (he thought I was still on the ship for the last hour), so we continue to bike ride along the waterfront, seeing some awesome sights and experiencing some really great and vibrant atmospheres along. Most of it was one long stretch of markets, restaurants and performers, a very cool place to be.

Awesome!

Found this thing. No idea what it is for but it looks cool.

Riding around San Diego I would say is definitely a key highlight of the trip thus far, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Alas it was getting late, time to head back to the hostel.

Oh yeah, and I'm an idiot. Yes I know everyone will agree with that statement.

So I was originally meant to head back to L.A today (Friday) but with Lewis around until Wednesday next week, and with becoming such good friends with Tim, I've decided to stay in San Diego until Monday. All well and good... but I'd hesitate a guess and say that letting the hostel in on this change of plans would be a rather crucial step in the success of this idea, wouldn't you agree? So yeah... arrived back at the hostel Friday afternoon... key card to enter the front door wouldn't work. Sigh... what's wrong now? Stupid hostel. The guy buzzes me in, I get to the front counter.

"Oh, Aaron yeah? Yeah... you were meant to check out this morning. All your stuff has been put in a garbage bag and stored in our storage room, and you've lost your deposit."

Ah... I see. Forgot to tell them I am planning to stay longer ha...

All good though because as my luck would have it they had a spare bed for the next few nights, and I am now in Lewis' room, sweet!

Just my charm I guess.

Anyways so, back to L.A next week now. And really, that's the true beauty of this trip, the fact that it is just that, my trip, with no itineraries or deadlines or people to conform to, just the freedom to go where ever the wind takes me.

I'll leave you all now with a picture of Travel Buddy eating nachos.

Nom nom nom!

Exploring Balboa Park - Part Two

Today Tim and I continued our tour of Balboa Park from yesterday. Again I will let the pictures do most of the talking:

Second lawn bowls I've found now. You know it is going to be a good day now.

First stop was the Science and Space museum... and it was awesome! Again I completely forgot to take pictures because I was too busy reading about Black Holes, Gravity, and how California receives, filters and distributes its water supply (riveting!). I did manage to take one photo however, there was a kids science area that had all these wooden planks of wood that you could use to build whatever you wanted (like Lego)... I built a fort for Travel Buddy.

The army is approaching, my lord!

So that was heaps of fun... Tim and I spent far too much time with these actually ha. Next up was the Greenhouse which I was really looking forward too as it looked quite impressive from the outside:

Yeah... it was ok. What's next? The Air and Space museum!

Pretty cool to have these life sized models all over the place

Actually, to be honest, it was pretty bland. Well if you were into planes then it would be absolutely amazing to see, there were so many real planes involved and a heap of information, but I guess I'm just not too into planes to get excited about being there. What I am really into however is space, oh man did I spent ages in this section of the museum, check out these!

A model replica of the International Space Station, how cool does that look!

A model of one the Mars rovers... to think that the real rover now sits on Mars... amazing

Then there were these pictures on the wall of Mars that were taken by one of the rovers that are currently on the surface of Mars this very minute! Sadly they didn't turn out great when I took a picture of them... but they seriously looked amazing. I also watched a short documentary of how space shuttles launch which I'd say was the highlight of the day so far, it was brilliant.

After this was the Natural History Museum... you'd think I would have lots of cool pictures to show. But no, I do not... because it was pretty poor to be honest. It was nothing like the one in Los Angeles anyway (which was awesome). By this stage Tim and I had been here for a solid three hours or so... there really is so much to do and see here.

Next was the Japanese Garden which was pretty cool actually.

I for one feel more Zen flowing already

 

Travel Buddy finding some inner peace through some meditation

Cool, I know I for one feel much more at ease after that experience. Travel Buddy fell asleep in my bag afterwards. Time for lunch! We went back to the same restaurant that we went to the day before... although I noticed something new this time however:

Umm... what?

A few more big lunches like this one and Travel Buddy will need to loosen his belt

I reckon we spent 5 hours here easy, and I know my pictures above (which are the best from my collection) still fail to give the impression of how grand the place really was. A highly recommended place to visit. And while my visit here was mostly science based (because that's where my interests lie) there was so much more to do. As I mentioned yesterday there are 15 museums, about 7 different gardens, tours and much more, so I only scratched the surface really.

After walking the entire day I was very much looking forward to Tim and I heading back to the hostel, meeting up with Lewis, and grabbing a beer. Oh what a life.

And that concludes the third, and yet another, amazing day here at San Diego.

Exploring Balboa Park - Part One

Guys, if you ever come to California then forget Los Angeles because San Diego is definitely the place to be.

After the grand welcoming I gave to San Diego yesterday, it was necessary to have a more relaxing day so today Jon-Paul, Tim and I spent the day at a place called Balboa Park. I've never heard of it (which apparently I should have), but whatever, it was awesome nonetheless. I shall let the pictures tell the story:

Our hostel in San Deigo's 'Gaslamp District'. Great place.

Look how nice San Diego is

A dog park. Made me miss home greatly.

Downtown San Diego in the distance. Amazing views!

And now I would like to present Balboa Park. It is basically this huge park complex thing with museums, gardens, restaurants, performers, sight seeing events, tours and much more. It has a deep history in San Diego and is no doubt a must see if you ever find yourself here some day.

My favourite aspects of the park was definitely the gardens and the huge variety of museums, there were 15 museums spread out each offering a completely different topic like science, history, art and so on. I opted for the Anthropology museum (sweet!), the Air and Space Flight museum, the Space and Science museum, and of course the Museum of Natural History. I was excited to say the least =)

This post will actually be in two parts because there was so much to see that Tim and I had to take in Balboa Park over two full days.

There were gardens like these spread out all over

Some of the architecture was incredible

The Naturual History museum

The Greenhouse

The Anthropology museum had an exhibition about the Maya people... awesome!

AND an exhibition about Ancient Egypt, two of my favourite topics in the one place!

I read signs like these for hours

I apologize as it is only now I have realized that I didn't really take many pictures whilst inside the museums. I think this is because I got so caught up in soaking it all in that I simply forgot. And, like, I know how much everyone wants to see more pictures of obelisk's and mummies!

Alas it was getting late, we had already been here for hours so it was time to walk home.

San Diego at dusk is simply brilliant.

Planes fly a little low here it appears!

The Anthropology museum I would easily say was the highlight of my day, it went into amazing detail starting from the beginning of civilizations (with exhibitions about the Maya and Egyptian era's which were simply brilliant), all the way up to what we have achieved in the last 100 years, and what we could possibly expect in the next decades and millenniums (with discussion about nanotechnology and AI, two of my favourite topics also). But even just walking to and from each museum on its own was amazing in itself with the scenery, gardens and architecture being really impressive.

My next post will have more pictures of Balboa Park with so much more to do and see, it really was such a grand place that it required 2 full days of exploration.

Oh! And Travel Buddy, despite being with me for the day, forgot to make an appearance... although that's his fault not mine I'd argue.

Part two can be found here.