Emma's Eye Surgery

On June 4th, Emma had to have surgery to remove an infectious bump off of her eyelid. We noticed it at the end of March around when rainy season was beginning and everyone's allergies were going haywire. I thought it was probably a clogged tear duct or a stye or something to do with allergies and it would eventually go away on its own. It was a flesh-colored bump and never got any bigger so I didn't think too much more about it. About two months later she started complaining about her eye hurting and her eye was red first thing each morning. So we decided to take her to the missionary doctor at our school.

I was so impressed with the care we received from there! Dr. Longworth didn't know exactly what it was, but he knew it needed to be removed. So, send her to a plastic surgeon or an eye doctor? That was the question. He had me call his personal nurse right away to get her in with an eye specialist named Dr. Mena the next morning. She was young and sweet and spoke English which calmed Emma down a lot. She identified the bump right away as "mollusco contagioso" (sounds like a Harry Potter spell to me) and said it was actually the host infection and it could spread to the rest of her body. She checked Emma over and even checked her eyesight and said everything was fine. But the bump needed to be removed right away because it was very infectious and very contagious (nice to know after 2 months! Ooops). She told Emma that she has done this surgery tons of times on pretty little girls like her and there was nothing to worry about. So, Emma really never was concerned about it at all.

Okay, let me clarify something. Will actually took her to see Dr. Mena and when they returned home this is how our conversation went:

Me: "Well, how did it go?"
Will: "Fine"
Me: "What did the doctor say?"
Will: "She has an infectious bump on her eye and it needs to be removed"
Me (thinking..."duh"): "What's it called?"
Will: "I don't know"
Me: "When is her surgery"
Will: "They're supposed to call you and let you know"
Me: "Why?"
Will: "They have to talk to the children's anasthesiologist first and see when he'll be here"

Wow...so much information. I guess if I want more details I can take her myself next time. So I had to attempt several phone calls in Spanish to find out when her surgery was. They finally phoned back on Sunday afternoon (strange to me that they work then) and said her surgery was scheduled for Monday at 3:00. Poor girl couldn't eat all day.

We get to the hospital to check in and Jack said his tummy hurt. Great. I thought he could just as easily throw up in the bathrooms at the hospital as he could at home so oh well. We got him a Gatorade which made him feel better and Emma started to get nervous. Once we checked in (where you have to pay a hefty deposit...private medicine remember) Will received a phone call on his cell. It was Dr. Mena calling from the surgery room from her cell phone asking where we were. So funny to me. He told her we were on our way and we walked down the hall to the surgery area.



Cute Emma in her surgery scrubs

Check out the nurse uniforms...yes I'm serious. Hospital Clinica Biblica is quite the place. It has fountains and plants all in the lobby with a piano player in the corner. The food and coffee at the snack shop is really good too. Since it's private, it's not very crowded and you get a LOT of individual attention. For those of you who think I'm going to be having this baby in the jungle, no worries. I don't think I could choose a better place.
http://www.clinicabiblica.com/.

 

 

 

One parent had to be with her the whole time and only one parent. Emma is definitely daddy's girl after all, and he is so much better at keeping her calm than I am. So I waited with Jack right outside the door while Will dressed in scrubs and went in to hold her hand.

Her surgery took about 2 hours and then she had an hour of anasthesia recovery afterwards. She did amazing! Dr. Mena came out to tell Jack and me that everything was great and she'll see Emma again in a few days.

We then had to settle payment with the hospital for the remaining balance and make a plan to pay Dr. Mena her payment and the anasthesiologist his payment. And Dr. Mena only takes cash! I say all of this because it's so different than how we do it in the States. We do have health insurance through the States but most Costa Ricans have public health care and only the "rich" have private care. We pay our doctor bills ourselves and then get reimbursed from our health insurance company after we've reached our deductible. Even private medicine here is way cheaper than the States so it takes a while to reach the deductible. In fact, Costa Rica is known for medical and dental tourism. Meaning, really great doctors and really good prices for all kinds of services (mostly plastic surgery).

Anyway, on our drive home Jack said his tummy was hurting again. We barely made it in the door and he got sick. Will had a meeting that night with some pastors about his training program so it was quite the crazy day. Emma's recovery was great and she had the tiniest stitch in her eyelid that I've ever seen. Dr. Mena can even do stitches on the eye that you can only see with a microscope! Impressive. 

Emma saw our missionary doctor at school, saw the eye specialist, had eye surgery and her follow up appointment all in one week's time. Talk about quick! We were so happy with the care and attention Emma received at Clinica Biblica. We are so blessed to have this hospital nearby!