The Operation

As it turns out, I wasn´t dying, as I thought I was last week. My lovely infection had gone down a little bit thanks to antibiotics but I still had a nice big lump right at my tailbone. Mom figured out what it was, a type of cyst that´s more or less common, but that has to be lanced or else the infection will come back when I stop taking antibiotics. The cyst remains, but I had to get the infection out.

So yesterday I went to a public hospital in Madrid to have a tiny operation. As opposed to the States, public hospitals (healthcare in Spain is free) are where the best doctors are, because apparently it´s very difficult for a doctor to get into one. There are a series of exams and trials to get into a public hospital, and the ones who don´t pass work at private hospitals. Victoria´s sister, Mercedes, accompanied me (Victoria is my international relations person). Both of them speak English, which was wonderful, because I didn´t have the slightest idea what the doctor was saying. The whole thing went more or less quickly. I sat down with the doctor at his desk, told him what was wrong while he wrote it all down, he examined the lump, and said he needed to make a small incision to get the infection out (with shots of local anesthesia, of course). I made Mercedes take pictures of everything for me. She was laughing hysterically, saying I was worse than a Japanese tourist. I already know those will be my favorite pictures from my study abroad experience.

He bandaged me and gave me some pain meds, although it already feels better today. Then he didn´t charge me anything because he said it´s his custom to never charge students. Mercedes said she would´ve rather put it through the insurance because now we have to buy him a present, and we don´t know anything about him. I suggested we get the photos developed and give him a framed copy. I´ll go back for a checkup on Thursday.