Diagnostic odessy

Clare has been bothered about the pain and stiffness of her shoulder since she fell on it last week, so this morning we went to the Los Boliches Urgencia to get it examined. After an hour's wait, she was seen by a doctor and sent to get her shoulder X-rayed at the Centro de Salud in the neighbouring barrio Las Lagunas ten minutes drive away.

She was seen quite speedily and we were on our way back to the Los Boliches Urgencia in less than an hour. Unfortunately I got a parking ticket for not noticing a restricted parking notice outside a bank, thinking myself lucky to find a spot at all having circulated surrounding streets for ten minutes. The two medics who examined the X-ray photo couldn't come to a conclusion about how to interpret it, so we were sent off to Marbella, to the regional hospital for the Costa del Sol.

By now it was three o'clock, and we were both hungry, so we went home and I cooked lunch for us before we set out on the twenty mile journey in search of a diagnosis. It was twenty past five by the time I delivered Clare to the entrance and went in search of parking. By six she'd been processed and sent to a traumatology consultant who questioned and examined her, and the X-ray photo. No broken bones, we were delighted to hear, but a lot of inflammation of the tendons and the joint. The remedy? Lots of rest and wearing an arm sling for a week or so. We then had to wait another hour the see a nurse who provided the sling in just a few minutes. There'd been a queue of half a dozen people ahead of us needing urgent attention, so it was gone seven when we left for Fuengirola, but it was a pleasant enough evening drive.

We stopped in Los Boliches, bought a big slice of apple tart for Clare to eat, then walked down to the beach to sit in the last patch of sun on the sand to eat it before heading up the hill for another late supper, relieved that it wasn't as bad an injury as we feared it might be. All the places we visited were very busy, also well organised with staff that coped with the difficulties of a patient speaking about their complain in a language not their own. There was a voluntary interpretor on duty at the first place, and at the main hospital, some of the medics who dealt with us spoke good English. All were most kind and sympathetic. A good if rather challenging experience, and good evidence that the EHIC reciprocal basic health care arrangements really do work, no problemo - just remember to take your passport or your driving license along with you.