Well, it wasn´t quite that, but we did spend 3 hours standing outside A&E (or Urgencias as it is known here) yesterday - then G had to go back today, and all-in-all it seems like a lost day. Luckily not for us, but a guy we know from Oman days, and who lives down on Mijas Golf. Yesterday about 3, he phoned and was struggling to speak. G recognised the word stroke, so we rocketed down there. Luckily he had been able to open the gate and front door, but was in a bad way. G had phoned her nursie pal as we drove down and she said get him to A&E as fast as possible - which we did, after spending nearly 15 minutes trying to stop him staggering around collecting things.
At the A&E I managed to get him into a wheelchair and an orderly took him into the triage centre - G was allowed in, but then sent out with some of his clothes and his phone. We were advised to wait outside, which we did for nearly 3 hours, when I gave up and went back to reception to ask what was going on. The woman was not at all helpful and said we would just have to wait. I pointed out that I was the driver, not family. and we wanted to know whether he would be in overnight and whether we should leave and ´phone in the morning She refused to tell me anything on "data protection" grounds, which really p***d me off, but luckily G recognised a doctor having a fag outside and he told me they had done a CT scan, that it wasn´t serious, but they would keep him in for observation.
We left, but just as we got home, he phoned and demanded (literally) that I take his phone and clothes back to him. We put them in a bag with his name and I took them back and handed them to a (luckily different) receptionist who took them in to him. Bugger me, I hadn´t gone a mile when he phoned again complaining that his specs weren´t there. I did actually stop the car and have a look, but not there, so told him "tough" and went home to call his family in Saudi and the Channel Islands and tell them the score.
This morning, we found his specs and G took them in to him. He is almost back to 100%, so with luck it will have just been a warning shot across the bows. *
Being elderly and solo in Spain is not recommended, not is the attitude of the Xanit receptionist. Why the hell they don´t have a disclaimer about releasing status data that patients can sign at reception I do not know - other than they don´t need it for spanish patients as you can guarantee they will go in mob-handed with family.
Having a friend who is a qualified nurse and who speaks fluent spanish is definitely recommended though.
... and I waited all afternoon for the request to be taken home, then found they had kept him in for another night. Today, his son informed me that he was getting out in the afternoon, so waited for the request again, only to get a text at 1600 saying he was at home. Seems he has been very lucky with the stroke - and he knows it - and was keen enough to get away from the hospital that he grabbed the nearest taxi when they said he could go.
.. and while he was in the hospital, he blagged someone into booking him in with the other specialists he had been trying to get to see for various issues. Pretty quick on the uptake there, so no problem with the brain function!
* just heard today that after an MRI scan he has been given a clean bill of health and they are classifying it as a TIA - which means you and they know something happened, but with all their equipment they couldn´t find anything wrong. Naturally he is pretty ecstatic!
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