Fourth of July

I walked to the airport and was greeted by a bud Flaco. I realized what a well endowed woman feels as everybody blatantly stared at my leg. The head of immigration walked over and said "Jim have you been bitten by something?" My right calf was swollen and discolored.

I rescheduled by morning ticket for a reschedule fee and headed out to Panama City on a fifty minute flight. This was the first time I had arrived and night and was awed by the beauty of the city from the air.

A forty minute $15 cab ride found me at San Fernando Hospital. I was admitted in about five minutes, triaged in 10 and assigned to a doctor who examined my ribs, bruised back and leg. The ribs were obviously caused by blunt force and she diagnosed me with an infection in the leg.

A few minutes later blood was drawn and urine sample delivered all sent to the lab. I was asked to wait in the waiting area for the lab results. About three hours later the doctor told me the results were back and my blood definitely reflected an infection by the high white blood counts. Urine in my blood proved some kidney damage had been inflicted.

She wrote up references to a urologist and some speciality doctor that probably doesn't translate well that is associated with infections. Prescriptions for two types of antibiotics and a pain killer were written. I was advised to obtain and start on the antibiotics immediately.

I went to pay the bill, the emergency room services came to $60 and the lab services $28.

Securing a cab, I headed off to Rey an all night supermarket with a pharmacy. The drug order was filled in 10 minutes.


15 Keradol 10 mg $13.95 Pain Reliever
21 Clindamicina $16.59
14 Ciprofloxina $8.26

I thought I would been spending the night in the hospital so I had not arranged lodging. The mayhem in front of the store continued on into the late of the night with taxis coming and going and competing with passenger vehicles for traffic space. Not having access to the internet at the time I just grabbed a taxi and told him a hotel I wanted to go to it was full. We spent the next hour with him driving around from place to place. He ran up and inquired if there were rooms available. I think he was just enjoying driving me around running the meter although I did hear most of the people say they had no room.

Finally he found ??? Americana. I just wanted to go to bed. I walked into the small lobby and secured a room for the night from a most strikingly beautiful young woman while the taxi driver grinned at his success. I trod up a flight of stairs to encounter a very heavy stainless steel door followed by a well built door built of drilled and welded heavy stainless steel. What is this place? Struggling up the next to flights of stairs I admired the doors on the rooms large woodgrained but obviously very heavy steel doors. I found my room managed to get the key line with the cylinder through the drill plate and turned the key with a heavy thunk, retracting eight deadbolts.

This awesome security apparatus had a major flaw. There was no way to lock the door from the inside. Oh well, I just need to lie down, I'm not going down those stairs and back up again.

Looking around the room I saw a bed with a flimsy mattress, a window mounted air conditioner through the brick wall with no remote control and the front controls missing and a small shelf bolted to the wall. The bed had sheets so threadbare you see the mattress through it. Screw it, I just need to pass out. But sleep did not come easily as the pain reliever wasn't up to the task.