Today was a pretty uneventful day until this evening, hence the photo of Robyn's hospital bracelet.
We left Mississippi & crossed the state line into Louisiana about 75miles later. It was a very flat trip with lots of lovely green trees, including big fields of Christmas trees.
When we were about 25 or so miles out of New Orleans, the freeway became a road bridge or trestle bridge, the twin spans, as it is called here. There is 2 - one eastbound & one westbound.
The bridges cross the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain.
The original bridges were damaged by Hurricane Katrina and had to be demolished. The new bridges opened in 2009 & 2010.
It was a really nice trip across the water. We may have been seeing some aftermath of Hurricane Isaac as the train track that ran parallel was being cleared of debris by a tractor type thing on the tracks. There were piles of debris on the sides.
We arrived in the French Quarter too early to check in so we parked the car & went for a wander & some lunch. We had sandwiches at Jimmy Js as well as a glass of sangria that was way too strong for lunch. But, it was delicious!
There was some confusion when we came to the hotel. The streets are very narrow & crowded & there was no valet to be seen. I stopped in a tiny space half way across a drive while Robyn went into the hotel. The dopey guy couldn't find our reservation but it was eventually sorted & a valet came out.
Once we had settled a bit, I phoned the company we are doing the swamp tour with tomorrow to ensure all was in order & find out where to go. Jane & Jo from Harvey World Travel have very kindly given us this swamp & bayou tour. I am glad I rang as it was booked under Qantas & may have caused a delay in the morning sorting it out.
Robyn still hasn't been well & the cough has been relentless. She decided to have a sleep this afternoon while I ventured out to see where to go tomorrow morning & also book tickets for a steam paddle boat cruise on Saturday afternoon.
When I got back around 6pm she was still asleep & didn't get up until about 7pm. She decided she would like to see a doctor. I googled medical centers & found one just outside the quarter. We walked up there, arriving about 7.45pm.
The US medical centers are unlike ours. They are in hospitals.
When we got there, Robyn had to fill out a form & then be assessed by the triage nurse. She was an Australian, from Melbourne. She told us the wait would be a couple of hours & we would see a different side of America. She put the wrist band on Rob with a barcode.
There were people in the waiting room, some with obvious symptoms & some with none.
After about half an hour, a nurse called for Rob Wat. Robyn nearly got up but didn't as it wasn't Robyn Watkins. The nurse called twice before calling someone else. It was then Rob moved the bracelet on her wrist & saw it had Rob Wat on it. The Aussie nurse had just printed the first 3 letters of each name. When the door opened again for another name to be called, Robyn got up & explained the situation. This nurse said she would fix it. She came back a little bit later with another bracelet showing Robyn Watkins.
It wasn't until 10pm that she was finally called. She disappeared behind the door & I didn't see her again until 11.20pm when another nurse came & got me & took me to the room Robyn was in, in case I was worried. Just a bit!!!! At home you are in & out in less than 10mins.
It turns out she had sat there for 45mins before a doctor came & saw her briefly. He diagnosed bronchitis. A nurse then came & gave her 3 tablets & an injection. She had to wait 20mins to make sure there was no reaction before she could be discharged. That was when the nurse came & got me.
The nurse said she hadn't been a nurse prior to Hurricane Katrina so she knew no different but others told her it was worse now. A lot of public hospitals were destroyed by Katrina & not rebuilt. The hospital we were at was a private one but they took a lot more public patients now as there was no where else for them to go.
The Aussie nurse came to discharge Robyn & said 'now you have seen third world medicine'. It was very bad. We didn't leave the hospital until nearly midnight & there were people still in the waiting room who hadn't been seen at all in the time I was in there.
Because Robyn didn't have a Medicare card with her, she had to pay. She will claim it back on the travel insurance. The admin lady wrote down the sum of $1209. It was $804 for the right to sit there for 4hrs & be seen by the doctor for 5mins, because she had been assessed as a level 3 severity. Luckily she wasn't a 5 as this was over $1000. It was another $405 for the medication she had been given. Outrageous prices. We told her we thought it was ridiculously high so she spoke to her supervisor who automatically said take 70% off. She ended up paying about $350.
What a night. It is now 1.46am so I must get some sleep. Off to see the gators in the morning!