19. The Joys of Medical Tourism!

On day two of my trip (Tuesday), my back started to give me bother, it all started on the train journey from Liverpool to Birmingham when I was putting my rucksack on the overhead rack. I immediately felt a sharp twinge in my lower back. I then had to stand intermittently as it was too painful to remain seated for the whole trip. 

In Birmingham, I tracked down a local osteopath and asked for an emergency appointment. I was lucky and got an early one at 8.45 the next morning. The osteopath felt it was too serious to treat without a scan and he sent me straight away to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 

The planned hike to the Malvern Hills had to be put off, and I attempted to cover up my back injury for friends and family who were following the blog from back home!  If you look back at the original post for Birmingham, you will see that the hospital features in two photos! 

In the evening, it was back to the osteopath for a treatment having been given a diagnosis by the hospital of a herniated disc and resultant sciatica. They also set me up with a range of strong painkillers, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants - with a stern warning not to touch alcohol!

 

I felt well enough (just about) to travel  to London the next day (Thursday). Walking the 13 minute journey from Euston to St Pancras was when I first noticed that the rucksack was a tad on the heavy side !

In hindsight (as I will detail in a future post) it WAS too heavy and I could have brought less. 

I wasn't able to stretch my legs on the Eurostar as there was another tall man sitting at the other end of our shared table. Eventually I asked to move and this was facilitated, giving me more room,  making for a much more comfortable ride.

I didn't sleep much on Thursday night in Amsterdam either due to the pain and I started looking for another osteopath. I got an appointment for Friday and also one for a deep tissue lower-back massage.  After both treatments I felt on cloud nine. I was able to attend the concert in Ziggo Dome and stand for three hours without any issues.

 

Once in bed on Friday night however, the pain returned and after another sleepless night, I  had no option but to search for another treatment. This time I got a physiotherapist / sports injury specialist just 100m from my apartment. Again this worked wonders, but I was starting to worry that the medical bills were mounting up and were eating into my travel budget. 

Onwards to Voorschoten on Saturday where we decided to forgo the planned hike and instead go for a short walk along the local canals and forest trails. I was also able to walk to the town centre for dinner and back home again, albeit after taking more strong painkillers and anti-inflammatories. 

I slept better on Saturday night and felt up to the long train trip to Berlin on Sunday. I was lucky that I had a whole compartment to myself, so could sit or stand as needed without bothering anyone. On arrival in Berlin, I  didn't want to stress my back any further so checked the cost of an Uber instead of the u-bahn/ s-bahn / tram combination. It was only €6.45, so that was the decision made. 

 

 My days in Berlin were free of acute pain, and I was able to do two three-hour guided walks, but I still needed to medicate for pain relief every day. Sitting was still problematic, and so I stood, walked or lay down as much as possible. My pain relief medication ran out in Berlin but I was able to get a prescription for replacement medication through an online doctor service called Mobi-Doc. 

 

 

 

It wasn't the most user-friendly app/service I  have ever tried, and the first pharmacy I went to could not understand or assist. Eventually another pharmacist was able to fulfil the prescription with help from Google Translate. 

 

The journey to Prague was largely OK and pain free due to the medication, as was my first night and full day of sightseeing.  However, while packing my rucksack on Thursday night at 11 (stupidly placed on the floor) I felt first a twinge in my lower back, then several spasms, then severe pain shooting down my left leg. I had been here before and I knew what lay ahead of me! 

I lay on the ground as motionless as possible for 90 mins, to move an inch caused unbearable pain. I eventually succeeded in getting myself onto a kneeling position by the bed, where I stayed for another hour. Through excruciating pain, I slowly got within reach of the painkillers and my water bottle. I took the max dose of everything I had and waited for them to take effect, still kneeling by the bed.

By 3.30 the pain had eased enough to allow me go to the bathroom, however my steps were slow and extremely painful.  At 4am, I set about trying to finish packing my bag, though I had no idea how I would carry it. 

Still with no sleep, I decided at 5am that I needed medical intervention. Luckily the lift was just outside the apartment door. Having researched which hospitals accepted the EHIC - the European Health Insurance Card, I called an Uber. I then spent 3 hours in the hospital, was sent to five different departments, before being sent back to the first queue. I still had not seen a doctor and had no idea if or even when when I would. No one spoke English and all communication was through Google Translate.  Very frustrated, I  decided to leave the hospital sometime after 8.30am. At this stage the pain had eased sufficiently (I had brought some painkillers with me) in order for me to be able to make my way back to the apartment by tram to finish packing and have breakfast.  

There were regular trains to Vienna from Prague, so I did not necessarily have to make the one I had planned for 10.45. I made an attempt at cleaning the apartment, as per the usual HomeExchange arrangement, but I had to send the owner a message explaining what happened to me, as my efforts were not entirely perfect! I got a tram to the main station instead of an Uber, as it was still easier to stand up than sit down.

 

The journey to Vienna was horrendous, the train was crowded due to a previous cancellation and the seat reservation system was suspended.  Loads of people like me with reserved seats were forced to stand.  I did get a seat after the first stop, but it was pointless as I could not sit for more than five minutes due to the pain in my left leg. So I stood for the remaining four hours till we reached Vienna !!

On the journey I searched for a chiropractor in Vienna on my phone, on the recommendation of the Amsterdam osteopath, who had discovered a misalignment in my spine. I was lucky to obtain an appointment in central Vienna for 6pm with an American chiropractor who took pity on me as he loved Ireland and the Irish!

 

He realined five vertebrae in my spine and I left feeling like I was walking on air !  I was able to sit on the U-Bahn and tram going to Martine's apartment and later on that evening I was entirely comfortable sitting in a restaurant for two hours with my wife Tricia and daughter Anna who had just arrived from Ireland.  I was convinced I was finally sorted. My optimism however, was short-lived!

Saturday was spent mostly walking and sightseeing  but I was gradually finding it difficult once again to sit. We found a restaurant for dinner which had high tables and high stools, as I felt it would be easier for sitting. As it turned out, I had to stand for most of the time anyway ! 

 

Then around 2am on Sunday, I woke up to excruciating pain once again, worse than anything I had experienced in the previous two weeks. Nothing would ease it, until I reverted to the kneeling position which helped a little. I asked Tricia to call an ambulance.

 

The paramedics came within 15 minutes, I was taken to an A&E unit of a major Viennese hospital and was seen almost immediately by a doctor. Several liquid pain killers were administered and eventually they discovered one that worked well and they upped the dosage gradually until I felt relief. 

I was discharged mid-morning with a lengthy prescription. Worn-out through lack of sleep, I had to go to bed for the afternoon while Tricia and Anna went exploring Vienna on their own. 

By that stage I had made the decision to cancel the remainder of the trip, at this the half-way stage, and fly home with Tricia and Anna the next day. 

 

Cancellations 

I was able to transfer my booked Ryanair flight and hold luggage from Riga to Vienna and just pay the difference in cost between both flights.

 

This was still a significant cost however, given that the new  departure was less than 24 hours away. 

I was able to cancel one of my booked hotels in Vilnius Lithuania but not the one in Kaunas. 

 

 

 

I was also able to cancel all my HomeExchange GuestPoints accommodation in Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow,  Warsaw and Riga. The home owners all kindly agreed to return the GuestPoints to me. This is one of the great advantages of travelling by home exchange. 

My two journeys using LuxExpress from Poland to Lithuania and on to Latvia were also easily cancelled and refunded, as was my guided tour by Cracow Tours to Auschwitz. 

 

 

 

Frustratingly, Interrail proved to be the opposite however, as no refunds for unused days were possible even in the case of medical emergency. This seemed really unfair to me. 

On my return home, I argued with the Interail customer support office for the best part of a week to no avail. It was only when I left a negative review for the Interrail app that someone got back to me with a suggested solution. 

On presentation of my hospital discharge letter from Vienna, they agreed to give me a credit note for the unused travel days, provided that I would purchase another Interrail ticket within a month. I weighed it up and decided that this was a good option. With it, I would be able to complete my planned trip within 11 months at minimal extra expense.