Wendi's appt. with the Ophthalmologist

A few weeks ago, I had a lot of swelling around my eye and it was constantly watering. I went to the PA here on our compound and he thought maybe some antibiotics were in order. I took those for about a week which helped the swelling immensely but didn't really clear up the other symptoms so he referred me to an Egyptian ophthalmologist in Cairo. Our guess was that, while the antibiotics took care of the infection, there was still something lodged in my tear duct.

SO, last week David and I found the clinic, the name was translated as the "Eye Subspecialty Clinic" and I walked up to the check-in counter. The woman spoke pretty good English and asked me to fill out a basic form and pay 80 pounds (about $15). When I brought my form back up, she pointed to the line on which I'd written my name and said "We need both your last names". Huh?? I explained that I didn't have two last names. I pointed out my first name and last name and asked whether she wanted my middle name, though that really falls within the category of first name in my book. She said "No, I need your two last names". I wasn't sure what to tell her so she talked to her colleague in very fast Arabic and then reassured me that it was OK. Later, we were talking to Tony, the bartender, and he explained that Egyptians have two last names. One last name is their father's first name and the other is their grandfather's first name. So apparently they don't have a family name??

Anyway, I was then ushered into two different rooms where they looked at my eye and asked questions. Then I was called a third time, this time, I gathered, to see the eye doctor. He wanted to know how to pronounce my name and where I was from while he was looking at my information. Then he checked my eye and asked what antibiotics I had been taking. I had only been in his office for about 3-4 minutes when he started writing out my prescription and said "I want you to take these eye drops 6 times a day and also apply the ointment 6 times a day, but wait to apply the ointment until 15 minutes after the eyedrops. There's also an ointment you should only apply before bedtime". I was a little befuddled, trying to process what he was saying....more antibiotics was not what I was expecting. I asked "What do you think the problem is?" And he looked up from his writing, looking surprised I'd ask such a question, "you have cellulitis!" Oh, of course, Cellulitis...which is???? I then asked "So there's nothing in my tear duct?" "No" "So, the discharge and eye watering I'm experiencing??" he looked up, a little exasperated, "it's from the infection in your eyelid!" My eyelid???? "I want you to come see me next Wednesday at 11" And that was that....I was quickly ushered out and immediately thought of ten more questions I wished I'd asked. (I did have to go back and ask one more essential one "Where do I pick up my prescription?") I ended up going back and googling Cellulitis and reading up on all the medications I was taking.

I bring this up not as an update on the grisly details of my eye infection but as an example of how different the doctor-patient relationship is from the West. I went to a fertility specialist for several months when we lived in Korea and it was much the same experience. I came to him with a problem, he provided an answer.....no explanation needed. I got the feeling that to ask him questions implied that I didn't trust his expertise. He would tell me what I needed to do and when he needed to see me next and I was ushered out quickly....my appointments rarely lasted more than 5 minutes and that included an ultrasound! There was none of the back-and-forth conversation we expect in Western medicine. I talked to one of the Egyptians here on the compound and she said this is very typical of their doctors. It's interesting.....I wonder if it's because the knowledge gap is larger in these countries?? Or is it that authority is just not questioned?? I think Western patients definitely expect more from their doctors...I mean, I honestly think that the eye doctor wouldn't have told me my diagnosis if I hadn't asked! I'm going back for my follow-up on Wednesday and I'll be better prepared this time. :)