July 24 Walk out to Llamac and drive to Huaraz ​

My trekking mates helped me pack my stuff. My left arm was pretty useless. We ate breakfast and Ricardo sent me out first. He probably thought that I would be walking fairly slow. I guessI was walking at a good clip because I wasn’t not supposed to take the trail marked Llamac. I didn’t think that I was walking that fast. In fact I had stopped a couple of times due to pain.

Irene was running to catch me. We turned around. Then Ricardo caught up with us and we turned around again. We walked to a trail that cut down to the trail that all the others were walking on.

I walked four or five hours to Llamac. The others looked out for me in the rough spots. I was uncomfortable and in pain at times. Sometimes I didn’t feel that bad. I was sad to say good bye to the beautiful mountains

When we got to the van in Llamac for some reason I thought things would be better. However the first hour or so of the ride was in unpaved winding road. I held my arm to keep it from bumping anything

We had a stop in a small town and then went on to Huaraz. We arrived there around 5pm
Ricardo and I went to the San Pablo clinic.

I paid 35 Soles initially. I saw a very nice doctor who knew English. She ordered x rays and a trauma doc consult. I went out front and paid two more fees. I had my X-rays. (Painful) The X-ray tech told me that my elbow was still dislocated. Then the trauma doc came in and manipulated my elbow to put it back in place. He then ordered more x rays. So I went back out front to pay for those. Then I went into x Ray. He reviews them and did a prescription order and told me to go to the pharmacy to buy some things. I was a little confused so the nurse went with me. Turns out the pharmacy didn’t have a sling. I paid for all of the supplies there.  The nurse told me to go down the street and buy the missing sling. So I left the hospital and went to four pharmacies. None of whom had what the doctor ordered. On has a sling in a smaller size. I took a chance and got that one.

When I returned to the hospital I explained what happened and asked if that was okay. I never really got an answer. Sometime later they wheeled me around in a wheelchair to the doctors office. I found this ludicrous because they had sent me outside the hospital on my own with a messed up arm. Also the person wheeling me around couldn’t seem to get the chair into the doctors office. In the end I got out of it and walked into the office.

The doctor then took all of the other supplies and made a cast type thing that covers the bottom part of my arm. He wrapped the whole thing with elastic. He told me to keep it on and in sling for two weeks The bad wheel chair driver ( who was very nice) gave me some paperwork and helped me get a taxi.

I returned to my guesthouse. The owner told me that the clinic had been calling. They then called again. They wanted 400 more Soles. They were insistent and eventually I told them that I would come back to the clinic the next day.

I had some dinner at the guesthouse and went to bed.  What a day.

The next day I organized to return home to the US early to see my orthopedic doctor.   To my happiness he got rid of the cast thing.  I couldn't shower with it very well and I think that my skin was allergic to it.  The MRI showed damage but surgery was not required.
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