I had a medical emergency overseas, but there was an upside to it

I don’t recommend getting sick on your next holiday, but one upside of a medical emergency is that it might show you a side of the place you’re visiting that you wouldn’t see on any scheduled tour.

Hospitals and surgeries are not fun places and if your medical incident is serious, it can be terrifying to try to negotiate a system that operates in another language.

English speakers are luckier than most because many of the world’s medical professionals have trained in our language, but support staff and nurses often haven’t had that exposure, and they’re the ones we count on to make our stay comfortable.

Approaching Kotor by sea for an unexpected stop – when you get lemons, the only thing you can do is make lemonade.Credit: Alamy

If you have travel insurance (and please tell me that you do) the insurance company will act as a broker, not just regarding financial matters. When I landed in hospital in Egypt a few years ago, suffering what turned out to be dehydration, my insurance company contacted me directly, negotiated with the hospital about costs, spoke to the doctors and kept in touch with me about the progress, following through with calls about my wellbeing for days afterwards.

The idea of being vulnerable in a hospital in an exotic country like Egypt wasn’t something I particularly relished, but the people were lovely, and the food was great, even if the technology in the small private hospital was a bit outmoded. I was disappointed to miss the Valley of the Kings, but I suppose I had an adventure of a kind.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t all that happy when I bit into a crouton and broke a tooth only hours into a European cruise last August. A dental emergency isn’t exactly life-threatening, but with several weeks of travel ahead of me, I was unsure what to do.

The problem with cruises is that you’re in a different port every day and the ship’s doctor pointed out that a shore agent would be required to make the arrangements. That meant a bit of palaver. He advised me to wait and see.

A note on ship’s doctors: consultations are usually charged in US dollars. A friend recently travelled with her husband on his first cruise. He was so delighted with the medical services available on board he availed himself of them at every opportunity. He thought, like the food and excursions, they were free. He hadn’t noticed the fees posted on the door.

After a few days, my tooth began to ache so badly it became an emergency. We were sailing down the Adriatic Coast and our next stop was Kotor, Montenegro. I contacted a Montenegrin friend who assured me the dentists there were excellent and very cheap.

The young port agent picked me up in his car. I admit I was wondering how much this private limo service to the dentist was going to cost me.

Kotor is a beautiful town with steep, green mountains tumbling down to the clear sea. We drove along the shore for a while, where locals stretched themselves out on concrete piers and boulders taking in the sun. We then started to climb to neighbourhoods further away from the sea. I knew I wouldn’t have seen any of this if I had joined one of the ship’s shore excursions.

The old town of Kotor.Credit: iStock

The dentist’s surgery was a pretty, multi-level house on the hill. The waiting room had a chandelier in the ceiling. The dentist’s name was Zoran, he spoke English well, and he told me he was just about to drive off on a long summer vacation with his kids.

He took panoramic X-rays but didn’t use anaesthetic. At first this seemed a bit Marathon Man, but there wasn’t really much pain. The front of my tooth was reconstructed and three months later it is still holding up.

As for cheap, I think I got the cruise ship passenger loading. At about $800 Australian it was the most expensive filling I’d ever had (mostly covered by travel insurance).

The slow drive back down the winding road, which took about 30 minutes, gave me more spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and sea. It was like having a private tour guide at a bargain price. When the port agent handed me his bill for the service, which included waiting for an hour or more while I was treated, it was €15, or about $25.

I wouldn’t say I’d rather go to the dentist than go on a tour, but when you get lemons, the only thing to do is make lemonade.