#TroubleShootTuesdaysPortugal

Our special guests on this Tuesday's #TroubleShootTuesday show are Marcus Laurence and Bill Mauro, who are enjoying a new life in the mountains of Central Portugal.

That said, they recently experienced a medical emergency that tested the Portuguese health service and their trust in it.

Find out LIVE on Tuesday's show what happened, and how - thankfully - everything turned out OK, but not without a few hair-raising moments and challenges.

About Bill and Marcus:

A married couple from the USA (PA), they retired early at 55 and 48, and moved to Portugal in October, 2019, where they lived in Lisbon for a couple of years. Post-pandemic, they wanted to move the countryside and chose the area around Coimbra, where they wanted to maintain access to services and conveniences.

"Previously, we had private insurance that we used in Lisbon and public healthcare is more accessible where we live now, " they say. "Marcus had used emergency services previously for an injury. Bill had used emergency services for kidney stones."

Their recent experience, however, was much more serious...

"Marcus had shortness of breath during exercise and had a bad cough earlier, but otherwise felt fine," Bill told us. "Saturday morning, we went to our local 'Centro de Saúde' to have the cough looked at."

"The doctor on duty was not our regular doctor and did not speak much English. He listened to my heart and told me I needed an EKG (ECG) that day. So he sent me to CHUC (Coimbra Hospital)," adds Marcus.

It's here that events took a serious turn, with Marcus admitted to the emergency room with a rapid heart rate and eventually admitted to the cardiac unit after his heart rate could not be slowed down.

Twelve days in the cardiac unit followed.

Press play to find out more, including Bill and Marcus's personal experience of cultural differences, the language barrier, hospital food, visiting rights and standard of facilities.

"Doctors here have a less consultative approach and medications were given without explanation," says Marcus, who joins us on the show with Bill to reveal all.

Find out more about their new home in Central Portugal on Instagram - @casadalomba050

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