Saturday, February 7, 2015

Sick in Cusco

Here is a poem about what has been going on with me in Cusco.


Anna better put on another coat,
Cuz she’s got strep throat.
Not only does she have to fight this,
But also tonsillitis.
But wait there’s more
Because before
She first went to the doctor
Her eyes were sore
Anna heaved a heavy sigh
Cuz somewhere somehow she contracted pink eye
Okay is how she feels
As she lies in bed and heals        

 

YUP YUP YUP My throat is trying to kill me.  After having a cold for perhaps over a month or two, my body has decided to revolt in the form of more illnesses!!  Yippee!

I have been to the same clinic twice now in 4 days. 




 
The first visit occurred mainly because I obviously had pink eye.  For two days, the whites of eyes had been pinky-red and that morning when I woke up, they were glued shut with pretty little crusties.  I was taken to the clinic by Elizabeth, who is one of my supervisors for the teaching project.  I told her about my eyes and about my cold and everything else that is wrong with me.  She advised me to tell the doctor everything, but I only wanted to be treated for my eyes.  Alas, I ended up obeying and telling the doctor about the cold that had been going on for quite some time in addition to explaining my eyes.  He prescribed me something for my throat (which hadn’t been bothering me that much) and for my stomach (which hadn’t been bothering me that much) and for eyes (the real problem).  He looked at my throat and asked me a ton of questions in Spanish and finally examined me while I laid down chillaxing on one of those doctor table bed things with the paper on it. 
 Hyperbaric Chamber!

 Table with medical things!
 
Me in a classy outfit about to be examined by a Peruvian doctor man.
I thought it was all a bit excessive, as I can handle a lingering cold.  I just wanted my eyes to no longer be contaminated by feces.  I paid and left with Elizabeth to find a cheaper pharmacy (there is one at the clinic but the prices are a bit steep). 

DETOUR-  Patrick, a fellow global glapper, arrived in Cusco that morning or the night before. I forgot.  Anyway, Elizabeth needed to pay a visit to him to explain how he would fit into the teaching project since it had already started (sidenote- Patrick arrived so late because he got very sick in South Africa.  What the doctors originally thought was tuberculosis turned out to be a nasty staph infection in his neck.  He is better now and has a fun scar on his neck from a drainage surgery.  TMI? I hope so. C:<  )  We were at Patrick’s house for probably 20 minutes and then moved on.  Patrick joined us on the rest of our errands.  In addition to picking up my medicine from a pharmacy, I needed to go to Western Union to pick up some money that my Mom had wired me (this is how I get my money as my debit card mysteriously disappeared—it was either misplaced or stolen, but I cancelled it before any damage was done).  To get money from Western Union, you need your passport, which I had not brought because I thought it was just going to be a normal day of class and lesson prep.  Instead, the day held a medical adventure, a reunion with my buddy Patrick, a trip to my house, a trip to Western Union, a trip to a pharmacy, and finally lesson prep.  Dang.  Busy morning that was. When we stopped by my house, Elizabeth and Patrick went inside and met up with my family.  It turns out Elizabeth’s husband is great friends with Ayul (my host dad).  So they had a mini reunion while I introduced Patrick.  My host family brought us juice and water and we chatted for a couple minutes.  Then, it was time to get back to business.

With my passport in its pouch around my neck, we walked up Avenida del Sol all the way to Plaza de Armas (about a 20 minute walk). The Western Union I go to is located in the plaza across from the fountain, opposite one of the churches.  I picked up my money and then the three of us walked to the Inka Farma, which is on Avenida del Sol, one block away from Plaza de Armas.  There I purchased my medication (a thing of eye drops and two different types of pills) and Q-Tips!  Woohoo!  Patrick bought soap! Wow! Fascinating!  Elizabeth then went with Patrick back to his house and I walked back home packing cash, medication, AND Q-Tips. 

Blah blah blah normal day of lesson prep. 

Here is where things get interesting.  The medication made me so much worse!  I felt dizzy, shaky, and weak, and my throat began to hurt.  My eyes, on the other hand, were pretty much as good as new after a couple days.  After a few days of taking the medication the doctored prescribed to me for my throat and stomach, that I didn’t really need, I stopped.  It was ridiculous.  I knew it was a bad idea from the start, and that I should have only taken the prescription for my eyes.  It would have saved me money and a lot of trouble.

Days pass in which I take my prescribed pills and eye drops, and then I plummet.  Barely able to put on pants, unable to swallow with ease, I will myself upstairs to my host family.  This was last night.  It had been rough for a couple days, but last night it got really bad.  I waited for them to come home and when they arrived, I forced down what little food and water I could bare to swallow.  I choked down some ibuprofen and then went back downstairs to my room.  Sleeping is not easy.  Today I woke up and the dizziness had subsided, but my throat was still in bad shape.  So my host family helped me find someone from Projects Abroad to take me to the clinic.  I would have called Hugo, but it’s his birthday!  I didn’t want to bother him.  After a few hours, Jessica, a Projects Abroad Peruvian arrived at the apartment complex with her daughter to take me to the clinic. Again.

I went into a different room this time.  This one was about the same size as the first one, but seemed to have more medical equipment.  There was no hyperbaric chamber, but there were two places for patients to recline, a suction machine (scary), and a lot more stuff I couldn’t identify.  Also, cabinets filled with medical thingies.  The room from the first visit was barren in comparison. 


 
Today, my visit was pretty pleasant.  The doctor was a nice lady who was accompanied by two other nice ladies, who I can safely assume are nurses.  The doctor reached for the tongue compressor.  I HATE THOSE THINGS.  So in my Spanish, I asked her if we could just try it without the compressor. I opened my mouth as wide as I could and stuck my tongue out. She took one look in there and said “WOW VENGA” (pretty much translating to “holy sh*t come look at this sh*t”).  Yup.  That was a tad worrying.  Then she explained that my throat was really red and inflamed.  I asked her what I had and we tried to bridge the language gap and we finally got on the same page.  I have tonsillitis and strep throat.  We think.  In the states, they would have taken a culture of my tonsils and waited for the results or something, but here it is perhaps more practical in that you get treated quickly and efficiently.  Then again, I did get screwed over in my first visit to the clinic.  Anyway, we talked about how I would get treated.  She could see how much pain I was in every time I swallowed, so she wanted to give me a penicillin shot. 

Where, Anna? Where was the shot?

IN THE TOCKS.  IN THE BUTTOCKS.  ZE TOCKSSSSSS

Yup. I went over to this table, laid on my belly, and allowed one of the ladies (I don’t even know which one) to stick a needle in the meat of my caboose.  It took like 20 seconds. Pretty great!  I take it back.  It was not pretty great.  It was pretty uncomfortable.  Pretty uncomfortable!

The main doctor woman wrote down my prescriptions (one for ibuprofen and another for an antibiotic) and we took this fantastic picture. 
 

I said bye and went to pay.  Next it was time again to find a cheaper pharmacy than the one in the clinic.  We walked down Avenida de la Cultura and found the pharmacy where I paid like 3 dollars for my medicine.  The medicine from the first visit at the clinic was around 30 dollars I think.  And it only made things worse.  Then we ventured (me, Jessica, and her 2 year old daughter) to a market because I needed to buy snacks for my room.  First market was a disappointment, but the second was fruitful! And merry!  I bought 3 boxes of cereal (because granola bars aren’t a thing here), 12 juice boxes, tissues, and 2 liters of water.  Finally it was time to go hooome.  I said by to Jessica and her little girl and took a taxi to my apartment.  YAY.  Home.  That’s where I am right now. 

My butt is sore.  It feels like a UFC fighter jabbed my left bum cheek.  Maybe that’s what penicillin does.  Who knows?  Oh wait.  Everybody knows that that’s not how it works.  Awkward.

 

Anyway.  My throat still hurts a lot, but I am passing the time resting in bed, writing songs, and writing this blog post.  Oh!  And I’m drinking lukewarm tea.  That is pleasant.

Okay.  Until next time.  I miss you all.

 
To close, here is a picture of me with a pig.  We became acquainted as I was walking home from lesson prep.  A cab driver saw me taking the selfie with the pig and I told him I just wanted a picture with my boyfriend.  Okay bye for reals.
 

 

1 comment:

  1. I hope you are getting a frequent flyer discount at the medical clinic! I'm glad you are feeling better. Love the picture of you and the piggy. xxoo Mom

    ReplyDelete