Medicine in another country

So, the results of the cashew eating were horrendous. Within a day, my body was covered in hives. But I've had hives before (in small increments) so I wasn't completely unnerved until yesterday.

Around 10 a.m., my throat had begun swelling up. Not so normal. Pretty scary. So, I rushed over to the school nurse, Nurse Angelita (who's known to have magical cures), and she immediately called up a doctor at the nearby hospital. I left school in a rush, and found myself crying before the sweet, almost-English speaking Dr. Orollana. I poured out my allergy story and fears (I've been on prednisone all week, but it wasn't helping). Since I was still breathing fine, he calmed me down a bit. Then, he checked over my hives, scratched my skin a little, and said he was going to giving me a big dose of Hydrocortisone (500 mg) via injection and an allergy pill to take care of the rest. I left somewhat relieved...Then, headed down to the emergency room to get my shot.

It is strange to experience the medical community of another country. The emergency room was almost vacant, all doors were open, no security was posted, and one or two nurse-like folks were casually walking around here and there. After a few minutes of waiting, I tried (in my broken Spanish) to ask where I could get a shot. The sweet person enduring my Spanish asked me to switch to English, and then he said I actually had to go the farmacia first, buy the medicine, and then return for the injection. (Actually, once you have the medication, you can inject yourself...umm...yeah right.) SO, having followed all their steps of the process, I brought back my medicine, was injected while laying down on the hospital bed (trying to avoid see the bloodied cotton ball from another patient laying on the floor), and finally had some relief in my system.

Then, we scoured the city (6 different farmacias mind you) to find the allergy pill prescribed by Dr. O to no avail. By this point in the exciting afternoon, I was famished, still a little concerned about my swollen throat, and really missing the efficiency of the American medical community (particularly with getting prescriptions). Later, I called the doctor; he changed my medicine to something the hospital farmacia had, and we went back last night and picked it up.

I woke up today with a LOT less hive action. The itching has subsided for the most part. I sure do miss home though. While the process of yesterday wasn't as expensive as it would have been State-side, I now see that Americans do have the gift of efficiency. And that might just be worth the extra change!