Health and Medicine

This post is a little late coming, but hey, we'll write when we feel like it! :o)

Two weeks after completing his antibiotic cycle, Jorge had white spots in his throat again. We didn't waste any time and headed straight to the private clinic. Unlike our last visit that included a one minute wait on a Saturday, we had to wait almost 2 hours on a Monday. The smart doctor decided to have Jorge tested for tonsillitis this time instead of simply prescribing antibiotics right off the cusp. Great! Except that meant another half an hour wait which included lining up at the lab, going to pay at the cash, waiting in the clinic area for the nurse, getting two painful throat swabs, and lining up again at the lab. We were told to come back in two hours for the results. If only we knew...

We returned on time in order to be told to wait 10 minutes, which turned out to be 45 minutes. Then we were told to go wait elsewhere for the results. That lasted another two hours after which point we were called into the lab area to have another throat swab because their computers had crashed!? Over five hours of waiting to be told the results were negative. Good news, but super annoying.

We were waiting in the baby ward we believe. All the rooms down the hallway had large bouquets of flowers on either sides of the doors. It looked beautiful. Does this happen in Canada or are the flowers only in the rooms?

While we were waiting in the clinic, we observed some interesting cultural behaviour around gynecological visits. The two exam rooms opened directly to the waiting area. Already, that is just not pleasant in K's mind. However, the real "problem" was that the doctors, nurses, and even the receptionists would enter these rooms at any time... WITHOUT KNOCKING. In other words, the doctor could be in the middle of a gynecological exam and the door would suddenly swoosh open!? A little privacy would be nice don't you think? It reminds K of Finland where doctors never leave the room while you undress. K had no problem with nudity in front of the doctor, but undressing... that should be a private act.

Attempted robbery number THREE occurred the other day. Once again, someone opened Jorge's backpack zipper while walking behind him. Jorge felt the tug immediately and turned around to see the thief make an instant U-turn. Grrr...

We've been taking out lots of money lately in order to pay for the 2-bedroom apartment we have rented for the next two months. The companies make you pay all the rent upfront PLUS a month's rent in deposit. To top it all off, they expect you to pay it all in American dollars. With all the attempted robberies, you can imagine how safe we'll feel carrying all that money to the bank to exchange it and then to the new apartment.

We've found our niche in Tango now, although we are spending our time taking lessons and going to practicas more than going dancing at milongas. We don't particularly like going to milongas. That is quite a faux-pas statement here, but attempting to dance on some of these really crowded floors takes away from our enjoyment of the dance. The leader's dancing ends up being dictated by the people and the space around him rather than the music and his creativity.

As expected, our time here is going by far too quickly...

On Friday, we had an appointment at the travel clinic to get all the vaccinations needed for our 1-year retirement. The doctor was, of course, a genius in his field of work and enlightened us on all the crap we can be infested with and in which areas of South America ;o) In his office, he had his own computer screen which corresponded to two computer screens facing us. He brought up each country we plan to visit and informed us of all the vaccinations/prescriptions we would need. We left his office with pin-cushion arms and on our way to being immune to Yellow Fever, Typhoid Fever, and Hepatitis A&B. We also left with prescriptions in hand for malaria (3 months worth), altitude sickness (20 days worth), and antibiotics (I don't know how much). I sure hope my work insurance covers all this!? At $170 each for the vaccinations (we still need to go back for the second round of Hepatitis) and $5 per pill for malaria (that's $450 each for the prescription if we fill the whole thing), our medical bills are going to cost as much as our flight!?

Little did we know how awful we would feel. Jorge felt the side-effects that afternoon - sore neck, headache, and general malaise which lifted by the night. I woke up Saturday feeling fine, except for a sore back (which i thought was due to having slept 12 hours :o) but then i was hit with a 101 degree fever, muscle aches, lack of appetite (me?!), and a general shit-feeling.

If you didn't know, the Yellow Fever vaccine is a live vaccine, which is kind of creepy. It's brewed in an egg, so those of you with egg allergies should avoid the vaccination at all cost. And of course, those of you with a suppressed immune system... you don't want to be trying this either.

Brazil will now let us into their country with our trusty Yellow Fever vaccination card.