Eye All Better

Thank you to everyone that sent me an email with best wishes on getting better. I wasn't looking for that, but it was a pleasant surprise. I mainly just wanted to write about going to the doctors. Thanks for the sympathy (and the offer of goggles!).

It sounds like many people run into strange allergies, infections, and conditions in the field that we wouldn't necessarily come into contact with at home (conjunctivitis in Fiji, skin infections in India,...). Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my friends and colleagues all tend to travel to places with strange microbial fauna, warm moist conditions, and less than sanitary (by US standard) conditions. Of course, US standards vary depending on location, but most people these days don't run around barefoot on farms or have dust covering everything. Right.

So for anyone reading this and contemplating travel, finding treatment overseas is realitively easy. You can even buy drugs direct from a pharmacist without a perscription (just make sure you can spell it and know how much you are supposed to take - esp. if the pharmacist can't speak English). But if you can, bring antihistimines. I have loratadine (generic Claritin), benedryl gel, and a bee sting kit (just in case, I've had reactions to bee stings in the past). We humans might think we're in charge, but we're not. There are more insects, and definitely more microbes, in the world than us. (Insert cockroach with an evil laugh here). Plus wash your hands whenever possible and don't touch your face. Until I had this eye thing, I never realized just how much I touched my eyes during the day (thanks Josh).

I now look normal now. No swollen eye, no listing boxer-look, no overdone fuschia eyeshadow. I still don't know what caused the reaction. It will be filed along with the hives outbreak I had in Northern Ireland. That was fun. Chris and I think it might have been some strange clove-flavored candy I ate that gave me a week-long bout of hives. Itchy blotches covered me from neck to knee. But since it was Northern Ireland in the middle of summer, I could cover them all up without looking like a freak. I kept the occasional scratch to a minimum so the locals wouldn't think I was a meth addict or something. (When you live on the I-5 corridor on the US West Coast you see a few things.)

Adventures in Portuguese: The Medical Clinic

Recently Maputo has had a lot of rain and wind. The rain is good. The wind not so good, because the city is built on sand.

Between the sand and my allergies to dust, my eyes are red by the end of the day. Last night, I was sitting in Changaan class and couldn't figure out why my right eye felt like someone had punched it. When I got home I noticed that the eyelid was swollen but I chalked it up to a developing stye. This morning when I woke up, I could barely get my eye open the lid was so puffy. At this point, lacking a stye, I was thinking pink eye. Fun times.

I walked over to the Sommershield Clinic, about 3/4's of a mile from my apartment. Its a very good private medical clinic that most foreigners use if they have medical issues (emergency or otherwise). I was hesitant to go because (1)I hate going to the doctors, and (2)I wasn't sure that my Portuguese was up to it.

Why do I hate going to the doctors? I don't hate doctors, its just that going usually means I'm sick and I really hate being sick. Hospitals are even worse - because if I'm not sick, someone I probably care about is. As a result, I don't go to hospitals to visit a friend unless they are really in a bad way or just had a baby (which could be considered in a bad way ;-P). Anyway, I got to reception and was immediately confronted with my dearth of advanced Portuguese. In Portuguese a 5 year old would use, I explained that I believed I had conjunctivitis and said I didn't have an appointment in Portuguese. The receptionist handed me a form in English and Afrikaans, all the while speaking to me in Portuguese. I understood her. So far, so good.

After filling out the form, I waited about 40 minutes before being sent back to an office. I sat down, took off my glasses, pointed at my swollen eye and got out about 2 Portuguese sentences out explaining what I thought was going on before the doctor asked if I wanted to speak English. The doctor flashed a light in both eyes looking for dirt and infection. Then he asked, "Have you eaten anything strange recently?"

Well, hmmmm... Define strange. Define recently. I can think of a lots of strange food I've eaten in the past month - just because I've moved to another continent. The only thing I can think of was the mafurra fruit (Trichilia emetica) I bought on Tuesday and ate a little of on Friday. I only ate about 5 pieces before deciding that it was a little too bland and mealy. The picture shows the fruit in pods which contain several pieces.

I really can't think of any other strange thing that I have eaten recently. Of course, T. emetica bark is used as fish poison and oil from the seeds is both eaten and used as soap. Personally given my allergies to dust and mold, I think that the dust blowing around the past week is the culprit.

Anyway, the doctor perscribed Loratadine and an eye ointment containing tetracycline (just in case). I told him that I had a supply of Loratadine that I brought with me from the States. He seemed surprised that I could get it at the grocery store. Then I had to pay and get my perscription for the ointment. Another round of negotiations in Portuguese (no wonder 5 year olds aren't considered capable of looking after their own health), I got my perscription and headed home with only a few linguistic bruises and a puffy eye.