Illness and Injury

Hmm...let's see. So they say things occur in 3's right?? I think we hit our 3 incidents. It started last week. I decided to get crafty in the kitchen and made some chicken stock from a carcass that we had. I was really proud of myself as I am not a wiz in the kitchen (I am aware that making stock is not rocket science but I had never taken the time to do it before)!

I strained the stock and took the remaining veggies outside to feed to the dogs. I spread the veggies in two piles and then turned to walk to the compost to dispose of the bones. No sooner did I turn my back did I hear Kirby and Jackson in a knock down drag out fight. I had to pull Kirby off of Jackson who was pinned down and screaming #1.

Jackson ran off injured. I found him in the dog kennel shaking and bleeding really badly. Freaking out that he was going to bleed to death, I took him to the shower. Brandon came in to find me covered in blood in the shower cleaning Jackson's wounds. He was bitten on the snout.  Research told us that the nose and ears bleed a lot on dogs. The only medical supplies that we had were 2 alcohol wipes and diaper rash cream but they did the trick. He was rattled pretty badly but he has recovered!

A few days later we decided to walk down to the community soccer field to play fetch with the dogs and so that Brandon could throw his "discs".  All was well. The dogs ran and Brandon was excited about finding an open space to throw some discs. We aren't exactly sure what Kirby ate (too much pineapple or too much lake water) or if he just was ill but he threw up for 24 hours after playing at the park.  Bam #2.  It was scary and again, I was worried that he was going to die. I stayed up with him through the night checking every so often that he was breathing. Around 2am he got up and drank an entire bowl of water. He then crawled into bed with Brandon...and he was back to normal the next morning!

The next day was #3. It was my second day going to help Marta teach at her home. It felt great to be going somewhere alone as almost everything we do, Brandon and I do together. Don't get me wrong, this is great, but at home I was very independent and I have been missing some of that.

As I came around one of the corners the road that takes you up to the village 2 puppies came out of the woods and ran up the street in front of me. Dogs are everywhere here and to our experience are harmless. They say that most of them belong to people but they don't wear collars and are usually roaming around looking for food.  The puppies turned left to re-enter the woods when an adult dog whom I am assuming was their mother came out of the woods. I walked by and as I did she bit me in the ass.  No, the back of my thigh. It did hurt a little and she tore my pants but it wasn't gushing blood so I continued to Marta's house for class. I took the long way home so I didn't have to walk by the spot where I was bitten.

I showed Brandon when I got home and we decided that I should go to the clinic in the morning to have it looked it. This turned into an experience let me tell you! The first clinic we went to was a community clinic run by an American doctor. He informed us that the clinic doesn't have many supplies and he mainly treats minor illness. He looked at my bite and encouraged us to go to the community health clinic in the center of town. He seemed confident that they would be able to help us so we stopped for breakfast on the way.

Coffee at breakfast

Ferns hanging above us during breakfast

After enjoying breakfast and reading up on if a pregnant woman should have a rabies shot (yes we should if we are at risk of rabies) we headed to the clinic. Here they again looked at my injury and told us (in Spanish so I don't understand a thing) that because I am pregnant we need to go to the hospital to see a specialist to make sure that the vaccine is safe for me to have. I am starting to freak out a little at this point.

There are 2 hospitals to choose from as we are standing on the street. One is a private hospital a 25 minute boat ride away that our midwife has encouraged us to tour as a plan B and the other is a government hospital up the hill 15 minutes by bus. We decide to kill 2 birds with one stone and head to the private hospital.  At the private hospital they took me into an exam room in the ER. The doctor does not speak English but one of the men from the boat came with us and he spoke both English and Spanish. They checked the babies heart rate and cleaned my wound and then told me that they didn't have the vaccine and that I needed to go to the government hospital.

At this point, the man from the boat is feeling that the doctor is being shady and finds an American volunteer in the hallway that he pulls in the room to assist with translation. She translates that the only places that have the vaccines are government run clinics and hospitals and that this doctor too says that I need to see a specialist because I am pregnant and I need to see this specialist at the government hospital. He writes up some "referral", we pay the equivalent of about $18.00 (because it was private) and get back on the boat. Not always smart to try and kill 2 birds....

Boat ride to private hospital

It is late in the day at this point and we know that if we head to the government hospital at this point we will be waiting until morning so we went home and headed to the hospital the next morning. Here we checked in and waited for only about 20 minutes in the "waiting room" until they called us back into the ER. This consisted of 5 beds separated by curtains. We were told to stand off to the side until a bed opened up. Meanwhile they are wheeling people in on stretchers...it was a strange situation as privacy and personal space are non-existent.

Yes, Brandon is losing a bit of his beer belly!  He was supposed to wait for me.... 

ER waiting room (the boy is peeking into the ER)

Check-in desk at Government hospital.  There was a desktop behind there.

A bed opened up after about 40 minutes and so we moved to the bed where they told me to put a gown on. It was cold and felt a tad dirty so I put the gown over my clothes.  The babies heart rate was checked again and then we waited for about 2 hours for the doctor to come in, look at my leg, and then he has to call this specialist. The specialist finally arrives and his guy is no doctor but someone who again tells us that I need the rabies vaccine but that they don't have it. He writes up another form for us, tells us that he has called the community clinic and that they are expecting us. We head there thinking we have finally made progress...HA!

Hospital bathroom

Hospital bathroom

We arrive and are told that the hospital never called and that they are dumb. That we need to go back to the town where I was bitten and get the vaccine there. We (Brandon) explains the whole stupid story of everywhere that we have been and we sit while this guy and woman discuss something in the corner. It looks like they are calling somewhere but who really knows. The next thing we know a little girl is tapping Brandon on the shoulder showing us that woman is trying to get our attention. We follow her to a room where I am to be given my vaccine...but first Brandon is sent across the street to buy a syringe while my wound is cleaned again. We left with the instructions to return on 10/3/15 for my next dose. We are hoping that when we return they make good on their word!

XOXO,
Katie and Brandon