Oh the adventures we have had over the past couple of weeks.
It all began in the middle of January when a streak of illness and injury flew through our house. Mostly, the illnesses hit me. They ranged from flu, to cold, to eczema to bronchitis and laryngitis. Hubby hurt his back after our most recent move and he walked really slow and funny for about a week. Princess had a cold, an eye infection, an ear infection and a crazy allergic reaction to a medication that turned her upper body completely red with white dots. Dimples walked away with a slight allergy to the environment, most notably the increased sand and dust in the air.
It was Princess' crazy allergic reaction that frightened us the most. It was almost instantaneous. From the moment I noticed the first red spot until her body was covered with red, was at most a 10 minute time period. We had no idea what was happening, although, we hoped it was a reaction to something. Within minutes we had a doctor on the phone and she reassured us that it was most likely an allergic reaction...but, just in case, keep Dimples and Princess separated in case it was chicken pox.
I did not have the energy for chicken pox. Still being sick myself, I took Princess to the doctor in downtown 6th of October. This journey was the first one I had been on by myself since we came to Egypt. Every time we go out, we all go together. This was new. The driver knew where we were going, I did not. It was about a 25 minute drive to get to the doctor and when we stopped I had no idea where we were or where to go.
This area was much different then where we live in the suburbs. This was downtown. There were donkey carts with fruit and bread on the side of the road, and there were sheep lounging in the sunlight. People were bustling around the nearby Mosque and I stood staring at the tremendous amount of infrastructure, not even knowing the name of the clinic.
Then, the driver jumped out and decided to take Princess and I to the clinic. This was reassuring because I would have never found it. When we found the elevator and went upstairs, I was in for a pleasant surprise.
The doctor was lovely, the office looked just like a doctors office back home and, the doctor let Princess play with the stethoscope and orthoscope. She heard her heart beat and listened to herself breathe, she looked in my ears, took my temperature and used a tongue depressor to check me out. She played doctor for real and she was fascinated.
The doctor did a full work up on Princess confirming that the rash was a drug reaction. The previous doctor had prescribed the same medicine for Princess and I. I was fine with it, she was not. It was not dangerous, but, bananas, strawberries, chocolate and dairy made the rash worse. That explained why it would come and go. She would be covered in rash, and ten minutes later it would be gone. Bizarre. She told us about a different medicine that would help the rash and the ear infection...
When we left we had to pay for our visit, despite having an insurance card. That was a surprise. It was only 10 dollars, but still. I am used to walking in and walking out.
Over the past couple weeks, with all the sickness in our house, we have had more medicines and prescriptions in our house than I can ever recall having in my life. Most of them were herbal remedies or creams, but some of them were antibiotics.
The pharmacy experience is also different here. If I need something, and I know a prescription I want, all I have to do is call the pharmacy, order it, and then shortly after the phone call the prescription arrives at the house. It is pretty glorious to have the medicine just show up, and usually, it comes faster than if we were to leave our house to go to the pharmacy.
I think that we are finally all on the mend from our various illnesses. My voice is still hoarse and I cough occasionally. The medication certainly helped. Princess is better, Dimples has no more eye infection and Hubby played basketball against the students on Thursday, his back seems to be normal again.
Teaching has been particularly challenging. Through the whole bronchitis and laryngitis ordeal, I only missed one day of teaching. I cannot project the way I normally would and have had to resort to creative methods to catch the students attention. It has worked, but by the end of the day, the old voice box is exhausted.
I am ready to have a healthy family again. It was really hard to recover from a respiratory illness amongst the sandstorms and excessive smog that permeated the air throughout the duration of my illness.
The weather should be getting warmer, and with that, we will be healthy and ready to spend our days outside on the balcony enjoying the heat. It should be warmer already, but, the weather has decided to drop to 9 degrees recently. I am okay with passing on the cooler weather and ready to enjoy the mid 20 degree heat that should be coming our way in the next week or so. And, I am really hoping for high 20's in April when Grandma and Auntie come for a visit!
The doctor did a full work up on Princess confirming that the rash was a drug reaction. The previous doctor had prescribed the same medicine for Princess and I. I was fine with it, she was not. It was not dangerous, but, bananas, strawberries, chocolate and dairy made the rash worse. That explained why it would come and go. She would be covered in rash, and ten minutes later it would be gone. Bizarre. She told us about a different medicine that would help the rash and the ear infection...
When we left we had to pay for our visit, despite having an insurance card. That was a surprise. It was only 10 dollars, but still. I am used to walking in and walking out.
Over the past couple weeks, with all the sickness in our house, we have had more medicines and prescriptions in our house than I can ever recall having in my life. Most of them were herbal remedies or creams, but some of them were antibiotics.
The pharmacy experience is also different here. If I need something, and I know a prescription I want, all I have to do is call the pharmacy, order it, and then shortly after the phone call the prescription arrives at the house. It is pretty glorious to have the medicine just show up, and usually, it comes faster than if we were to leave our house to go to the pharmacy.
I think that we are finally all on the mend from our various illnesses. My voice is still hoarse and I cough occasionally. The medication certainly helped. Princess is better, Dimples has no more eye infection and Hubby played basketball against the students on Thursday, his back seems to be normal again.
Teaching has been particularly challenging. Through the whole bronchitis and laryngitis ordeal, I only missed one day of teaching. I cannot project the way I normally would and have had to resort to creative methods to catch the students attention. It has worked, but by the end of the day, the old voice box is exhausted.
I am ready to have a healthy family again. It was really hard to recover from a respiratory illness amongst the sandstorms and excessive smog that permeated the air throughout the duration of my illness.
The weather should be getting warmer, and with that, we will be healthy and ready to spend our days outside on the balcony enjoying the heat. It should be warmer already, but, the weather has decided to drop to 9 degrees recently. I am okay with passing on the cooler weather and ready to enjoy the mid 20 degree heat that should be coming our way in the next week or so. And, I am really hoping for high 20's in April when Grandma and Auntie come for a visit!
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