sv evi

Within the first 6 weeks or so of moving here we had some medical issues. Nothing serious.

I had diarrhea about every other day for 3 weeks, and found myself biking across town to drop off a stool sample. Which came back fine, no parasites, and the diarrhea cleared up. I guess just adjusting to the different food here—mostly the dairy products seem quite distinct. And even though things are labeled the same, they don’t taste the same. (ex. Cream cheese, yogurt, cheddar cheese, milk…)

Jade got a UTI, and unfortunately we didn’t diagnose it properly for 5 days…so then it was Saturday night, and I was sure she had had a UTI since Wednesday night, and I was trying to find a doctor open on Sunday morning to treat her. An acquaintance from the Midwest who has lived here 6 years and married a Cuencano gave me her doctor’s info—a lovely female doctor who is very thorough, good with kids, and charges $10 per visit, including follow-up visit. I called her at 9 pm Saturday night, and she saw us at 8:30 the next morning (first we had to go to the lab to leave a urine sample). The only downside to the doctor is that she is on the other side of town, so either a loong bus ride or a $3.00 taxi ride. Poor Jade. She had to take antibiotics for 10 days, and at first she hated taking it—I had to hold her on my lap while Riki syringed it into her mouth, meanwhile Jade was screaming. Twice a day. But then she adjusted and even wanted to take her medicine, no more crying.

We also all got a round of colds, runny noses, coughs, sore throats.

Then Jade had these bites on her feet, ankles, calves…hands, face, and neck. She scratched them so bad they bled, and turned into huge red welts. I had no idea what they were…more kept showing up each day. But no one else in the family was getting bitten. I asked around, and some Ecuadorians said maybe fleas. Hmm. My friend Lorena told us to sweep with this plant “altamisa” that I could find in the market, because the fleas don’t like the smell.  So we washed all the bedding, changed Jade to a different mattress, swept the whole house, mopped the whole house, and swept again with the altamisa rubber-banded to the broom. Whew! Lots of work. Also, showered her at night and I inventoried the bites, so we could see if she had more in the morning.  And something worked…because the bites stopped. Now, in retrospect, I don’t think it was fleas, but maybe no-see-ums that live in the grass here, so she was getting bit while playing in our front yard perhaps?

Negotiating health problems and doctors in a foreign country is always a bit intimidating. We haven’t found a dentist yet (or looked for one) but that will be next.