Giardiasis and Pizza

Today we are heading to Panaca, a farm/amusement park for kids in the country.  There will definitely be an update coming from that, but I felt the need to provide an update on Josie's digestive system.  As it was an adventure that will definitely stand out in my experience here, I wanted to document it.

6:30 PM:  I left the coffee shop to retrieve the lab results.  Thankfully, they were ready, but the lab tech could tell me nothing to interpret the results.  All I knew is that the word Giardiasis was on the page - I knew that word.  So I was off to find a doctor somewhere in the clinic.  At the front desk, said something like, "I have results.  There is a problem.  Is there a doctor?"  She sent me down stairs.

6:45 PM:  Into a new part of the clinic, the line was pretty long, so I opted to go into the Pharmacy which looked pretty quiet.  She looked at the paper and said (what I could pick up) in Spanish, "Very high value.  Needs medicine."  I thanked her and again, asked if there was a doctor.  She directed me to the front desk.  Now with less of a line.

7:00 PM:  Repeated my question to the receptionist who asked me in Spanish something that I couldn't understand...  I reverted to my best Confused American look and said, "I'm sorry.  I don't understand."  She started pointing and giving me directions... same look.  So she got up and took me to a back room looked much like an ER, but was actually a pediatric Urgent Care.  She talked to a nurse who nodded and left the room.  I was told to stay where I was.

NOTE:  For the record I wish that the Confused American look didn't work so well.  It is doing nothing to motivate me to improve my Spanish.

7:15 PM:  A doctor came out and asked me if I needed any help.  I repeated my line and gave the lab results to him.  He looked and said in English, "The baby needs medicine.  Come."  THANK YOU!  He confirmed she had giardia (a parasite in the intestine) and that she needed medicine to clear it up.  I asked him how I should pay, he laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

7:30 PM:  I was walked out of the Urgent Care with a prescription in hand.  I went back to the waiting room and looked around to see if anyone was interested in taking my money.  Nobody seemed to care at all that I was there, so I went back to the Pharmacy.  The Pharmacists were glad to see me back with a prescription.  I offered them some coffee cookies that I bought at the coffee shop and they gladly took a few.  They filled all but one of Josie's prescriptions, but didn't have the 2nd.

7:45 PM:  At another pharmacy on my way back home.  Thankfully, they did have what I needed!

8:00 PM:  Needed to pick up food for the family.  Ugh.  It was getting late.

8:30 PM:  Arrived home with meds, potstickers, pad thai, and cilantro beef.

Whew.  Thankfully with only a day of medications, Josie is already improving.  Thank you all for the prayers and reassurance that seemed to come through experience.

Last night we ordered pizza with the Iowans and had a party in the beautiful courtyard.  It is such a beautiful complex that we figured we needed to use it!

The kids showing down on pizza and juice.

As it darkened up, the lights on the chapel really looked stunning.  The door to out apartment is  along the lower of the two row of lit windows (a hallway) at the top.  

Lucy posing by the fountain.  She really enjoys having the Iowan's to play with.  She just beams!

We ended our party with popcorn and a movie.  Josie loved the popcorn, wasn't captivated by the movie.