Syringe Plunger Happy Mexico?

Hello readers!

Nothing much has happened since I last posted. One blog worthy thing ALMOST happened, which is the sole reason this blog is being posted - to write about what almost (but didn't) happen to me this week.

Sunday past I started to get that ucky taste in my mouth that proceeds a sore throat along with some serious body aches and I thought - oh great - a cold! It had been raining for the entire weekend and everything was damp, I didn't feel good at all and and I was CRANKY! Nothing out of the ordinary there, as Pako will attest.

I decided to nip it in the bud, made myself some tea and got into bed early. Unfortunately, I spend most of the night shivering and sweating and shivering some more. At about 4am, when Pako rolled into a position that left him snoring contentedly, I thought to myself - screw this - and I went into the other room to write up Sub plans for Jeanne. At 7 when my alarm went off, I got dressed, went to Montessori and left the plans on Jeanne's desk. Why didn't I just call Montessori, you ask? Well, as Montessori is an exclusive private school that offers your child only the best, the phone lines don't work when it rains. Two tylenol's, an ibuprofen, an anti-histamine and into bed for me. The head cold bit of things got progressively worse throughout the day, so at 6ish, when Pako asked if I wanted to go to the doctor, I said ok.

Off we went to visit the $25 peso doctor (a new guy this time). This guy was super nice, very, very thorough and did an excellent job of talking me through everything. He asked a bunch of questions, took my blood pressure, felt my throat and then felt my abdomen. Turns out, not only did I have a roaring head cold (nothing he could do for me there), but ALSO an intestinal infection that was up to 10 days old. GREAT. He gave me two shots, one in each cheek and then prescribed 3 more shots, plus a lot of pills. **What's going on with the amount of shots being prescribed here? Anytime I hear that someone went to the doctor, they've had a shot and were prescribed more for at home... It's SERIOUSLY odd for me to go to a pharmacy and buy syringes... what happened to good old bad tasting syrups and horse-pills?** Within minutes of the 2nd shot, the body aches started to go away and I felt much better. Pako bought me an electrolyte-rich drink called Suero (the Mexican cure-all it seems, it's what they gave me intravenously the last time I was sick - you know, like 3 weeks ago) and off we went to the Comercial Mexicana to buy the rest of my meds.

At 7 o'clock PM on most Monday nights, the CM is HOPPING! There are people everywhere and this was true that evening as well. I got lucky and was only the 2nd person in line at the pharmacy. When the woman started to fill my order, all of a sudden I got SUPER hot and my peripheral vision started to go. Now, while that might sound ultra-scary, it's happened to me before, so I knew what was going on. I was going to faint. Shoot. I handed the prescription and the credit card to Pako and went to pretend I was looking at something on a low shelf - away from the pharm crowd. This worked for a minute, but only so long as I stayed still and kept my head DOWN. I then decided that I really might faint and it wasn't just a passing wave of whatever, so I moved even farther away from the crowd and sat on the floor with my head between my knees. Pako, at this point, begins to get really nervous and flits over to ask what in the name of Emiliano Zapata is going on and I just wave him away and tell him to finish paying for the drugs.

Let me describe, a bit, where I was sitting. The CM is kinda like a Target or super drug store with a row of checkout lanes at the front. The pharmacy is on the outside of these lanes so that when you're finished with your other shopping, you stop at the pharmacy on your way to your car. So where I was sitting was pretty much directly in front of where EVERYONE had to pass to leave the store. There were probably 14 lanes open, each with a long-ish line of people waiting to check out and get home so I wasn't exactly isolated in my little health crisis. I only saw one student, but then I had my head between my knees most of the time I was sitting there, so who knows how many saw me!

I sat there for awhile, sweating profusely and wanting desperately to lay on the cold tile floor (which I didn't because - um - EW) with Pako leaning in front of me, worriedly. Finally, I felt like most of my vision had come back and I made to get up. I tried to keep my head down and rise slowly as to avoid that rush of blood that you can sometimes get if you stand up too quickly. I made it about 10 yards. Then I had to squat a bit (no full blown sitting this time - progress!) before moving another 15 yards. Pako was almost dialing the red cross at this point, but I assured him that I was getting better. After the last kneel down, I made it all the way to the car in one go! Yeah! I think Pako probably left half of our tires on the pavement as he peeled out of the parking lot and we rushed back to the same doctor. By the time we got there, I could walk all by myself with no fear of swooning.

The doc looked at me, took my blood pressure and said that it had bottomed out, probably a combo of the heat, the antibiotics he had recently injected into my bum and dehydration. Dang that dehydration, it seems one can never beat it! So, I dutifully drank my Suero while the doctor assured Pako that it was, indeed, ok for me to go home. He told me to drink some juice, which would help regulate my blood sugar/pressure.

Anywho, my soon to be brother in law (too many possible hyphens there, so I just left them all out in favor of fairness) had the pleasure and privilege of giving me an injection in alternating sides of my bum for the following three days. The last shot was on Thursday, but I can tell you that I am still sore and purple-polka-dotted! I decided to leave this week's blog photo-less. Your welcome.

I feel much better, though I'm still catching up on sleep! This weekend was all about relaxation! Next week at school is a short one - Monday thru Wednesday and my high schoolers will be taking exams! Then an excellent 4 day weekend to celebrate 200 years of Mexican independence! I'm going to lay very low until then so that I can participate in what promises to be a very patriotic weekend! Next week's blog will definitely include some photos (not purple - more red, white and green). Hope you all had a better and less syringe filled week!

Viva Mexico! (LEGALIZE DRUGS IN THE STATES SO THAT IT CAN KEEP ON VIVA-ING!!)

Leyah