Beware, this post includes some blood and infection and well, as always, Peruvian culture.
For the last month the cuticle on my right thumb has been a bit swollen, so I knew it was infected. I didn't pay much attention to it and assumed it would take care of itself. When it kept getting bigger and bigger and finally formed a white spot in the middle, I knew it was time to do something.
I went to the pharmacy first, but they said I'd have to go see a "topico" at the "post". Um, ok. Thankfully I had a Peruvian friend with me, otherwise I would have been completely lost. We went to the post, waited til 2 when the receptionists' office re-opened, witnessed a bit of an argument about who was first in line, then got told to go back to the topico, I'm not sure what my friends asked/did, but then we were back at the receptionist and I had to tell them my name and family name, and....my other family name? Finally we bought gloves and waited for half an hour for the room to be cleaned, then it was my turn, again, name (which the receptionist had spelled "Deth".... OH. MY!!), family name, age, address, passport number: "Oh, you don't have it? Ok, nevermind." And finally I got my finger nice and poked and squeezed.
It's hard to describe the pain. Honestly, I just don't want to think about it.
We got antibiotics, we got pain medicine, and my finger got drained. I'm pretty sure all of that was less than 20 Soles ($8.50).
And that's another way to do medicine in Peru.
And for the record, I'm pretty sure that very little in that post would have been considered sanitary by American standards. I'm not sure what she used to wash my finger, but it certainly wasn't the alcohol pad I'm used to. As for the gloves and needles, they were sterile, but really, the pain made everything feel like it must be full of bacteria. How could anything sterile feel so drastically painful?!
On a serious note, when it came to the most important things, they were sterile. But just as most everything here, it was simply a lower standard. And I'm not sure what would have happened had I had a similar infection in the US, but I'd like to think I would have gotten something for the pain BEFORE getting drained. I'll never know.
For the last month the cuticle on my right thumb has been a bit swollen, so I knew it was infected. I didn't pay much attention to it and assumed it would take care of itself. When it kept getting bigger and bigger and finally formed a white spot in the middle, I knew it was time to do something.
I went to the pharmacy first, but they said I'd have to go see a "topico" at the "post". Um, ok. Thankfully I had a Peruvian friend with me, otherwise I would have been completely lost. We went to the post, waited til 2 when the receptionists' office re-opened, witnessed a bit of an argument about who was first in line, then got told to go back to the topico, I'm not sure what my friends asked/did, but then we were back at the receptionist and I had to tell them my name and family name, and....my other family name? Finally we bought gloves and waited for half an hour for the room to be cleaned, then it was my turn, again, name (which the receptionist had spelled "Deth".... OH. MY!!), family name, age, address, passport number: "Oh, you don't have it? Ok, nevermind." And finally I got my finger nice and poked and squeezed.
It's hard to describe the pain. Honestly, I just don't want to think about it.
We got antibiotics, we got pain medicine, and my finger got drained. I'm pretty sure all of that was less than 20 Soles ($8.50).
And that's another way to do medicine in Peru.
And for the record, I'm pretty sure that very little in that post would have been considered sanitary by American standards. I'm not sure what she used to wash my finger, but it certainly wasn't the alcohol pad I'm used to. As for the gloves and needles, they were sterile, but really, the pain made everything feel like it must be full of bacteria. How could anything sterile feel so drastically painful?!
On a serious note, when it came to the most important things, they were sterile. But just as most everything here, it was simply a lower standard. And I'm not sure what would have happened had I had a similar infection in the US, but I'd like to think I would have gotten something for the pain BEFORE getting drained. I'll never know.
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