Day 288

October 24, 2012

Tropical Illness Update:

Several weeks ago, I woke up with an earache. I didn’t want to bother the Duty Officer with a call on the weekend, so I waited until Monday to call to ask if I could go into the clinic near me to get it checked out—we have to get permission from the Peace Corps office before we seek medical attention.

I hopped on a bus and headed to Torti to the Centro de Salud (Health Center). This was not a pleasant experience. I waited quite a while; they didn’t really know what paperwork to fill out in the reception office for a gringa, so it took over an hour just to get my name on the list to be seen by the doctor. Also, all the clinic staff took the opportunity to come up to me to ask if I would tutor their children in English or give computer classes in the clinic—I told them I would have to get back to them on that being that I currently could not hear out of one of my ears.

The doctor looked in my ear and gave me drops and antibiotics for an ear infection. I left content. I woke up the next morning not feeling any better. I headed into the city to be seen by the Peace Corps doctor. She said it also looked like an infection, but that she would send me to an ENT the next day. So Wednesday, I went to see the ENT, who informed me that I did not have an ear infection but instead had ‘hongos’ (Spanish for mushrooms or fungus) growing in my ear, and that the antibiotics were killing the good bacteria in my ear trying to fight off the hongos. Of course, just my luck. The ENT pulled out a couple, instant relief, and told me that I would need to come back several times.

I have since been back twice. All hongos have been removed, the holes in my ear have closed up, and I can hear again!!! I am not allowed to scuba dive or blow my nose for a while. The scuba diving ban I can deal with, the nose blowing has been a little bit more difficult—I caught a cold from the AC in the hostel I was staying at in the city while I was there for my last appointment.

Stay tuned, after being burned by an acid beetle and supporting a small eco-system inside my head, who knows what is next.

Sorry, there are not pictures to accompany this blog post.