Back to the dentist

08 March, 2019

 
Back to the dentist in Guatemala City to get the permanent crown on my tooth. What a relief, to have it completed. By evening it was already feeling much better.

  

This is the view from the dental office. I actually watched eagles flying by.

The downside of the trip was that the traffic to and from the city was terrible and producing an incredible quantity of air pollution. Unbeknownst to me, living with the level of pollution near the highway for a week had already brought my lungs to the max they could handle. After sitting in traffic breathing heavy exhaust for 4+ hours, I was coughing uncontrollably all night, making my second stay in the city much less pleasant.

But hey, at least I have all my teeth now!

On the way to adventure! (Day 1)

19 Sept 2015

My long-awaited vacation is finally here! In the next two weeks I will be travelling to Turkey, Germany and Norway.

I discovered that it costs the same to have a 2-hour layover as it does to have a layover of 23 hours and 50 minutes. More than 24 hours and it is treated as a separate destination, with the result that the ticket price shoots up exponentially. So, I decided to use this opportunity to spend a day in Istanbul - a city I never thought I would see, in one of the oldest regions of civilization in the world. I am feeling really excited as I start out the journey on the Santa Barbara Airbus, which will take me the two hours to Los Angeles to catch my flight.

In preparation for spending the next 20 or so hours travelling and mostly unable to leave my seat, since the bus wasn't crowded, I took the back seat and spent some time in a restorative yoga pose (creatively entitled "Legs Up The Wall"). Relaxing and keeps my legs from swelling on the plane.

Time to sit up... I have arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport.

The lines were not long, so I had about 2 hours to wait in the airport. I found an entire gate area that was deserted and staked out a spot to do some yoga. I had time for the entire "Let It Go Yoga" series, some standing poses, and a full Savasana (rest period). I just ignored the passersby looking at me, figuring they probably wished they were doing yoga too instead of dragging their luggage through the airport.

It turned out that this was a great choice, because I slept better and longer than I EVER have on an airplane, about 6 hours, and didn't have extreme pain at the end of the 12+ hour flight, even though the seats were really cramped.

Now THAT's a bruise!

Update on my fall at the gym on the 7th of January. Here is how my leg looks today, the 13th:

Look, I'm a rainbow!

It looks pretty spectacular, but now that the swelling has gone and it's "just" a bruise, it doesn't really hurt (unless touched, obviously).

I was avoiding anything higher impact than walking, but yesterday I did a little jogging on the treadmill and it's totally fine.

Today is warm, so I'm gearing up to go for a real, outdoor-type bike ride! Haven't done so in ages, I'll be happy to get out in the sun.

Humiliation at the gym

Yesterday I was feeling really tired, with a scratchy throat. With a potential cold coming on, I really thought about skipping the gym, but I talked myself into going. Next time I should listen to my instincts.

I decided on just a light workout, and did 15 minutes on the rowing machine. So far, so good.

Then comes my moment in the spotlight... I stood up, and without even pausing to get my balance (or apparently figure out which leg was which) I attempted to step over the machine to get off.

I'm not even sure what happened; either the seat slid forward and I got caught on it, or I simply didn't lift my leg up enough and totally tripped over the whole machine and went down like a sack of rocks.

Ow.

What the?

Ow.

How humiliating!

Ow.

The girl on the machine nearest me doesn't bat an eyelash. However, a young man nearby got off his machine to make sure I was all right. Embarrassing, but also made me feel better about humanity.

I got up as soon as I could and assured him I was all right (I wan't really, but there was nothing he could do about it), thanked him, and tried not to limp (or trip) going down the stairs.

My lower back had already begun to spasm, I could see a massive bruise beginning to swell on my calf, and my elbow had a matching bruise and carpet burn.

I went right into the shower and stood in the warm water and stretched my back, until the spasm feeling went away. Slathered all my owies with arnica gel and went to bed.

This morning my back is sore but not too bad. Very grateful to have come through with nothing more than bumps and bruises.      

Josie and the Full Moon

06 April 2012

To celebrate Good Friday, I had a day of rest. Tomorrow will be a big day with a hike and rappel, and on Easter Sunday I will attend my first Catholic Mass.

I have had a cold/flu cycle the last two weeks that I don't wish to repeat, so I decided to give my immune system a rest.  It was sunny, but without the crushing heat of summer and I spent some time relaxing in the sunshine which now feels like a friend rather than an enemy.

I had a visitor this afternoon.  Josie must be pregnant again, because she is normally very aloof but becomes very needy when she is in the family way and wants to come in my house and sleep on my furniture. One of her kittens from the litter last fall is also pregnant, so soon the place will be swarming with kittens.

Tonight is the full moon (does Good Friday always fall on the full moon?), and my fascination with it as strong as ever.  I had a little more success photographing it tonight and tried some different angles and options.  I wonder if there is anything I can do to sharpen it up more using my little camera's manual settings, the use of which are a complete mystery to me, or if I need a more powerful lens to get the moon into sharp and detailed focus.

In the next two photos you can see the thin layer of clouds surrounding the moon.

The ash cloud is dimming my stars!

17 October 2011

The last few days have been sunny and breezy, very beautiful.  However, this evening a haze has blown in and is obscuring the stars by about 50%.  The cause of the haze is the ash cloud from the volcano erupting in Chile.  Wow.  That's a new experience for me.

Airlines: Chilean volcano's ashes ground flights

I have been very tired lately; I guess I have been pouring all of my energy into healing my sprained ankle/foot.  It's been improving steadily and I'm no longer using the crutches to get around, although I used them heavily on the weekend when I finally got a chance to go to Oktoberfest and the parade.

Still haven't finished adding the comments on the last several batches of photos here and now I have more to add!  I'll try to get those done this week so that I'll be all caught up on my blog entries.  I hate being behind, and once I fall behind they seem to snowball.

A bad sprain

07 October 2011

Wednesday was the first day of the ten-day Oktoberfest here in Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil.  I got home a little after 9:00pm, and was making a smoothie for a late night dinner, when I heard the fireworks going off outside.  So I went out into the garden to have a look.  The fireworks were quite beautiful.

Wanting a better look, I was scouting the grounds looking for a better view around all the obstacles.  I walked across the porch of the workshop and at the other end of the porch (which was dark, as the lights hadn't been turned on), I stepped down one step... not remembering that there are TWO steps there.

Landed on the top of my foot, twisting my ankle with all my weight coming straight down on it.  There was a disgusting popping feeling and instant pain.  I lay there for a few moments with the dogs barking at me, then decided I had better get up and see if I could stand on it.  I hobbled painfully back to my house and proceeded to panic for a while. Put ice on my foot and phoned a friend and my mother and talked with them until I felt calm enough to go to sleep, as the foot didn't seem to be broken.

On Thursday I went to the hospital for X-rays and nothing showed up broken so I got some bandages and crutches and anti-inflammatory medicine. Hoping it will heal quickly!

Mary visits the doctor

Today, with the help of my employers, I went to get a public health insurance card (yay!) and then to the hospital to consult a doctor.  Both were pretty easy.

The hospital here is behind the big church downtown, and used to belong to the church until a few years ago.  Some of its architectural details have been removed, but some have been preserved, like the stained glass doors in the entrance.  I will photograph them on a day when I'm healthy.  I was told that the hospital has improved since it was purchased by the government.

Our timing was good (early morning), so in both places there was hardly any waiting time.  The hospital has waiting room seats color coded according to the urgency of your condition, not sure how that works when things are busy but it seems like a good idea.

They took my blood pressure (130/70) and temperature (in the armpit).  No paper gown was necessary; they did the blood pressure over my tee shirt sleeve and the nurse just reached inside my shirt to put the thermometer in the right place.  I didn't see my temperature result.  The doctor reached down the back of my shirt to place the stethoscope on my back.  Quite preferable to the paper gown in my opinion.

The doctor seemed very surprised when I said I had never smoked.  I'm not sure whether this is because of how my lungs sounded to him, or  because this area is so heavily involved in tobacco production that non-smokers are unusual.

He prescribed antibiotics, expectorant and Tylenol Sinus medicine.  We then went to the pharmacy to pick them up.  All of them are prepackaged and branded, like they were in China, rather than made to order by a pharmacist.  The pharmacy employees first bring the most expensive ones to you, then you have to ask for discounts and/or cheaper brands - thank goodness my employer was with me, as she saved me around R$30.  I would never have known to do this, because back home the pharmacy usually gives the least expensive prescription by default.

I suppose the high cost of medicine somehow balances out the fact that the doctor visit was free of charge under the public health care system.

My employers are being very helpful and trying to reassign my schedule for the rest of the week so that I can recover, for which I am extremely grateful.  My body's ability to recover is much slower than it was a couple of decades ago.  

Still sick...

Due to illness, I had to skip the school outing today to the cachaçaria (cane liquor distillery), which I was really looking forward to.

This cold virus seems to be, if anything, getting worse rather than better, despite my resting as much as possible and drinking tea like it is going out of style. Seems to me that most cold viruses are better treated by sleeping at home than going to a germy, cold hospital (in any country), but if it doesn't start to improve I'll have to do it.  I'm not keen on going to a hospital without being able to communicate well, but I've been told that after I apply for a card, the public health insurance will cover a doctor visit.  I guess that's something, although it doesn't mitigate the fear I feel at the thought of being helpless and clad in a paper gown with a doctor and unable to communicate.

No matter how old I get, at times like this I just want my mom.  Sigh.

Sick again

Well, it seems that the immunity I had gained after being sick so long in China has finally run out. The whole works: sore throat, cough, runny nose, ears stopped up, tastebuds dead and voice is going, going, going... by the time today's classes are over it should be completely gone.

The medicine here is expensive and weak compared to over the counter medications in the US.  Next time I travel abroad, someone PLEASE remind me to bring a couple of gallons of Nyquil.  Thanks.

I'm grateful that tomorrow is a holiday (Brazilian Independence Day), so there won't be classes.  We will have a school field trip, which I hope I'll be well enough to attend, even if I can't talk.

Must lie down now.  Ugh. 

Ah! Whitening Explosion

I bought some new toothpaste.  How could I resist, with advertising like this?  I tried it, and while the mint-cinnamon taste is worthy of an "Ah!", I'm still waiting for the Whitening Explosion.

I found out that the insect that has caused so much misery is called a "borrachudo", which is either a fly or a mosquito or something else, depending upon who I ask.  When biting, they must anesthetize the skin because I couldn't feel them at all, and when I got in and looked down, there were spots of blood on my leg, some smeared, like I'd been in some brambles.  However, around each dot was a noticeable reddening of the skin.

A few hours later, they had begun to swell and itch.  Joy.  And when I say "swell" I mean the whole area surrounding each red spot is a large, painful, palpable lump, not at all like the small local swelling of a mosquito bite. Here is a photo of the second day.

Today, the third day, some of the peripheral swelling has gone down a bit, with the addition of a tiny raised blister in the center of each now very reddened circle.  Still itching like mad and painful to the touch.

I went to the pharmacy today and picked up some anti itch cream, some insect repellent and some ibuprofen. 

Brazil Visa

I've just come from the Brazilian Consulate in Los Angeles; I have my passport with the visa page in it.  This is really happening!  Finally I can allow myself to believe it and get excited.  I leave on July 20th from LA (actually on the 21st at 1:30am, but since I must leave home on the 20th, that's the date that I need to keep in mind).

Starting next week, I'll be traveling around the USA by car for about three weeks, visiting my relatives, and after that, I'll have about ten days to prepare and pack for Brazil. Will also get the final crown put on my tooth - it's a long time to have the temporary crown, but hopefully it will hold up until then. I'm really glad I got the vaccinations finished already.

I've already started working on Portuguese language learning materials; that is one thing that I can do during the long hours driving across the US.  

More on vaccinations and visas

On Thursday I got the last of my Hepatitis A/B vaccinations, along with Poliomyelitis and Influenza.  Ironically, out of all of these vaccinations, the one that actually made me ill was influenza.  About 24 hours after the shot, I started getting symptoms, and shortly had headache, body aches and a fever.  Thankfully, I was able to get in and out of the Brazilian Consulate before this "mini-flu" hit.  Feeling better today.

Drove down to the Brazilian Consulate in LA to submit all the paperwork for the visa application.  I felt a bit tongue-tied when answering some of the verbal questions, but apparently I passed, because she told me I could pick up the visa next Friday and gave me a receipt.  I still don't feel like I will quite believe it until I have it in my hot little hand.

I managed to remember how to say "Bom dia" on my way out and the agent gave me a big smile. :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I want to publicly thank Todd Kaplan for the excellent information he provided regarding the visa application process.  If you are considering using a visa expediting agency, I can sincerely recommend MyBrazilVisa.com for prompt and friendly service.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back to school, and fun with vaccinations

I've been accepted for a teaching position in Brazil, starting in August.  Yay!

It's apparently very difficult and expensive to obtain professional work visas in Brazil, so word is that most of the smaller language schools try to sponsor people on a student/trainee visa.  Used to be, all that was necessary was to enroll in a class in Brazil.  However, recently that's changed and now one must be a student in one's home country as well.

Therefore, I am back in school, (re) taking a TESOL practicum course.  It's nice to see that my lesson preparation is so much faster now that I've had a lot of practice. On the other hand, the first-time jitters in a new situation are still alive and well.  I sweated buckets teaching the first night.  It's a perfect time for me to take the course, so that I can get some critical feedback on my teaching.  Working with adults is a refreshing change; what a lovely thing to have students who are self motivated to learn English.

For Brazil, due to the yellow fever endemic there (per the extremely useful and informative CDC website), I had to go to a specialized travel medicine clinic instead of my family doctor.  The upside is that they are very knowledgeable about worldwide diseases.  The downside is that they are very convincing... and expensive.  I got seven vaccines and am a over thousand dollars poorer, with several still to go.  Ouch.  However, as they pointed out at the clinic, as a teacher my level of disease exposure is higher than average.  All of the vaccines will last for at least 5 years, some for life, so it's a good investment.

Here is what I got:

• Measles/Mumps/Rubella
• Pneumococcal (Pneumonia)
• Meningitis 
• Tetanus/Diptheria/Pertussis
• Yellow Fever
• Typhoid 
• Hepatitis A/B (series of three - plan ahead if you need this)

Rabies vaccinations would have cost another $900, so despite their recommendation, I will just avoid animals! (Yes, that means no cat rescue this time.)

Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a big holiday period in China. Today is the fall equinox. All evening I've been hearing firecrackers in the distance, and apparently people have moon-viewing parties on this night while munching a special treat called Mooncakes.

In the case of our school, it means some very odd and seemingly random schedule changes for two and a half weeks or so. For example, I will be teaching last Saturday's classes tomorrow, and next Sunday's classes on Friday. Next week on Monday through Thursday, I will teach my evening kindergarten classes but not the regular weekend classes.

This weekend they have announced that there will be a school trip to Qingdao, which will consist of rigorously planned group sightseeing and staying overnight in a hotel.

The following week I will have some promos to teach and then, if all goes well (or if I make travel plans fast enough), five whole days off in a row. This is my big chance to see the terracotta warriors in Xi'an, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

On October 16 regular classes will resume, and I will have two new weekend classes added, bringing my course load up to 22 hours per week: 6 weekday hours, 9 on Saturday and 7 on Sunday, NOT including the never-ending promos. It's not a lot of hours... but the way they are distributed is guaranteed to exhaust even the young and healthy!

I call the kitten "monster" and he is growing fast. I'll be sorry to leave him overnight, but he will be fine, if a bit lonesome, as I'll only be gone for 36 hours. (In order to go to Xi'an I'll have to make other arrangements.) He sleeps on my bed and sometimes on me, but doesn't snuggle, and only very occasionally does he let me pet him without taking it as a sign to attack my hand (play mode). He wants to play pretty much all of the time he is awake, I'm sorry he doesn't have any siblings to play with. Paperwads are keeping him very busy and he is getting plenty of exercise.


He looks to be the same color breed as my last cat, Dustbunny. The older he gets, the more he looks like her. I've never seen any other cat that had this white underfur with chocolate tips, either in life or in breed books.

My health continues to go up and down, finally someone is working on getting me an appointment with a Chinese medicine specialist. If there are some weird herbs that will strengthen my respiratory and immune systems I'm all for trying them.

Kitten is feeling better

The kitten seems to be adjusting well. He is still shy and hides, but I can lure him out with a string now, and he comes out to explore his surroundings when he thinks I'm not looking.

He climbed up onto the couch to sleep in the night instead of hiding under it, which is softer and warmer, because even though I put a towel under there for him to lay on he just lays on the hard floor.

He is eating soft cat food and a little dry food, but doesn't like milk. The milk from a box tastes strange, can't say I blame him. He is using the litterbox (wash basin with kitty litter in it, actually), although not always good at burying things really well.

It may be a while before I can get a decent picture of him, since he is so scaredy.

As for me, today I have a sore throat and other cold symptoms, no doubt due to meeting 150+ new students over the weekend and picking up something I didn't have an immunity to. Want to go out to get some vitamins and fruit, but having a hard time getting up the energy. I need to get well fast, no time to be sick!

A weekend off, sorta

Our normal Saturday and Sunday classes have been moved to Monday and Tuesday this week because of something or other to do with the public school schedule. This gives me a MUCH needed respite for two days. This afternoon I decided to go ahead and try to get at least one lesson prepared, so that I won't have so many to do tomorrow. Well, I got two lessons prepared, go me!

As for the health, the cough is still a problem, still taking antibiotics, it may come to a hospital visit with a mystery IV yet. Not happy about this at all, but I am trying to rest as much as I can for these two days. I feel a bit better today, but that may be because I'm staying quiet.

This morning I decided to go to the supermarket since it was still cool outside, I knew once it got hot I wouldn't feel up to it. I thought that 9:00am would be a pretty quiet time there - WRONG! The whole upper floor was a madhouse. People were shouting on loudspeakers in the produce section, advertising heaven knows what. There were a lot more things laid out in the produce section and the fish section than I usually see, which makes me wonder if it's like this every morning; maybe I'm just getting the day's dregs when I shop in the afternoon. Along both sides of the floor were lines that stretched from one end to the other; I have no idea what the people were waiting for, but it must have been something worth waiting for, as the lines didn't appear to be moving at all.

I bought some Asian pears, because two Chinese colleagues have recommended cooked pears as a food to help a cough. I peeled them and boiled them with a little honey, and they were so delicious that even if it doesn't help the cough it was worth the trouble. Next time I will use less honey, because the liquid, which I figured I had better drink to get all of the pear-y goodness, was much too sweet.

I read for a long time today, which is soooooooooo nice, since I haven't had much time for it lately. Now it's almost 7:00pm; I think I'll read just a little more and when it gets too dark to read by natural light, I'll sleep.

Prayer request

Please send me some prayer power.

I'm very concerned about my health. I felt better for a few days, but now the cough has dropped so low in my chest that it is frightening, and the phlegmy vibration of it makes me feel as if I will throw up. I have had many bouts with bronchitis in my life, but this feels worse and to be honest, I'm afraid.

Yesterday I began another course of the antibiotic Azithromycin. I've looked up the drug and the information available seems to indicate that a 5 day course is normal for Azithromycin, but the 250mg that the package directs is considered a "pediatric" dosage; apparently the normal adult dosage is 500-2000mg, so this time I am doubling the amount to 500mg per day.

This self treatment is scary, but I found the hospitals in Japan quite horrid, and haven't any reason to think they will be better here (the clinic where I got my physical for the visa was completely unsanitary). Apparently, just as in Japan, one is expected not to question the doctors at all. A number of colleagues, both Chinese and non-Chinese, have gone to the doctor with bad cold symptoms and were given an IV... and to a one, they have no idea what the IV contained! One colleague had one and they missed a vein and her hand swelled up grotesquely for days.

As long as I can still breathe, self-treatment seems preferable to that. And, of course, lots of prayer.

Today, as the icing on the cake, I have a bad case of diarrhea; most likely a side effect of the Azithromycin. I've taken some medicine, but am still waiting for it to take effect, so I phoned the school. It's an hour's bus ride to the school where I teach on weeknights - that is just not possible with diarrhea. It took me a couple of tries to convey this clearly enough, but once they understood, they said they would phone the parents and reschedule tonight's classes to tomorrow night.

I hope all of you are feeling better than I am right now. Take care and God bless.

Summer colds and Chinese breakfast

Yes, the title is a non-sequitur, but it will help me remember what I'm supposed to be writing about. I have a sinus infection that is giving me quite a headache/earache combination at the moment, so I will keep this brief.

I have only had this cold for a few days, but it was quite clear by this morning that I have a sinus infection (I will spare you the details), so I started taking the azithromycin I had on hand from the pharmacy. A co-worker dropped by and gave me some Chinese cough syrups that she doesn't like the taste of. One of them says it will help with laryngitis, so I took that as my voice is a wreck today and I need to be fit to teach for the weekend.

Skipped our two-hour Chinese lesson today so that I could stay home and rest, and for a wonder I actually slept for three hours during the day. It's 8pm now and I've got as much done on lessons as I can stand for today, so I will go to bed shortly.

As for Chinese Breakfast, I found a website by that name. It is archaic and poorly laid out, and apparently hasn't been updated since the 90's, but contains some really wonderful pictures and information about Chinese street food, and breads in particular. Much of this I see every day at the street vendors, as this is a bread-eating region.
http://www.saturdaymarket.com/chinabreakfast/

Following the links, I also found another section, where the author has collected information and photos of the farmers selling their goods.
http://www.saturdaymarket.com/chinaveg/

The weather has been hot lately, in the 80's and 90's. As far as I'm concerned it would be fine if it didn't get any hotter, but as it's only May, I suspect that summer will be mostly in the 90's. I haven't needed a jacket or a blanket in weeks. I'm not hot enough yet to turn on the air conditioner, especially since it's in the living room where I don't spend so much time, but I did see a small fan on sale cheap at the department store near the university and hopefully can pick one up this weekend.

This evening it is raining softly after an initial heavy downpour that flooded the courtyard, which has no drainage to speak of. The air has cooled down so nicely now.

Last but not least, I have an important career decision to make and am not at liberty to discuss the details yet, so please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Bronchitis

I am sick sick sick; I guess this is a hazard of working with small children.

One of the school admins took me to the pharmacy, where you have to go to different counters for each item and ask for it.  The pharmacists (I sure hope they are pharmacists) "prescribed" some kind of herbal stuff that smells like licorice and slippery elm for the cough, to be taken 3x a day, and an antibiotic called Arithromycin.  I also got some cough drops and Robitussin (not sure which Robitussin, as the label is in Chinese).  Apparently antibiotics are taken quite regularly by the Chinese, which brings to mind mutant superviruses...Am holding off on the antibiotic until I'm sure that it is necessary; if the coughing is just a symptom of my cold rather than a bacterial infection, then the antibiotic may do as much harm as good.

With the new class I'm up to 18 hours a week.  This coming weekend there will also be an all-school Easter party on Sunday evening, when all the teachers are exhausted from teaching all weekend.  The plus side is that I don't have to plan any lessons for it, I think I'm just there to play with the children.

Then on Monday, it will be a public school holiday, so I've been "asked" to teach make-up lessons for the three classes that were canceled Sunday before last. I really wish it didn't coincide with the Easter party the night before.

The upshot of all this is that I have to get well ASAP so I can soldier through the next weekend.  Still in my pajamas.  Back to bed...