Michael: Teetotaler to Addict

The metallic taps
From the sporadic rainfall
Are sharp and vibrant.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

I’ve been fighting a sinus infection here for over a week using my usual approach of reducing my workouts and resting more. It hasn’t been working. Then after receiving a note from Felipe, the ex-pat that runs the hiking club, that it’s taken him up to three weeks to recover from the flu here, I decided to reconsider the idea of seeing a doctor. I can’t afford three weeks of malaise.

So after a light run on Tuesday, I decided that if I was still sick that night I’d go see Dr. Marion Morales, a local physician who was recommended by the ex-pat volunteer we met during the hospital tour last month.

My logic for not seeing doctors previously goes like this: Doctors prescribe drugs. I don’t take drugs; therefore there’s no point going to the doctor’s.

Turns out my little logical syllogism was correct. Dr. Morales, a very young and energetic woman, prescribed 5 different types of medicine; three of them are antibiotics and the others are to treat the symptoms of congestion and mucus.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever taken any anti-bacterial drugs since childhood. I’ve taken a few pain killers, a few aspirin, and maybe a few anti-inflammatories, and that’s about it. 

But on the advise of Dr. Morales, I have now begun my regimen of taking; Primerus 750 once a day after a meal for the next 7 days, Noxadine twice a day. Dolo Apramax three times a day after meals, Mucosolvan three times a day after meals, and Monetzona twice a day. I’ll withhold judgment on the effectiveness of this treatment until after I see more definitive results, but I am cautiously optimistic.

All the drugs she is prescribing have side effects, as do all drugs, but none of them were worth taking note of. The information is with the medicine, but if any unusual symptoms were to occur, I am to email or call her.

Before I saw the doctor, in the patient’s waiting room, overseen by a young male assistant, were three rows of  folding chairs facing a T.V. screen. The assistant made my day by switching the channel to a station that aired  American television programs with Spanish subtitles and I got to watch one of old favorites - Seinfeld, for the first time in over a year. The episode was the one where Kramer is mistaken for a mentally challenged adult and ends up sitting at the guest of honor table and being serenaded by Mel Torme.

The only reason I waited any length of time to see the doctor was because, though the clinic is open from 9 - 6, she usually doesn’t get there until 12, as she over sees a medical program in nearby Cerro Punta. There were no patients waiting before me, nor was there any question as to whether I had made an appointment. There was also no nurse. What goes on at the clinic before noon I can’t say but will look into.

When she arrived she set up quickly and called me - “Mr. Michael” - just like my landlord does, into her office where she went through the usual background questions, took my blood pressure - 100/60 - sounds good, checked my ears, listened to my breathing, then outlined her prescribed course of action.

A large and well stocked pharmacy was adjacent to the clinic. I handed them my numerous subscriptions and after filling them, they very politely wrote out the directions in English on the boxes of the various capsules, syrups, and inhalers I was suppose to use over the next week. Everything seems pretty self explanatory as far as what’s to be taken and how and which orifice should be used. I’ll be awfully embarrassed if any complications occur because I snorted something I should’ve been swallowing.

Our first impressions of  Dr. Morales were very positive. We know we’re confident in our dentist, Dr. Sinclair. We’re now reasonably certain we’ve found a doctor we can turn to for help. That means a lot to us.

I’m not sure where we’d be in that regard as far as personal service goes in the states. I rarely had use for the services of my health insurance in the states outside of a hernia surgery over twenty years ago,a few broken hand bones and a case of Achilles tendonitis. That all went well and I was very pleased with the treatments I received.

This drug thing though is part of the health world I haven’t been a part of before. If it works I’m sure I’ll be less hesitant to visit the doctor and take any medications they prescribe. I see this as a fluke that makes drug use understandable, and not as a change in philosophy that living a long and healthy life means avoiding becoming chronically reliant on drugs.