Ecuador Day 44

Well, today was an interesting day.

Last night Jace woke up about midnight with a fever of 104 degrees. Such a fever is only slightly bothersome...so I tossed and turned all night thinking about what we were going to do for him. Right in the middle of this, the thought occurred to me that Rex, the director of OSSO, had flown in to Quito last night and would be at the OSSO house for the next few days. Rex is a doctor. Hallelujah. I worried about bothering him, but figured he was our best bet for help since he is A) a doctor and B) speaks English. Both very good things.

Rex was very gracious and had us come right over to the house. He took a look at Jace, checked his ears, looked at his rash, and discussed his symptoms with us. He concluded that Jace probably has a urinary infection of some sort, plus a yeast infection. All things we typically associate with girls, but all the signs were pointing to both for the poor boy. So, he recommended that we take Jace to a pediatrician here for a urinalysis and for a recommendation for some medicine. Angel and Jenny called and got us an appointment with their pediatrician for 12:15. We are very blessed to have our associations with all of OSSO here. It was nice to be able to see the OSSO house too, since that is where Flor and I will be staying starting Monday. The house is a different one from when I was a volunteer here. It is quite large and has multiple floors with all sorts of space. So, that will be quite nice.

After a hurried lunch, we got the kids packed up again and out the door to get to the Pediatrician. All in all I can summarize the experience by saying it was interesting. The doctor's office was miniature and was packed to the brim when we got there. One thing that is the same for doctors here and in the states (in our experience) is the wait. Always a wait. So, while we waited, I discretely took a few photos (terrible shots, but hey) of the office so that you can see. 

By this time, all the other people had cleared out and we were the only ones left. Another similarity-- drug reps. The office had three drug reps come in in just the time were waiting and they of course snuck in for a few minutes of the doctor's time.

When it was finally our turn, we went into the office where the doctor sat behind her large desk. To the left of the desk was a little exam table and that was it. No nurse, no lab equipment, nothing more. The doctor asked about Jace's symptoms and did a visual exam. She was very alarmed that we were using wipes on Jace's bum and ordered us to not use wipes any more; we are to only use water (sorry- pretty sure I can't abide by that!). She gave us a cream for his rash and then came to the same conclusion as Rex- that Jace probably has something going on with his urinary tract. She wrote some instructions on her paper on how to give him Tylenol (which we had already been doing) and how to put the cream on his bum. Very helpful.  Then, she told us that we need to get a sample of pee and a sample of poop (sorry if TMI) and bring it back to the lab in the basement of the building before 4 pm when she leaves. She asked probably 3 or 4 times if we are sure we know how to get the samples. I a pretty sure that she thought we were idiots overall, due to our lack of Spanish knowledge. Devin can understand better than I can since he speaks Portuguese (especially when people speak really fast, like she did) and I can speak better than he can (because he reverts back to Portuguese), so Devin would interpret what she was telling us, then I would respond. She asked after each instruction, "Do you understand? Do you know what I am saying?" I can honestly say I have a new understanding for what people go through in the US who don't speak English.
 
Anyway, after all the instructions, we went back into the waiting room to pay the receptionist. That was also interesting in that she did not know how much to charge us, so she checked with the doctor on that. The charge was $35. I offered her both my American Express and my Visa cards and she didn't know what to do with them, so she went back in and asked the doctor if they take the cards. The answer was no. I then gave her two twenties. She again went back into the doctor, this time to get some change. She came out empty handed, so instead got her own wallet out and gave me five one-dollar coins (very common here- you never see one dollar bills). It made me wonder- do people never pay here, or what?

We spent the afternoon attempting to collect pee and poop samples from our diaper wearing son. Good news-- we were successful! Bad news-- we didn't finish until past 4 pm. So, that means that we have to wait until tomorrow to bring them in. However, in the meantime, Devin and I talked with a few people and made an executive decision that since something is clearly going on, we were going to start Jace on an antibiotic, especially since if he does have a urinary tract infection, we don't want to go any more days leaving it untreated. This is when having a pharmacist for a sister comes in handy. She told us exactly what to get and all we had to do was walk into the pharmacy here and ask for it- no prescription needed. We then called her back tonight and read her the label and she gave us the correct doses. Wah-lah. Feels much better to have him on something, in addition to the Tylenol. We have a doctor's appointment scheduled for him already for when Devin gets back to the states so he can check in with our regular doctor, so that is also reassuring.

After the fun afternoon indoors, we made our way to the pharmacy first and then onto pizza day with the Schinnerers, as is becoming our tradition each Tuesday. We really love the Schinnerers and enjoy spending time with them. They are just good, uplifting, and fun people. We love seeing them. I do have to say, though, that I think Papa John's hates seeing us---afterall Hallie does run wild around the restaurant (we are usually the only ones there, which is surprising since Tuesday is 2 for 1 day!) and because between the three kids of ours, we leave a rather large mess. Oh, well. Gotta love Tuesday pizza day! We are going on Thursday with the Schinnerers to Cotopaxi, a volcano here in Ecuador. We are looking forward to it-- should be a fun field trip! We are so glad that we are not on this journey alone!!

Alright, that's it for now. Happy Tuesday everyone!