Sean and I found ourselves at the local supermarket the other day buying diapers for the first time.  Nope, it's not what you think; I didn't run away to Brazil to have a secret baby but rather I was desperate for an effective hot compress option (not surprisingly, it's rather impossible to find a decent hot water bottle selection in the Amazon). 

We just finished a month of vacation (which also explains the lack of blog posts in July - I didn't have cell phone service most of the places we visited, much less an internet connection) and during our last mini vacation we visited some remote regions of the Amazon basin.  Unfortunately, I came back with a little more than just photos and tacky souvenirs and headed right to the emergency room upon return because of a very suspicious looking and painful mystery bug bite (?).

Cezanne, one of the resident house cats, keeping me company during recovery

Hospital service, conditions, paperwork and quality in Brazil could be an entirely separate blog post and although I really wanted to avoid the experience, I was desperate.  After waiting for hours the doctor told me that it was just an infected ingrown hair but after crying and lots of emotional and muddled Portuguese (on my end) she finally prescribed me some ointment and antibiotics but cautioned me to not use any of it saying that it "would go away on it's own."  It did not.  Also, trust me, readers, this is not an ingrown hair.

At this point my entire leg was red, swollen and so painful that I could barely walk.  Being over dramatic and prone to anxiety, I started imagining life as an amputee.  I started taking antibiotics and applying the cream obediently while also downing ibuprofen for the pain and swelling.  When a fellow ETA suggested diaper hot compresses I had to hold myself back from hugging her with relief.  Of course! Genius! What a great idea and why didn't I think of that?!  Things started to get better for my leg, but the "bite" just got worse.



After hearing stories from one of my roommates here who had a similar problem but then "the skin turned black and had to be surgically removed" I decided it was time for a second opinion.  I went to a different doctor last night who took a look at the gorged knob on my leg and proclaimed that there were a couple of options.  It could be a cut that got very infected, an infected insect bite or it could contain an egg or larva of some kind of insect (ew).  She gave me more meds, a different kind of cream, prescribed elevation and bed rest and told me to come back on Friday to see if they will have to cut into it or not.

So this week, instead of going back to work, I've been driving myself crazy at home with worry while trying to do work and sweating in front of the fan with a diaper on my leg.  The only happy parties with this arrangement are the cats who are over the moon with the fact that I'm on the floor with them all day.  There are days when traveling is glamorous, fun and exciting and then there are the days of swatting mosquitoes and sweaty Pampers.  Today is going down in the books as the latter. 

1 Comment

1. Linde on August 7, 2014 at 9:35 AM

   Oh Sarah! I hope you are better soon!!!