It really isn't as hard as it could be, but the lack of convenient medical care does make it difficult. That coupled with the novelty and excitement of moving here wearing off and the onset of homesickness for family, friends and just the good ol' US of A made it for a tough week, especially yesterday.
It's hard to think that less than a month ago, I lived within 5 minutes away from the pediatrician who offered Saturday and evening hours and a pharmacy across the street from where we lived. It's a different story here. For routine checkups and immunizations, we see the Consulate Nurse. When someone is sick, we go to a doctor. The preferred choice is Global Doctors, which is a group of (I think) American doctors so we don't have the language barrier and so that we receive a similar and familiar level of care as we would in the States. The Consulate Nurse accompanies us there. The other choice is to see a Chinese doctor near the Consulate. They are used to having foreign clientele.
We went to Global Doctor on Monday because I suspected that K had an ear infection. She has already had 5 or so in her almost 10 months of life so I know when she gets it, even if it's not accompanied by a fever- poor sleep, sensitive ears, fussiness. The nurse confirmed that her ears were inflamed so she took us to Global Doctor. (Did I mention that we live 20 minutes drive from the Consulate and Global Doctor is 20 minutes from the Consulate? And did I also mention that we are still without a car and so anytime we have to drive we have to use the Consulate car or hire a contract driver?) So we get to Global Doctor and he says no, not an infection. So the nurse and I feel a bit stupid and we turn around to go back, after being charged $99 for a consultation. The next day, K's symptoms continued and she had a high fever. So we went back yesterday. Doc confirmed that it IS an ear infection. WOW. It would have been really helpful if they would have figured that out on Monday.
OK, that's fine. I guess to one doctor fluid in ears isn't a cause for an alarm even given past history and other symptoms. But then we are given amoxicillin. But it's not the nicely bottled, tasty pink liquid amoxicillin. It's in powder form in what looks like sugar packets. And the stuff smells VILE. No sugaring it up here.
I went home and mixed some with water and gave it to K. She cried and gagged and proceeded to throw up. Lovely. I couldn't blame her. The smell alone made want to gag. So later that evening I tried to mix it with juice and got it to a point where it was tolerable. She drank it all down though it took about 30 minutes sip by sip. At dinnertime an hour later, she threw it all up. I think it was too much liquid in her little belly.
At this point I was so ready to throw in the towel. But what could I do? I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere China and my ear infected baby won't take the amoxicillin!!
We put her to sleep and thankfully, she woke up fever-free. I guess her body absorbed some of the vile stuff. So this morning I took the advice of a friend and just mixed it with a little bit of juice, just so she could get it down quickly. It still smelled disgusting and I was prepared for the worst, and was skeptical that she'd even take it.
Miraculously, she took it, and did it willingly! She kept opening up her mouth for more. It was an act of God.
So we survived our first medical issue in Shenyang and I'm thankful that it was minor and hope that it continues to be minor or even better- non-existent!
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