Mongolia is great...for getting sick!

Yes, as of today we have been in Mongolia for 2 months now. Its the longest either of us has ever been out of the country. I am at home today, with a day off thanks to a case of "severe tonsillitis." I know, several of you have said it seems like I've been sick most of the time since I got here, and I suppose its true. Don't ask me why. Clayt says it has something to do with Natural Selection at work, but I'm trying my best to fight it.

It started saturday morning, and that night I let my friend Sheridan see my throat. She said oh gross, that is NOT good. And then her mongolian husband had a look, and then asked if he could take a picture of it. and i had a fever. So, the school doctor came on sunday afternoon, looked at my throat, looked horrified and said things under her breath in Mongolian, and then asked to look again, and then looked horrified again. So I went to work yesterday, but I couldn't really talk above a whisper.

By now I was pretty miserable as I hadn't been able to eat anything solid (and very little liguid) since saturday night. So the school doctor took me and clayt to the hospital. The hospitals here are very interesting. First of all, I don't think there is any appointment system, and again no lines or waiting your turn. I've been to 2 different hospitals so far (I went to the russian hospital for my pink eye a while back and this time it was a korean hospital) and they had pretty much the same sort of system. There are doors with pictures over them for the different types of doctors. Like a picture of an eyeball, or and ear, or an x-ray, so you know which door you need to get into. Then you wait outside that door, hovering, waiting for it to open so you can thrust your little slip of paper into the nurse's hand before the other patients, kinda land-grab style. So, the school doctor did the dirty work of pushing in and getting my slip of paper handed over.

The doctor was nice and he spoke a little english. He looked in my throat and said, "Oh my god." That was not comforting!!! I was starting to really worry, afraid they might try to take my tonsils out right there. Sheridan's husband Amrah just had his tonsils out, and was awake for the whole procedure! In fact, they had him holding a tray under his mouth to catch the blood. So, with that knowledge, I was ready to kick him if he came at me with a knife. :) He just scraped the tonsils and then slabbed something disgusting on them, and them sprayed them with air, me gagging and writhing in my chair like a torture victim the whole time. Whew! the worst was over. But then he said I wouldn't get better unless I got an injection. So we had to go to the "injection room" where some lady gave me a shot in the butt. There was a pharmacy in the hospital, and so we went there first, and the school doctor bought the medicine and new needles, and this is what the nurse used to give me my shot. I haven't had a shot in the butt since i was like 5 years old!

Ok, so then we could go home. but the nurse said (via translator over the telephone) she would be back at 10 pm to give me another shot. and then she came this morning at 10 a.m. to give me another shot. I thought that was the end of it, but she showed me 3 more needles and 3 more doses of meds. Damn it! So she'll be back tonight - tea for her, and a shot in the butt for me. At least they seem to be working well, as I feel better today. But my butt is so sore. :)