Antibiotics are friends, not food

I was supposed to write a destination guide for Rio de Janeiro but I'm groggy. I'm taking antibiotics again.

Just two weeks ago I finished one cycle of antibiotics for sore throat. Now I'm taking Cefalexin because I have a nasty insect bite on my right leg. When I say nasty I mean big, red, sore and painful nasty. When the doctor asked me what bit me, I told him I don't know because, well, I don't. It just grew there one day. I decided to see a doctor yesterday because I thought if I don't, my leg will be amputated. Hahaha. You get paranoid when you rely on the Internet for information.

Two weeks ago I swallowed a fish bone (tinik in Tagalog). It was of a small fish they call Selar Kuning. It was not the first time I ate fish or that particular kind of fish, but hey, shit happens. Anyway, I tried to help the slide down my throat by swallowing a huge piece of banana, which I was scared to do for fear of choking. Didn't work. I chewed a slice of bread then swallowed the huge ball I created. No good. I drank gallons of water. Nope, didn't do a thing. I tried gagging so I would throw up. Still no good.

So I decided to consult the almight Google for "ways to remove fish bone stuck in throat." Instead of finding a solution to my problem, i found crazy things like drink vinegar to soften the bone (which could be plausible. In an experiment back in elementary, we soaked chicken bone in vinegar and it did soften after a few days. I just don't know how much vinegar I need to drink to achieve that.) and swallow lots of rice (which is similar to the bread ball). I also found scary things like this woman who only consulted a doctor three days after swallowing the fish bone. Turned out the bone got stuck deeply on her throat muscles and she had to undergo an operation! Gahhhh!

After reading that I asked B to take me to the hospital. East Shore was the closest so we went there. The doctor on duty looked down my throat and didn't see anything. He told me he'd refer me to a government restructured hospital, which is cheaper, so I can get an X-ray done on my throat. East Shore is a private hospital and he said if he requested an X-ray for me and called the resident ENT doctor, it would cost me $300 (about P9,000)! I told him to just refer me to the nearest restructured public hospital. That cut me back $75.

B and I then took a cab to Changi General Hospital. When we arrived, we were disheartened by the sight of people suffering from everything from sprain to broken bones to fever! We decided to just go and wait for our turn. I didn't want to undergo a throat operation!!! About 15 minutes of getting my queue number, I was called by the triage nurse. He checked my blood pressure and asked me what was wrong. Then he told me to wait for my turn.

After about 30 minutes, my queue number was flashed on the screen so we went to see the doctor. Bata pa ang doctor. Siguro he's not even 30. Anyway, he looked down my throat and didn't see a thing. He took me to the ENT room and used this huge metal thingy which will allow him to look deeper down my throat. Saw nothing, still. He scribbled something on my record then sent me to the X-ray room. I was called shortly by the Filipino technician. He asked, "Ano bang kinain mo???" I told him it was a small fish and that it was really irritating. He then asked, "Ano bang luto, paksiw?" I don't know what the significance of the luto was but I told him anyway. "Sarciado." He then asked me to lower my bra strap and just stand straight. Then we were done. We got the film within five minutes and went back to see the doctor.

"There's nothing in there," the doctor said. I said I can still feel the bone there. He then called the ENT doctor and told me to wait outside the ENT room.

The ENT doctor was a young Chinese woman. She led me inside the room again and told me to sit on the examination chair. She said she needs to look deeper and will insert something on my nostrils. She then sprayed anesthesia on both nostrils. It tasted sour and I felt like my airways closed. She said that I should just breath normally so I did. Then she inserted this wire-like thingy with the light on the end inside my left nostril (which I found strange because I felt the bone on the right side of my neck).

The doctor stayed inside my nostrils and throat for a while until she said there's nothing. She said she's sure the bone was there and that it eventually slid down. However, I did damage to my throat and that was what probably what I was feeling. She scribbled on my record and told me to see the GP,who then gave me a prescription for lozenges. Pampamanhid lang daw. (Guess what, the pharmacist was Filipina!) After paying $75, we went home and vowed to never eat fish...with bones again.

Next morning, my supposedly first day back in the office, my throat was really sore. I went to the clinic on the ground floor of our apartment building and he prescribed antibiotics. He charged less than $50.

(We do have insurance, but it's only for hospitalisation. Wala dito nung for outpatient, unless sponsored ng company. Unfortunately for me, wala dahil contractual ko.)