Sunday, October 7, 2012

Sick...

So for the second time since I've been in Spain, I wish I knew more technical medical Spanish. I know enough to figure things out. Additionally, Spanish words for medical things are often close to formal medical names. Example: pulmonary disease is related to the lungs and pulmones is the word for lungs.

So when I woke up with a terrible sore throat I knew how to say "me duele la garganta" but I resorted to pointing to my tonsils and sinuses when my host mom and sister asked where else. My host mom keeps checking if I have a fever. At the moment, I don't have one. I have done a lot of sleeping. I estimate that thorough all of Friday-1pm Sunday, I've been awake a total of 10 hours this weekend.

My host family is quite amazing though. I got crazy lucky with them. My host mom dropped everything to take care of me. From the beginning she's made sure I've felt like one of her own children. Never has that felt more true than last night. There is nothing quite like a mother's worry over a sick child. My host mom checks on me every hour, making sure I don't have a fever. She told me that if I needed her in the middle of the night to come wake her up immediately. She gave me all the throat medicine they had and promised to take me to the farmacia today. She sent me back to bed with the entire water pitcher.

One of the more interesting things about this whole event is finding out about Spanish home remedies. Back home, it's tea, soup, orange juice and sleep. Home remedies here are slightly different. Nothing too hot or too cold. So my host mom made me warm milk with farm honey. That works so well. And it tastes really good. Then lots and lots of tap water. I've had four pitchers of tap water since last night. Helps keep my throat from getting nasty dry and painful. This morning my host mom made me a plain omelette and a concoction of fresh squeezed orange juice, lemon juice and cane sugar. Works crazy well. I added my own vitamin c supplement and I'm feeling significantly better today than last night. But home remedies here are amazing.

No comments:

Post a Comment