keldeck, kesy

Growing Up Experience #238

Yesterday I continued to not feel very well so I decided to get some more meds.  In Argentina, you do not need a prescription from the doctor in order to get medicine at the local pharmacy.  Therefore, I hopped on my computer and decided to WebMD myself.  Even though I was pretty confident that I had a sinus infection, I just wanted to see what it said. Lo and behold...WebMD said that it was a sinus infection.  Then I decided to embrace the rain and go to the pharmacy to get some medicine.  This was only the beginning of the rough day.  The extremely rude pharmacist told me that she could give me some medicine (hesitantly), but she didn't know the quantity and how often I should take it.  After then telling her that I am also allergic to penicillin (the usual remedy for a sinus infection), she became fully confident in the fact I NEED to go to a doctor to find out more secure details.  Clearly my own diagnosis with the backup of WebMD was not enough for her.

I came back home frustrated that this little adventure was turning out to be more difficult than I thought.  My host mom was at the house and told me that she would take me to the local clinic.  Thrilled that I would have someone to help me with any technical vocabulary, we jumped in the car and drove to a private clinic.  Once we arrived, she told me that she had errands to do and that I will do great. UHHH...lets just say I was so nervous.  I had no idea how the system worked here and what if they couldn't understand me? I took a deep breath and walked up to the main check in counter.  I told the man why I was sick and that I needed an appointment.  Then he asked for my identification.  (Susana told me I didn't need to bring it) This is when the eye rolling began...on his part! After conversing with some of his colleagues, they collectively decide that they could make an exception.  He proceeded to ask me what my last name was.  I responded and he looked back at me with the biggest eye roll I have ever seen.  (due to the fact that Kehlbeck is not a common last name and he had no clue how to spell it) I told him how to spell it and he still got it wrong.  Then he asked for my first name.  I told him, "Kelsey."  This clearly did not suffice as I got another eye roll and was told to spell it.  After that whole process, he told me to wait while he went to go get my "factura."  In Argentina, "factura" is a type of croissant with filling.  I was thinking to myself, awww how sweet, finally this is turing around and he is getting me a little snack as a "welcome to the clinic."  I couldn't have been more disappointed when he returned with a long fax looking receipt, which is also called a factura.

I was shown the waiting room in which there were no chairs to sit in expect for this tiny middle spot on a couch.  I got a couple glares as I moved in the direction of the couch to sit down.  After waiting for about an hour, I heard my name called, "keldeck, kesy." Well...I guess thats me! Luckily, the doctor was very kind and I did not have any trouble understanding or communicating with her.  And in conclusion, she told me I had a SINUS INFECTION! She was able to write me a prescription with the quantity on it so now the pharmacist would understand.  So now that I have meds, I am hopefully on the up and up!

Today my group is taking a tour of Casa Rosada.  This is the equivalent to the White House here. I am very excited to see some of the inner-workings of the government.