At least I didn't get a shot in the bum

I went to work this morning and my voice was slightly better than yesterday. So I taught. It kind of sucked but luckily my kids were good and the day went by really fast. I missed last period of kindergarten so my director could take me to the doctor.

The doctor.

It's always interesting to see the medical system of another country. When I was in Israel last summer we got to see one of Tel Aviv's top hospitals thanks to Wendy's dehydration and throat infection. It cost a fortune then, and the service was relatively quick and efficient.

Today I was brought to an ear, nose and throat clinic. Apparently there are different clinics for whatever is wrong and people use these instead of family doctors. In fact, there are no family doctors. I bet Canada adopts this system someday.

I only waited for five minutes and then went into the doctor's room. There was no table with crinkly paper for me to sit on. Instead I sat in a chair that reminded me of the eye doctor's chair from when I was a kid, except that I could understand what the eye doctor said to me. My director interpreted for me. Hopefully he interpreted accurately.

So the doctor moves to spray something down my throat and I back away. You can at least tell me what you're doing. Turns out it's a local anesthetic. I hesitate, knowing that freezing my throat will feel unpleasant, and I'm right. It still lingers and it sucks. I didn't even have a sore throat to begin with. Next he inserts a long, thin metal scope down my throat, thankfully not touching any of the sides, and holds it there for quite some time. After that's through he shows me the video clip of my vocal chords on super zoom. They ain't pretty, that's for sure. According to doc they're swollen. No kidding.

Then he proded my nostrils with some strange instrument I've never seen before. Again I start. I'm sure everyone was laughing at my reaction to each new and strange procedure. Especially when they sat me down in front of what turned out to be a humidifier that blows steam in your face. It looked kind of like a breathalizer, or what I imagine a breathalizer to look like. When the nurse turned it on and the steam started jetting out of it I jumped back. She laughed. Bitch.

The visit cost me eight dollars and the subsequent medicine I was prescribed cost me four. Not too shabby, especially when you consider how much medicine I got. Look at this:

I'm to take the entire contents of that packet three times a day and I must drink 10 cc's of that vial. What kinds of drugs are these? I sniffed the liquid. It smelled like flouride rinse from the dentist. I downed it anyway. As for the pills, I have no idea, but I swallowed them about ten minutes ago and I'm starting to feel drowsy...

He also said to drink lots of water and to rest my voice. I'm sure he told my director I should have the week off but that message wasn't passed along to me. I asked if I should stay home from work tomorrow to rest. Stupid question.

Hopefully I won't have to visit another clinic again.