Being sick in a foreign country
Just after I said goodbye to the kids on Saturday, I started to feel a little tickle in my throat. Normally when this happens, I drink a teaspoon of colloidal silver and go about my business. But no silver here in this apartment, so now it's Tuesday and I'm nursing a nasty cold.
Being sick in a foreign country and living all alone is definitely different than being sick back in NYC or Utah. In NYC I can have delivered to me whatever I need. In Utah, I pretty much have what ever I need. In France, I have to ride the metro to get whatever I need.
Yesterday I picked myself up and went to the large Carrefour to get some fresh squeeze orange juice, kleenex, decongestant, and cough drops. I got everything but the decongestant. The kleenex was next to the toilet paper, and the cough drops was next to the candy. I could find medicine anywhere. But in my wanderings I found some cucumber toner I'm excited to try.
I had a tough night sleeping so stuffed up. It's also really hot here right now so I slept with a fan which didn't help my stuffiness.
I woke up this morning knowing that I really need to get some decongestant or else I'm going just get sicker and run the risk of an infection. I got on my Google Map to see what the hours of the Pharmacy is just down the street from where I live. I was sad to see the reviews weren't that good, but honestly, I didn't really care.
While looking at the Pharmacy, I noticed there was another at the other end of my street. I honestly think there are as many pharmacies as there are bakeries in France. It had only 5 star ratings. I decided to go to that one instead.
I walked in and saw that all the cold medicine was behind the counter. This meant in order to get what I needed would need to talk to a pharmacist, in French. Oh boy.
I walked up and with my very stuffed nose said in broken French, "I would like a decongestant." She took one look at me and turned around and picked up something called Actifed. She carefully read the box and then handed it to me. In English she told me that it had pills for the daytime and a pill at night to sleep. She then looked at me again and turned around and picked up a nasal spray. "For your nose" she said. I paid for my remedies and headed home.
I opened my actifed and discovered it actually is 3 pills a day and one at night. I'm used to 24-hour stuff, so this will be interesting. I only have enough pills for 4 days, and when I get sick I'm usually sick for quite some time, so it will be interesting to see how this goes.
The Kleenex I bought is actual Kleenex brand and has both menthol and balsam in it. It's also a very thick tissue. Stuff like this drives me crazy. If Kleenex has the capability of making such a high quality tissue, why won't it do it for Americans. And you too, Nestle. You know how to make good chocolate, why don't you in the States? Ugh!
So now I finally get to be alone in France with no responsibilities, and I'm stuck at home sick. Praying I get better soon so I can start exploring.
Being sick in a foreign country and living all alone is definitely different than being sick back in NYC or Utah. In NYC I can have delivered to me whatever I need. In Utah, I pretty much have what ever I need. In France, I have to ride the metro to get whatever I need.
Yesterday I picked myself up and went to the large Carrefour to get some fresh squeeze orange juice, kleenex, decongestant, and cough drops. I got everything but the decongestant. The kleenex was next to the toilet paper, and the cough drops was next to the candy. I could find medicine anywhere. But in my wanderings I found some cucumber toner I'm excited to try.
I had a tough night sleeping so stuffed up. It's also really hot here right now so I slept with a fan which didn't help my stuffiness.
I woke up this morning knowing that I really need to get some decongestant or else I'm going just get sicker and run the risk of an infection. I got on my Google Map to see what the hours of the Pharmacy is just down the street from where I live. I was sad to see the reviews weren't that good, but honestly, I didn't really care.
While looking at the Pharmacy, I noticed there was another at the other end of my street. I honestly think there are as many pharmacies as there are bakeries in France. It had only 5 star ratings. I decided to go to that one instead.
I walked in and saw that all the cold medicine was behind the counter. This meant in order to get what I needed would need to talk to a pharmacist, in French. Oh boy.
I walked up and with my very stuffed nose said in broken French, "I would like a decongestant." She took one look at me and turned around and picked up something called Actifed. She carefully read the box and then handed it to me. In English she told me that it had pills for the daytime and a pill at night to sleep. She then looked at me again and turned around and picked up a nasal spray. "For your nose" she said. I paid for my remedies and headed home.
I opened my actifed and discovered it actually is 3 pills a day and one at night. I'm used to 24-hour stuff, so this will be interesting. I only have enough pills for 4 days, and when I get sick I'm usually sick for quite some time, so it will be interesting to see how this goes.
The Kleenex I bought is actual Kleenex brand and has both menthol and balsam in it. It's also a very thick tissue. Stuff like this drives me crazy. If Kleenex has the capability of making such a high quality tissue, why won't it do it for Americans. And you too, Nestle. You know how to make good chocolate, why don't you in the States? Ugh!
So now I finally get to be alone in France with no responsibilities, and I'm stuck at home sick. Praying I get better soon so I can start exploring.
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