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Published: March 23rd 2014
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As we were leaving St Maarten, George noticed what we thought was a rather large animal / critter bite on his stomach. It looked red and very angry, but at the time, did not hurt too much.
Once we were settled into our Jamaican hotel on Wednesday, we made a visit to a local pharmacy and he diagnosed that it was possibly an allergic reaction to a bite and gave some steroid cream to put on it. The shop also helped us with some other counter products for this too.
Over the last couple of days, the original bite area site has grown viciously and rapidly from his stomach around to his left hand spine in some very nasty deep oozing red blistered areas. It feels very sore, is preventing sleep and carries an intense bruised feeling like repeated punches under the ribs. It’s been impossible for George to lay on his left side. We have been going over in some detail all possibilities for the cause of this.
Today we decided that this was clearly not getting better so some substantive medical assistance was required. We asked one of the girls in the hotel and she said
she would make George a doctor’s appointment then one of the guys from the hotel would take us. Unfortunately she was not able to contact the doctor, so we went off anyway, only to find the doctors closed.
We told the guy from the hotel to leave us there, as we were now opposite the original pharmacy, and we would ask them for some help and take it from there.
They were very helpful and gave us the address and directions for another doctor about 10 minutes’ walk up the road, only to find that when we got there he did not open until 2.00 pm and it was only 9.30 am.
The doctor’s clinic was in an arcade with other shops, the only other one that looked open was a paint shop, so Theresa went in there to see if anyone in there knew of any doctors who would be open now. She came across a young lad who very kindly called his Mum for advice and the address of doctors that would be open. A US $3.00 taxi ride and bingo a doctors that was open.
The doctor wasn´t there when we got there, but we were informed she should be there at 10.30 am – Now – But this is Jamaica. She came in about 11.00 am. There were only three people in front of George so he was soon seen.
Diagnosis – George has Shingles. We think we can identify where he got it from, as we remember one of our queues to get through customs in USA seeing at least one child with chickenpox. Fortunately, George has already had chickenpox.
Apparently the cream given by the pharmacist would have made it worse, and the case that George had not been to the doctor sooner meant it would probably take longer to get better. The recovery time is given as over 4 weeks especially for those over 50 years. She prescribed him three different types of pills and a cream. Doctors fee US $50. The pharmacy charges for these medicines were US $106. Hope his travel insurance may be able to help with this. We will ring them Monday morning in UK. Note – do not ever delay going to the doctors for any reason.
After a quick stock up with drinks it was back to the hotel for George´s first doses and hopefully a speedy recovery. We have discovered today that Jamaica and Tenerife both have a first class medical service.
On our way through the hotel we saw the chef so booked dinner for tonight – home-made Caribbean curried chicken with rice & beans. We are looking forward to that.
We are away from home for just over a month so we have plenty of downtime to write this travel blog. We find it relaxing, therapeutic and fulfilling. It’s also quite addictive once you have started it. Many are enjoying reading it and our viewing figures for our blogs entries are high. Thank you for all the comments received so far.
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Christine
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Enjoying Your Blog
Hi Guys, Enjoying reading your blog and love looking at the pictures so pleaed you are having a great time. Sorry to hear George has shingles, that can be very painful, wishing him a speedy recovery, hope it doesnt spoil your holiday. Take care and I look forward to reading your next blog. Best wishes Chritine