Finally made my first trip to a doctor in south america recently.
The good thing about this continent is that when your sick you don't have to go to a doctor straight up.
Instead you just head to the local chemist and buy whatever medications need over the counter.If you don't know what you need you just explain your sympton´s and they hand out whatever they think will work,vallium,anti biotics, it's all available as you need,no prescription nothing.So this is a really great thing,except when the person handing out anti-biotics for gastro is 13,heard some good storie´s.
Anyway this time the chemist just was'nt gonna do the job.
I came up to the coast of equador for some three weeks of nothing but surfing after an absence from the coast.Thing is now i can't even go in the water.
No not cos of the sharks,none here,well not big man eaters anyway.
The reason been i have had a problem with my ear for a while,beer did'nt fix it so i knew it was serious.
At the time i could'nt hear out of my right ear,it hurt,and felt really wrong so i hit up the local doc who works out the back of a farmacy.
Anyway i used my best spanish to explain the problem,he then pulled out some ancient dinosour looking medical tools,apparently used for ears.
I let him shove the shit in my ears"does it hurt yet",he goes,
my reply "yes of course it hurts man",
After a long time of him inspecting my ear,adjusting his also "age old" bi-focul's and looking like a practicing nurse ,not a docter he comes to the conclusion that i have an infected ear.Lucky this consultation was only costing me $4.
8 tablets a day,and an intravenus injection of anti-biotica daily was his recomendacion.Also no surfing,no swimming,no beer and be very carefull for the next week.Great,no surfing,the only thing i travelled two days for i am now unable to do.
Oh well as long as i fet better,whatever it take´s.
Sooooo, two days later after getting dodgy injections,(i inspected everyone personally for air bubbles,this guy was a hack) and tablets i woke up to a bleeding ear.Got a bit worried and realised Dr Dinosour was a retard.
I then jumped on a bus two hours to the nearest city,La Libertad.There i saught out a hospital,1 Dr spoke english there,inspected me then said i have a strenge body in my ear and must see an Ear Specialest.Great,more taxi,more sweat and more hard to understang doctor's.
I found one,and straight away he seemed to know what was going on,it took him 5 minutes to diagnose me with a Perforated ear-drum.That made more sense to me,the pain,the deafness,the liquid and blood and the reason it flare's up when i swim or surf.
I was happy,but the price for this dood was a lil bit more.
Anyway, more tablets,this time for seven days,9 per day at all different times.
And no surfing for at least three weeks,faaaaark.He then explained (in spanish of course) the severety of a perforated eardrum, it can cause many on going problems if not looked after and even permanent deafness.So im taking things really easy.
Everytime i start getting back into surfing for the last 6 years,i bust some shitty injurie which puts me out of the water.
If it was'nt for the injuries i'd be surfing like Slater by now- Gary Slater that is,not Kelly.
So surfer's.Do what me brother told me to do two years ago, (but i did'nt listen)
Save yourself the pain,trouble and money and wear earplugs when you surf.
If i could turn back time.
