I am fighting the urge to sleep. About 3 different medicines are coursing through my veins telling my eyes to close, heart to drop to a slow rhythmic pace and my body to feel mmm, mmm good. I have an ear infection.

In memory, this is the first ear infection I have ever had (am I right Dad and Mom?). As an adult I know it is definitely the first, as the body crippling pain is hard to forget. “So, this is why babies scream at the top of their lungs!” is the message the resounding pain that forced my body to convulse and tears to stream delivers to my brain.

I am not one to want to voluntarily go to a doctor. My parents had to drag me and now my sweet Husband has to drag me. Today was different though. As soon as my amazing husband walked through the door after work I was begging to go the doctors. The gentleman that he is he obliged without a word of the horrible, no good, very bad day that he had (until I winkled it out of him later). My Jay takes good care of me.

There were no taxi’s when we got down to our soi so we started walking to the next major street. My ear throbbing and of little use I didn’t hear the Sung Tao approach but luckily we were on it right behind the frail looking old Thai man who had hailed it (notice I say “frail looking” because the old are tough here in Thailand).

Sixteen baht later Jay and I were crossing the busy street to the hospital where I was checked in without a problem, weighed and found wanting…of aid. This whole process was SO SIMPLE compared to the paper work you have to fill out in the States. They asked for my passport (done!), they wanted my address (done!) and they wanted my phone number (done!). Amurrica we have some problems. At any rate, the doctor called me in. He asked if I spoke Thai and I said, “nit-noy” meaning “a little.” He responded by telling me he spoke a little English and I told him “Well, then this will be fun.” Some pantomimes of body crippling pain and pointing to my ear allowed him to get the jist enough to grab his handy-dandy ear looker thingy and take a gander. I didn’t need to speak Thai to understand that this man saw the festering hollows of my ear canal and he went to work (in accent-less English) to prescribe antibiotics, eardrops, pain medicine for my ear, cough and the decongestant I had been found wanting. Oh, glory hallelujah! Jay and I cashed out ($40 TOTAL as in med.’s, doctor visit and nurse all in an ER setting…Amurrica we definitely have some problems) and headed home being passed by two cabs and finally catching the third.

Once home I created my medicine time sheet (my Mama’s taught me well) and began the journey to feel better land where the grass is greener, of course.

Ear drops (done!), cough no more drug (done! Coughing with an ear infection SUCKS!), nose clearing goodness (done!), pain reliever that is medically prescribe (Oh yeah, DONE!) and last but not least my antibiotic to kill off the ear infections gods (because ear infections are pagans, duh).

Please allow me introduce you to my antibiotic.

Antibiotic meet People. People meet Antibiotic. Mr. Pen is here to show the good People how big you really are Antibiotic. Please, don’t mind him.

That is a normal size writing utensil good People. This guy is HUGE! One whole gram of fighting ear infection power! BAM!

My husband hates taking pills but I on the other hand would rather a pill over a shot, liquid medicine or even chewable. Pills are my forte and I swallowed Mr. Antibiotic without a problem until I looked at his weight again.

One gram even for a pill lover seemed like a lot. I questioned him and did a quick google search of what was written on his outer wrapping. I did all this after swallowing him, of course. Well, for future notice to all a “dispersible tablet” means you are supposed to dissolve it in water and then engulf it. Oops, did I do that? No, I did not. I chugged two glasses of water, started burping some bubbles, heard a grumbling in my tumbly but was/am fine.

So, a bit was lost in translation but overall I made it through my first go round with the Thai doctors and feel like the Carlin’s in Bangkok are a bit more self-sufficient for it. YAY us! YAY med.’s! YAY bed that is calling my name! I can’t fight this feeling any longer (good ol’ 80’s jams). Take this blog peeps and use it for the next time a baby cries with an ear infection to understand that you should cry with them because it is a miserable state to be in. Poor babies with ear infections they deserve our empathy.