She hasn't really felt good the entire time we've been here ... and there's a reason most of you don't know about the details. There isn't any reason to alarm you about our health ... and we are *basically* ok ... but Mia has had a hard time.
H1N1 recently made its rounds and seemed to knock on the doors of nearly every family at the school.
Mia has had difficulty breathing, many nights of fevers and constant ear pain.
After a pretty scary experience at a pediatrician's office (whereby she wanted to hospitalize her and ordered her to be nebulized for 30 minutes before being released) ...
... we were instructed to get a H1N1 test. The pediatrician insisted that we not go to a clinic, where everyone else would be going and Husb's assistant set up a home visit before we even reached back home.
The above-mentioned lab tech came and without belaboring the experience, spent nearly 40 minutes preparing himself in the hazmat getup ... only to spend 12 seconds swabbing her mouth and then running out the door.
We dubbed him "the moon guy" and got the results of her test 48 hours later, via their website (negative).
A couple of weeks later and after a recent weekend of much pain, labored breathing and sleepless nights, I took her to see an allergist. She is now on a nebulizer with three different meds (3 times a day), an oral steroid and we are awaiting blood tests to see if anything major is at play.
Husb and I often say that while we may be enjoying this experience, it will end the day we feel our health is in jeopardy. I don't think medical care is sub-par in any way compared to the States, but I definitely feel a bit uneasy when it comes to the care of my babies, mostly because of the language barrier.
Having said that, there are some great things about living here. The ability to stop by a chemist on the way home and simply purchase a nebulizer machine with a prescription ... and quite honestly, the ability to walk into a FULL allergy/asthma clinic waiting room and be seen instantly.
There aren't many occasions when I'll pull the trump card (which happens to either be based on the color of your skin or the amount of money you're willing to flash [in my experience]), but when ailments knock on MY door, you'd better believe that I'll do whatever it takes to make sure my babies get better.
