Muhammadzuma Got Me

Yes – I've been sick. And this post may contain too much information for some of y'all. You have been warned!

So, I had diarrhea for several days. It happens occasionally in the US, some kind of stomach bug, so I didn't think anything of it. Except it didn't stop, and it was kinda orange-colored. On Wednesday (the last day of the school week) I went home early, feeling poorly and slept the rest of the day. And the next day I decided I really ought to go to the doctor.

The Omani Medical Clinic is on the 2nd floor of our hotel, so I went there. Most Omani women wear abayas, but the receptionist also wore a black mask, just showing her eyes. [Update: a guy at the hotel said they're Iraqis.] And she didn't speak English, so she called in an Indian guy who works there to translate for her. My Arabic didn't cover much medically beyond: ana mareeda fi batani (I'm sick in my stomach) which she thought meant I was pregnant.

Anyway, I take a seat and wait for the doctor. About 5 minutes later, I'm in his office – literally, his office. He sat at his desk and asked questions: So you have diarrhea, how long, are you nauseous, are you vomiting, do you think you have a fever? He gave me a sheet of paper for an ultrasound and stool sample analysis. (I turned down the ultrasound.) He only wrote my first name on the sheet “because you are the only one.”

The lab lady, also Indian, gave me a sample bottle, but unfortunately I had taken European Immodium, and had trouble producing a sample for her. Let's just cut things short by saying that eventually it worked out. I sat down in the lab office, and she opened the sample bottle and put some on a slide, diluted with water. No gloves or anything. Then she stuck the slide under a microscope on the desk next to the chair I was sitting in. Then she got out a big journal and wrote my first name it, and wrote down what she saw. Then she filled out the same on a lab report and I sat for another 5 minutes waiting for the doctor. He checked it out, said I had a bacterial infection (which I was pretty sure of myself) and prescribed antibiotics, which I got at the pharmacy on the ground floor.

Total Cost: doctor – 5 Rials, lab work - 2 Rials, antibiotics – 4.3 rials, European Immodium – 0.5 rials. Basically, I just went over the $25 deductible.