not a selfie shot

I am a big advocate of Mexican medicine. 

When it comes to cost, bed-side manner, and quality care, Mexican doctors beat out their northern competition in almost all fields.  I would not consider heading north for any medical condition.

But I am occasionally surprised at some of the medical treatments I hear from my neighbors.  Folk remedies, if you will.

I regularly eat at a little Mexican restaurant in Villa Obregón.  The owner has watched my left leg worsen.  When she saw me yesterday, I told her about my 6-day hospital stay.

She just shook her head and said the doctors had taken my money for no purpose other than I am an American.  If her family had a similar injury, she would take a cane toad, cover it with lime, and squeeze it while rubbing the toad toxin and lime on the wound.

The toad must die in the process for the poultice to work.  But it is guaranteed to cure any infection.

You may recall, we have met a cane toad once before.  In my courtyard.  mr. toad's wild ride.  The bufotoxin in the toad is strong enough to kill a dog.

Rather than slather myself with toad toxin, I took my chances with the doctors in Manzanillo.

But even the doctors offer remedies that are a bit foreign to my Oregon ears.  One item on my discharge prescription included five boxes of antibiotics accompanied with five hypodermic needles.

I have heard other people comment on this before, but I have never experienced it.  Up north, you go to a doctor to get an injection.  Here, you get the equipment, and you then search out the place to receive the injection.

And there are plenty.  Yourself.  Family.  Friends. Pharmacies.  Yesterday I opted for the local pubic heath clinic.

When I checked in, I was almost passed over for violating a cardinal rule of Mexican medicine.  I forgot my documentation.  My prescription.  But the nurse took pity on an obviously poor pensioner trying to make some sense out of a confusing world.

Today (and for the next three additional days) I will be certain my papers and medication are in order.

Now that I have adjusted to the procedure, I am quite fond of it.  It gives me, as the patient, greater control over my health care. 

And truly it is a shot in the arm -- even though that is not where I get mine.