Doctor

This is my fear factor when we are living overseas. There is something about the language barrier... and the not having my mini-van...and the not quite sure how to get there or who to call and again, the whole not speaking the same language thing when I do call...that makes my kids being sick or hurt extremely scary for me.
Well, we've been living here for 6 months and haven't been to the doctor until the last couple weeks--we've been back and forth 4 times. It started with Truman...strep throat...then Eden got it...followed of course by Briar.
This is Eden and Briar playing in the waiting area before the doctor called us in. Wow. You can really see in these photos that Eden is not well

One thing that eased my fears a bit...I was very pleased with the appearance and cleanliness of the clinic.

As I was saying, my life these past few weeks has been consumed with trips to the clinic followed by trips to the pharmacy and making sure my kids take their antibiotics and checking for fevers and giving them Tylenol...we've already used up ALL of the children's Tylenol that I brought from the states.

The bright side: During our many visits to the pharmacy, we became very well acquainted with the woman who worked there. She just happened to speak perfect English--"what a gift from God", I thought as she was explaining in detail how to mix up the medication for Eden...first boil the water then wait for it to become very cold then fill up to this line and shake then fill up to this line and shake again then keep it in the refrigerator and always shake before you use it etc. etc (*me: blank-stare jaw dropped*)...After she had gone through everything with me, I thanked her profusely for speaking English. I wanted to say, "Walgreens usually does all of that for me!"
During probably our fourth visit with her at the pharmacy, she asked if we were leaving [Poland] soon and I explained that we actually live here. I told her about More Than a Cookie and promptly gave her a business card--of course! So the next time, I stopped first at the cafe and got her a cupcake a cookie and a brownie packaged in a heart-shaped clear plastic box. You've probably already guessed it...YES, the next day she was at our store in Old Town buying all kinds of wonderful treats for her family and she called me on my cell phone to tell me how much she loved it!

...and now I have pinkeye...IN BOTH EYES!!!