The Lingering Bug

I wrote last week that I caught a cold, and that, as a precaution, I went to a lab for a COVID test (fortunately negative).  I felt as if I were getting better, but this bug, whatever it is, has persisted.  When Alejandro came to the apartment on Friday night he took my temperature and said that I had a slight fever.  He kept asking me whether I wanted to go see a doctor.  I kept saying no, because Mexican doctors have a tendency to overprescribe antibiotics, which are worthless if the infection is a virus.  Besides, during the day I felt OK... just a few sniffles.  

Sunday evening, I went back to Alejandro's family's house.  That night I was coughing continuously; it was a miserable night.  However, the next day I felt much better.  I had a dentist appointment, and I got through that without coughing at all.  Alejandro and I went for a long walk with the dog, and I didn't cough at all.  Perhaps I was over it, I thought.  That night, however, was another terrible night.  I finally went to the living room and fell asleep sitting upright on the sofa.  Tuesday morning, I asked Alejandro to take me to the doctor.

We went to a doctor who has a family practice just around the block from the house.  Someone from the U.S. would find the office rather primitive.  It's in an older building that might have been originally built as a house.  There is a spartan waiting room with an old sofa on one side and some metal chairs on the other.  Beyond that is a simple examination room.  There is no computer; the doctor records everything in a ledger at his desk.  On the wall is his diploma from UNAM, the National University of Mexico, considered one of the best universities in Latin America.  Behind the examination room there was a storage room. 

The doctor was an older man with a pleasant personality.  I described my symptoms, and he asked some additional questions.  He took my temperature (with a mercury thermometer under my arm), my oxygenation, and my blood pressure (with on old-style monitor), and listened to my lungs with a stethoscope.  Everything was normal.  He went to the storage room and got some samples of medications... two different kinds of pills and a bottle of syrup for my cough. The syrup was imported from Germany and was made from "hedera helix" (the Latin name for common English ivy).  I did some research later, and, indeed, most cough syrups contain ivy extract.  He said that he was not prescribing antibiotics because I did not have a bacterial infection.  When he said that, my estimation of him immediately rose.

I started taking the medications that very same afternoon, and last night my coughing was much less than the previous nights.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that within a few days my bug will be gone.

I have no idea what a quick doctor's visit without medical insurance costs in the U.S.  According to the internet it ranges between $150 and $300.  I was with the doctor for at least a half hour, and the cost (including the medications) was 700 pesos... 40 U.S. dollars!