It's been quite a month in the last three weeks, I've seen two different doctors. One in Sofia, Bulgaria for a urinary tract infection and one in Walla Walla, WA for pneumonia.  I haven't been to see the doctor this many times in such a short period of time since I had tonsillitis and a week later a tonsillectomy.

The urinary tract infection was more annoying than anything else.  It's one of the two most commonly diagnosed illnesses among women in the States.  Pneumonia on the other hand was a bummer--first I thought it was the flu and then it got worse.  Four days of antibiotics later, I am on the mend again.

With these two experiences back to back and literally within days of each other, it  got me thinking about doctors, medicine and illness.

In Bulgaria, I got sick on a Saturday and was sure that the clinic Americans go to wouldn't be open. I gave Greenberg's a call and much to my surprise they were open.  I figured that I'd be there an hour or two but not much longer than that. It ended up being much longer. In part because the clinic that caters to expats doesn't really have anyone on staff on the weekends (and maybe on the weekdays) who is fluent in English.

I did my intake in Bulgarian. But, my Bulgarian wasn't good enough to communicate what was actually wrong with me. My Bulgarian textbook has a list of about a dozen different things that can ail you: my back hurt, my head hurts, my leg hurts, my kidneys hurt, my tooth hurts and on and on. I however don't know how to tell the doctor that I have a urinary tract infection.  And while she speaks some English, she doesn't understand urinary tract infection.

So I am forced to call the registrar at school on a Saturday and explain where I am and what's wrong with me. Then I hand my cellphone to the doctor so that she can talk to the registrar and so on until we had this thing worked out.  It's a little bit embarrassing but a girl's got to do what she's got to do.

The doctor writes out a prescription for me, tells me that I have to come back the next day when the labratory is open.