PNEUMONIA IN PARADISE

August 23, 2017

I awoke to the welcome sound of a cooling rain.  I felt incrementally better and, after the rain subsided, I managed to dress and make it the two and a half blocks to the store.  They didn’t have any chicken soup, either, but I managed to get some toast (in Mexico, you can buy bread pre-toasted) and a popsicle.  I had been able to drink two whole glasses of liquid that morning and the popsicle went down successfully.

I still didn’t have any energy or appetite, but I made myself eat a couple of pieces of toast and then settled down to a day of reading and hacking up disgusting yellow goo.  I had stopped worrying that I was going to die and was now just worried about making it to my Thursday and Friday appointments, having already slept through the eclipse and my friend Gregg’s birthday party that I had so been looking forward to. 

August 24 - 25, 2017

I was still too sick to make it to Bucerias to pick up my new glasses.  I lay in my bed and coughed.  I coughed all night and slept fitfully in the mornings.  Nothing tasted good.  I went days without eating, living on juice and hard-boiled eggs.

I had a dentist appointment at 3:00 on Friday and I went just to tell him I was sick.  At that point, I was getting very worried and was seriously considering going home, so I didn’t make another appointment, but told him I’d come back if I decided to stay.  From the dentist, I made my way very slowly through La Cruz to the highway and along the lateral to the 24 hour medical clinic.  I needed help.

Dr. David Peralta and the rest of the staff at the clinic were literal lifesavers.  They took a chest x-ray and determined, right away, that I had pneumonia.  They have a hospital type room in the back and they installed me in a comfortable bed with air conditioning and hooked me up to IV antibiotics.  I could hardly breathe, so my wonderful nurse, Alberto, administered periodic nebulizer treatments and pounded on my back to loosen the phlegm.  Everything was very cool and quiet.  I felt like I was at a spa.

Seven hours of constant care, x-rays, medication and all came to less than $400.  By the time I left, I felt much, much better.  It was nearly midnight by the time I got home.  I even managed to sleep the rest of the night.

August 26, 2017

Saturday Evening Churchgoers

Saturday, I decided that I had to eat something.  Nothing sounded good, but the texture of nice, soft cake sounded nice.  I decided to go get a piece of carrot cake.  I walked several blocks to the cake shop, but they were closed for renovations.  The next-door neighbors were making pozole, though.  Soup sounded like a much better idea, anyway.  I bought a quart of pozole for 50 pesos and staggered home.  I was dripping with sweat and much too hot to eat when I got home.  The soup went straight into the refrigerator and I went back to bed.

My Pozole Stand

August 27, 2017

I coughed all Saturday night, not dropping off until nearly 5:30 AM.  When I woke around noon, it was time to eat the pozole.  It reheated nicely and I managed to eat it all, although it took me a couple of hours to get it all down.  It was spicy, garlicky, and greasy and felt like a sure cure.  I was still very weak, but could breathe better and no longer felt like death was imminent.  In the late afternoon, I went out for liquids and bought a lovely lemon popsicle.

August 28, 2017

Homemade Pozole

Monday came and I still didn’t feel up to going to Bucerias to get my glasses.  I did manage to make a bacon quesadilla and practice the guitar for a few minutes, though.  I took my clothes to the nearest laundry and then walked as far as the marina for a change of scenery.  I really wanted to walk to the breakwater to see the dramatic clouds on the mountains, but that proved too much for me.  I lounged nearly all day and even nodded off a bit in the afternoon.  Sleep still proved elusive.  Every time I got horizontal, I started to cough.

La Cruz Was a Bit Soggy

The Empty Marina

I stayed up late, writing and drinking a rum cocktail I hoped would prove cough suppressant.  It rained all evening, which cooled things off and made it quite pleasant.

August 29, 2017

I actually managed to sleep through most of the night, so felt better on Tuesday.  Mexican doctors don’t seem to believe in cough syrup, which may be good for getting the phlegm out of your lungs, but doesn’t help you to sleep. 

I fetched my laundry and managed to walk all the way to the breakwater in the early evening.  I stopped for dinner at La Cava de los Martinez, down the block.  I was the only

View From the Breakwater

Dramatic Clouds Over Town

customer.  I managed to eat a tostada and drink my first (and probably last) margarita of the trip.  They were very nice, but I felt like I was disturbing their family evening.

I had enough energy to play the guitar a bit during the day, but didn’t dare try to sing.  Evening saw me curled up with Netflix on my phone.

La Cava de los Martinez