Red Cross Revisited

Ashley and I had plans to go to Mazatlán over the weekend. I was not pumped at the thought of a pool and beach with a burned leg. I knew I would have to stay out of the sun, and Dr. PK suggested I stay out of all water as well. I was prepared to obey. I had sent Ashley a last minute email asking if she could bring an ace bandage. It was beginning to look more and more like I was going to be in bandages for longer than a week, and this disposable business just wasn’t cutting it. I knew I could buy more disposable bandages, but that seemed like a hassle.
Thank goodness for Ashley, but we’ll get to that later.
With the trip to Mazatlán in mind, as well as all the walking/touring of Culiacán I had planned for her, I knew I wanted to have a very clean wound with a reliable bandage. I decided to stop back by the Red Cross before picking her up from the airport. I knew I wanted a thorough cleaning, a good wrap, and more medicine (and I wanted to buy the pomade that they used- it was thicker and felt better than Neosporin). Patrick had also suggested a tetanus shot if it had been ten years. I think it’s only been about 8 or so, but through lots of conversations with mom, we still couldn’t come up with the specifics of when, where or why I would’ve had one in the past.
I absolutely cannot stand the thought of shots. I really have to psyche myself up for them. Considering I was “driving” myself, I count myself as a very brave soul and a big girl for walking into the Red Cross.
I marched myself right up to that payment counter and told the nice lady that I was back for a new cleaning and bandage. I also told her that I had a surgeon brother in the US (How name droppy did I feel?) and that he had suggested a tetanus shot. I had seen on their sign that they don’t give injections without a consult (40 peso consult, 70 peso shot- I was down), so I told her I would like to see the doctor first, get the shot and then get cleaned and re-wrapped. She quickly informed me that they do not do vaccines at the Red Cross; I would have to go to one of the hospitals. I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t getting a shot that day. Then I asked directions to the hospitals since I hate asking for help and didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. There’s a hospital on my route to and from school, so I decided Ashley would get to experience a Mexican hospital with me on the way home from school Friday. Then, I started questioning the capability of the Red Cross to actually help in (free) emergency care. If they can’t even give a tetanus shot, just how helpful could they be?! I let it go.
I smiled at the nurse as she called me back and explained that I was back for an official cleaning. They laughed. This nurse was the one who had been stitching at something on a crying two year old’s head when I was there on Tuesday. I will say this for US medical care: if you feel hesitant or nervous (as I typically do), you get things over-explained and you get plenty of information. Here, I felt like I had not been given any information before they started cleaning and picking. The same happened on Thursday, only this nurse was a little more rough. And my top burn had bubbles now. It was the worse of the two burns and apparently was semi-infected. She peeled the skin back. That was not a happy process. I was a big girl again. Luckily, this go round, there was a woman getting a torso wound dressed. It looked like staples in her gut. I am an empathetic person, unfortunately feeling others’ pain just at the site or mention of it (hence the poorly thought out first career choice of doctor!), so seeing her made me queasy, uncomfortable and hurt enough that I almost didn’t notice my own pain. I must admit that I think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain; this was more an inconvenience than a pain. I could feel her scraping, and I didn’t love it, but I didn’t make any sounds. Or cry.
She wrapped me up, but I could tell it wasn’t a good tight wrap and would be falling by the end of the day. I said a quick thank you to myself that Ashley was arriving that night and would be bringing more medical care. I said an audible thank you to the ladies and told them I’d see them the next week. They laughed.