Ok, that's not exactly what I said when I got up this morning, it was something much stronger. When I woke up today, my face felt kind of odd (no comments please!!) and my lips felt swollen, I went and looked in the mirror and gasped, literally. My lips, particularly my lower one and mostly on the right hand side was quite swollen and the swelling went right up to underneath my right eye. I could not believe what I saw, I figured it was some sort of allergic reaction….and of course I packed every med I could think of for Ciera but I never thought to bring any antihistamines for myself, I mean why would I.... it's not allergy season after all! I showered, got dressed, had some breakfast while racking my brain trying to think of what could have caused this. I can't imagine it was something I ate as that would have done my whole face (and more) , but on the safe side I threw out the pastries I bought yesterday (they were not really that good anyone, and I didn't really need them)
I was hoping we'd run into Irina (our translator) on our way to the babyhouse, as I didn't want to tackle the pharmacy by myself for this, but we didn't. I thought that by the time we left the apt I looked much better…..once at the babyhouse I told my translator what had happened and asked her to come to the pharmacy with me at lunch.
I was not alone today in my medical issues….Ciera it appears was attacked by a band of mosquitoes (in October no less) and the poor kid has about 6 bites on her face and 15 or so on her hands and wrists. Her bites really swell up, I had brought the spray Benadryl and the cream and applied the cream.
The caretakers in Mr. Baby's room saw Ciera's bites and insisted that they put some cream on them for her, at this point it could not hurt to have more on. Then the Dr for Mr. Baby's room came in as she does every morning and I hear her talking to Irina and I hear the word "mama" so I know they are talking about me. Irina says "are you ok?" I answered that I was not sure, my face now kind of felt like I had been to the dentist, a bit tingly and numb and swollen. I heard the word "allergic", and I answered that I thought it must be and that Irina was going to come to the pharmacy at lunch. She seemed satisfied with that and then saw Ciera….she took her arm and started to get the cream but we told her she'd already applied some. I asked Irina if she had mentioned it to the Dr or if the Dr had noticed and she answered that the Dr had noticed.....so much for me thinking it looked better, good thing she didn''t see me first thing in the morning. Glad we are in a place where there is medical help!
At lunch we went to the pharmacy, they did not have Benadryl, so I asked for anti histamines and for 200 tenge (about $1.50 US) I walked out with 6 little red pills, and was told to take one a day and that they would not make me drowsy. I took one and have been drinking lots of water, it's feeling much better but it's still a bit swollen but no longer tingly.
Even though it was beautiful out today and we were allowed to take Mr Baby out I told Ciera we had to stay inside this afternoon as I don't want her to get anymore bites.
The thing that struck me most about this was the "what if's", what if this had been a serious reaction….Ciera certainly would not know what to do, she does nto even know where the phone is, and 911 won't work, our door is a double door with 2 locks and a bolt from the inside only, so even if Irina (our housekeeper) could not open the door would she call someone to break in? It scared the day lights out of me thinking what if. I've never had a serious allergic reaction to anything and not knowing what it was really scares me. So I think I'll just keep taking a little red pill everyday…..and tonight Ciera is sleeping in PJ's with long sleeves and I told her to keep her hands under the covers, she wanted to wear gloves but I thought that would make the existing bites itch more and besides what about her face. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better medical day!!
On the bright side Mr. Baby was very happy to see us today (swollen and lumpy as we were) and was none to happy to go into her crib at either naptime that I put her down for. She presented me with my first dirty diaper today and I felt very special J that after almost a week she felt she could share that with me. Needless to say Ciera did not want to help with that one…hmm I can't imagine why not. I was "testing" Mr Baby's development milestones today and she has met all the 4-7 month milestones, which I think at 8 months is pretty good. She even rewarded me with pulling herself up onto her hands and knees rocking back and forth for a minute…uh oh….crawling is on the agenda!! 12 month pants are huge on her, I have to roll up twice at the waist and roll up twice at the bottom, 12 month tops fit her across the shoulders but the sleeves are way too long and the body too long, but oh well, she is a baby and she will grow into them eventually!
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on the facial swelling, I'd love to hear them.
6 comments:
I had an allergic reaction while I was in Kazakhstan!! I was lucky that I knew some peace corps workers in Shymkent, and they went to their health headquarters and got some REAL benadryl for me. But I was really careful with what I ate after that. Are there other families with you? Maybe one brought an epi pen just in case? Love reading your blog, good luck with all that is to come!
I could make a comment about it making the perfect Halloween disguise but that would just get me into trouble so I'll refrain from even mentioning it! :)
Seriously, I hope that the little red pills do the trick and your face is back to normal soon. Our sympathy about the mosquito bites. Not fun.
Glad to hear Mr. Baby is doing so well - crawling soon - oh my!
Take care. Hector, Sandy & Maggie
When we were in Karaganda, in March, the kids were attacked by mosquitos at night. They little buggers live in the tunnels with the cental heating steam pipes. Look around your apartment, likely bathroom, for a vent. That is where the mosquitos are likely entering the apartment from -cover it by taping paper over it. End of mosquitos. After several episodes of charades with the pharmacists I came to trust Kaz medicine even though I couldn't recognize it. Often it seemed more homeopathic in nature. Hope the little red pills work for you -I'm betting on a bug bite (spider?)given your description of the site and spread of the reaction.
I hope the red pills work. Sounds like you are doing better. Please keep contact with your translator and if you need medical treatment you'll have to go to the SOS Clinic but get the list of hospitals from the US Embassy. Don't trust the doctors. I'm not trying to scare you but I had a terrible experience with that and you cannot trust the doctors and don't see them without your translator even though they will speak English. So glad Mr. Baby is doing well and giving you nice presents! :) We stayed at the Cosmonaut and walked to the baby house 2ce a day. We didn't use the pool as it was an additional $50 per day, however it is super nice. If I had my bathing suit I probably would have bought a day or two. I loved the greek salad there and the bad that played in the restaurant on Sat. nights.
I'll pray for a quick recovery! Keep posting!
Here's hoping tommorrow will be a much better day! I just had to check before I headed to bed to see how the girls in Kaz were doing. Dastan loved the picture Ciera of you in the walker, that was his favorite thing to do. He actually had it out tonight and him and big sis were having a blast with it!
Oh You have company coming from Quebec next week.Friends of a family here that adopted from Kaz. I will email you the details later!
Off to bed!
HUGS
Glad to hear of the "new movement" on the bonding front, so-to-speak. All of these milestones are important - some can even be cherished.
No advice on the other part - though, as mentioned above, it does sound suspiciously like the work of an arachnid terrorist.
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