Germans to the Rescue!

Okay...so I wasn't exactly rescued by Germans, but I'm glad they're here.

Since Friday, I've been a bit under the weather: Severe mouth pain. Runny nose. Difficulty sleeping. Fun stuff. Today, I finally decided that I wasn't going to get better on my own so I tromped out to the German military camp, which is on the outskirts of Prizren and about a fifteen-minute walk from my house. The reason? I heard that the field hospital will treat 'internationals', a group to which I marginially belong (marginally because I'm not here with a big group like OSCE or the UN, I'm here mostly on my own with only tenuous ties to the US Embassy).

Don't get me wrong. If the Germans would have refused me treatment, I would have put out feelers to find a reputable doctor in Prizren. I'm sure there must be one. Or two. To be honest, though, I'm a bit freaked out by the level of care available in Kosovo, and even though I only have a minor sinus infection, my first choice was the Germans.

When I arrived at the camp, I gave up my phone, went through the metal detector, and swapped my passport for a visitor id card. I had to wait about 10 minutes for the clinic van to come pick me up and take me to the hospital. I walked in, filled out some paper work, paid 40 Euros ($53), and picked an uncomfortable chair to wait in. And wait. And wait. All told, I only waited about 90 minutes, which I hear is about half of what I would have waited had I gone to a regular clinic in town.

The doctor was friendly. He spoke English, mostly. He told me that my septum is a little bit deviated and that the lack of opaqueness in my ears indicates damage from a childhood illness. I have sticky mucus in my sinuses, and then he went on about how my sinus cavities have three layers that are somehow like the wheelwells of a car (he actually described a wheelwell as something that goes over the tire and protects the car from mud and is curved, so I think that's what he meant) and that there is inflammation.

He actually was quite friendly and ended up giving me too much explanation about what was going on with my sinuses (maybe Germans are used to so much explaining about the sticky mucus-y details). Maybe he thought that Americans are also used to getting that level of detail. Along with much information, I walked away with antibiotics, a nose spray (of which he dumped out half and added some other liquid from his tray of bottles), an enzyme, and the German version of Claritin. The medications were included in the 40 Euro fee, which I thought was nice. I'm used to the American system where pills are outrageously expensive and it's necessary to visit a pharmacy to obtain them. Doctors don't dispense.

Despite the wait, my experience with the Germans was good. I'm glad that it was an easy thing for me to do. Basically, I walked onto the base, saw the doctor, got pills, and left. And the fee was reasonable (much less than the $100-plus my US doctor charges without the medications). Plus, I get to try out meds that aren't used in the US: Loratadin, Phlogenzym, Klacid, and Zylometazolin Nasenspray (plus whatever the good doc added to it), all of which turn up English information when googled.

I am now going to take the rest of the day easy.