The Doctor

Monday, October 27

Getting adjusted to a foreign country and learning how things work isn't always easy.  We can always expect a few glitches and sometimes we have to step back and take a deep breath.  And laugh a lot.  Most problems aren't too serious, but they seem like it at the time.

Lynn's ear got plugged up on the flight over and has been a real bother to him.  In Jordan you can get almost any medicine you want at a pharmacy, the pharmacies are everywhere.  We decided to walk down to the main road in Husn to see if we could get Lynn some medicine.  The woman at the pharmacy said we needed to see a doctor for ear problems and she directed us to a doctor across the street.  Off we went dodging heavy traffic to get to the other side.  There we found a man who pointed us in the direction we needed to go.

The doctor's office wasn't glamorous, but we've seen worse.  A man was sitting at a desk behind a doorway with a curtain pulled aside.  He motioned to us and we went inside.  We were the only ones there.  Lynn told him he thought he had wax in his ear, so the doctor took him into a nearby examination room to take a look.  The small room had antiquated equipment in it.  The man rummaged around and found an old otoscope that was taped together with bandage tape.  He wiped it off with a rag, but when he picked it up the batteries fell out the bottom.  He picked them up, shoved them back inside, held it up at arms length and looked inside.  "Nothing there!"  he pronounced.   "I see nothing" for the other ear too.  He explained that the problem might be that Lynn's ears are still adjusting to the differences in air pressure from the airplane trip.  There was no charge!!  At least he spoke English. Kind of.