on the mend

Hung's coral cut (see unexpected moonlight dhow cruise post, above) was a jagged line about 3 inches starting at the top of his foot and extending upward to his ankle. We put antibiotic on it right away, but the stresses of that long day, repeatedly wetting the wound and overdoing it a bit once we got to Maputo finally caught up with Hung. On Sunday the foot was pink and swollen and by Monday we were headed to the Clinica Especial in the public hospital.

Since no one spoke English, it was apparently easier for the information desk to just direct us to the pharmacy, rather than explaining the process for seeing a doctor. This was fine, since from past experience, Hung just wanted some penicillin & did not want anyone messing with the wound too much. A very kind and patient pharmacy assistant eventually understood what we were asking for (after lots of pointing to his red swollen foot and repeating "infection" in what we thought was a portugueses accent) and we were able to get a strand of very inexpensive penicillin tablets along with some vague dosage instructions which sounded right to both of us (3 tablets each day for 5 days with food). After a single day of rest and dosing, Hung is on the mend.