Saga of the Traveling Foot Infection

Our darling son Seth spends a lot of time on the street playing.  It has been so great for him to have make friends here in the neighbourhood, learning the language and just plain rough-housing the way active kids do.  The past three weeks he has been semi out-of-commission with a rogue infection, and our world seems to have revolved around it.

It started off innocently enough, a mosquito bite on the bottom of his foot that he scratched open, but the infection grew fast.  So we cleaned and bandaged, soaked and treated for two or three times a day, and around the fourth day the boil surrounded by a large painful red area finally drained.... for around five days.  Then it went from bad to worse.  It got reinfected, but with some mutant tropical bacteria that drained clearish-brown fluid and spread to other parts of his body, just for fun.  There were six other locations at one point, including a swollen middle toe exacerbated by a possible athlete's foot infection, and large scrape that grew on his shin.  Seth was getting up during the night, we continued with topical antibiotics and cleaning it, however on day eleven, when Shaun came down with a similar infection on his leg and condemned my zealous cleansing techniques as painful,  and Seth woke up at two in the morning itchy and in pain with a red streak heading away from the oozing, festering zone, with pus following it, that I sent the two of them to the small hospital in town.  The real kicker was realizing how infectious it was.  They returned with antibiotics and Seth was in definite better spirits.  The next day we realized that the red line was squiggling back, a sure sign of hookworm, which is excruciatingly itchy.  And the infection was following the worm hole.  So we started anti-microbial ointment as well.  Seth has missed almost three weeks of the four weeks of school since the World Cup, but started again today.  Because of how infectious it was, and how itchy it was, it was hard for him to keep it clean and not touch it, and we worried about him spreading it to others in his class.  However, it is almost healed now, with beautiful new pink skin, and we pray that no new infection gets caught up in the cracks of open skin left.

Here's a picture diary of the ordeal.  I don't think it is that graphic, but if you don't like looking at wounds and discussing disgusting infections, I suggest you move on to another post ;)

For my future reference, Seth and Shaun were prescribed Keflex.

Initial boil.... no biggie.

The start of the mutation....

The start of the spread....

The swollen toe that was so itchy.... 

Seth scratched it open which caused more infection.

The wormhole, filling with infection...

Wrapped around his foot.  Poor guy, it was so itchy and he had painful spots everywhere.  If you look at his other foot here you can dimly see two other smaller spots which were also infected.

Almost healed after a week on antibiotics.

Yay!  Seth can go back to school!

So, I've been a bit preoccupied to post, but I'm getting there.  Hopefully, notwithstanding more infections or the like, I'll be able to post again this week.

  

Interesting Tidbits

I thought after all my extended blog entries I'd run out of things to talk about.  How little I know myself :)

Here's some of the interesting animals we've seen recently.

A molting lizard.  This one was tiny, maybe 7-8 cm long.

A crab...in our house!  We are not quite sure how it got in...maybe it was living here the  whole time?  Either that, or animals just like to follow Seth around.  How does he find it behind the TV?  And can anyone tell me how common it is in Brazil to find a crab among your furniture?

After I swept him out of the house, our neighbour showed us how to pick it up so as not to get pinched (or is it pinced?). Hazel was not paying attention to the lesson, and later tried to pick it up by herself.  Fortunately it was a smallish one, but it still hurts apparently!  To me, their claws never looked too harmful, but my neighbour assured me that it would hurt, especially if it was a little bigger.  Seth informed me the large ones can pinch off your fingers!  Hopefully not the species we find around here!

A few days ago, we discovered many of these little monkeys like to play behind our house!  We've been going through a lot of bananas since then.  They are called marmosets, or sagui in Brazil.

Went for a walk on the beach, saw a number of these little jellyfish.  Thought it was more interesting than anything, until....

Hazel got stung by one!  You can't see them at all when they are actually in the water.   I was surprised that she didn't complain about it after the first hour, as someone we were talking to had been stung by a jellyfish in November and had to peel it off his arm, and he still has a scar.  The lighter line here has already faded so we can barely see it, so we are very thankful it was not worse.

Here's some pictures pre-jellyfish sting, of the enjoyable portion of our afternoon walk.  We went to visit the Vanspronsens, who were staying probably a 10 minute walk down the beach, which was another pleasant part of our outing.

I don't think we have other news.  We were planning to head up to Recife tomorrow for a wedding, but unfortunately our children are still not in the best shape to be staying up to midnight.  The wedding we went to a couple of weeks ago was scheduled to start at 7 and started by 8:15, and this one is scheduled to start at 8:00 so it may start by...?  All the people we know in Recife are going to the wedding, so we would be taking our kids.  If they were feeling 100%, it would be possible to do once in a while (like we did 2 weeks ago).  Three of us have bad coughs/colds, and to top it off, this may sound minor, but Lyla poked Seth in the eye today and he spent oh, probably 7 hours of the afternoon crying and staying in a dark room because it hurt so much.  He is okay if he is lying down and not using either eye, because I think the second it is moving under his eyelid even he is screaming.  I'm pretty sure it's a scratched cornea (or corneal abrasion if you want correct terminology), which according to my research usually heals by itself between 1-3 days.  We did an initial exam to make sure there was nothing else in it and that he could actually see out of it.  If it is worse tomorrow we may need to actually finally find a doctor, but I was reading topical analgesics can slow healing, although sometimes antibiotics are prescribed prophylactically.

Okay, so I am learning about all the animals of Northeastern Brazil, as well as a number of first aid/medical issues.  Oh, and throw in a bit of language learning, and becoming a school teacher on the side.  I guess my kids are really encouraging me to grow in knowledge! Such sweet kids I have.  I wish they would lay off teaching about all the medical stuff though.

Alright everyone, have a great night!
Brenda

Routine (or Anything But)

Life has settled down a bit over here.  I started doing schoolwork with Seth this past Monday, after he had had a two week break.  I think it is going quite well, and so far I've been focusing on his journal work and a reading and writing lesson, and we are done before I have to make lunch.  On Wednesday my plan was to do some math, as I haven't gotten that into the routine yet.  However, he woke up with a high fever, and slept or spent waking moments in the bathroom.  He has improved since then, thankfully, so we carried on with the schoolwork in spite of adversity.  He does not know quite what to think of his mom as teacher, but I've already discovered he likes to be challenged (as in, "give me a harder word to try spell mom").  We are, of course, doing a lot of "free study" which involves looking up multiple animals we have discovered here.  The exciting news since I wrote last is that we have now added Praying Mantis and Rhinoceros Beetle to the animals we have seen.  Oh, and bats!  We have only seen them the last three evenings, kind of at twilight (sixish).  And we cheer when we see them, as guess what bats eat?  MOSQUITOES!!!  We love bats at the moment.  And this evening I think is the first evening I can say the mosquitoes are not too bad (they typically start getting bad around 4 in the evening).  I think they were extremely bad the week after we got here because of the crazy rainfall.  Now it probably has not rained in a week, so maybe that is why they seem to be improving.  We can hope, right?  And our children definitely would rather be warm than bitten, so although it seems crazy, we do put leggings on after their baths in the afternoon.  Oh, that brings me back to our "routine."  After I make our big meal for lunch, some of us end up napping (usually just Lyla, sometimes Hazel, once Seth), and we end up tidying up, shopping, taking the awake kids to the beach, etc.  Then somehow, before we know it, it is 4 in the afternoon, and everyone takes a shower or bath and dresses in evening clothes.  By evening clothes I mean clothes that will keep mosquitoes from biting as much as possible.  Then it's gourmet sandwiches for supper and off to bed for the kiddies.  Then Shaun and I take out our drinks.  A bottle for him and a bottle for me.  Ha ha, just kidding (he usually drinks his beer at lunch!).  Then I try see if I can convince anyone to talk to me on skype, and practice some Rosetta Stone.  Or type a blog.  Or see what I'm supposed to teach Seth tomorrow.  You know, relaxing stuff! And I have to admit, we turn on the one air conditioner that cools our room and the kids room when they go to bed, so many of these evenings I relax on our bed in the delightful cold.

So things are slowly falling into place.  We hope to go to Recife next week and buy a few items we need that should be a lot cheaper there.  In a few weeks, when our kids are healthier and feeling a bit more comfortable here, I'm going to see about sending Seth and maybe even Hazel to school here once a week, for subjects such as gym and art.

Also, someone mentioned to me that there had been a few people asking if I would be interested in teaching them English.  This typically looks like 2 one-hour classes a week to a small group of adults.  The reason this interests me so much is that it could pay for a maid!  Right now it would seem odd to pay for a maid when Shaun and I both aren't working, but believe me, that would definitely ease our (my) transition.  And hopefully soon Shaun will be out of the house more (not as in I don't want him around, but he wants to get working), and then I won't have his help as much doing everything around here.  And I know I rely on him a lot.

So, like I said.  Settling in and getting our bearings.  Healthwise we are all improving, we are praying daily that the trend continues.  Our Portuguese is.... better than even a few weeks ago.  And we feel really blessed with the friends we have here already, who are all trying to ease our transition and include us in their family life even.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of this past week.  We went to a wedding last night that was scheduled to begin at 7.  We thought we were late at 7:05, however, people started trickling in at 7:30, and the ceremony started at around 8:15.  It was probably 35 degrees in the church, and we didn't get home until 11.

Seth's wormhole.  In case anyone wants to know what to look for after  a kid plays in a sandbox.

Lyla's eye was almost closed for over a week.  This is when it was already on the mend.

Still happy :)

Our good friends, Sandro and Djane, at their terrano on a relaxing Saturday.

The church around 15 minutes after the ceremony was supposed to start.

Promised Picture Post

So I am continuing to learn about tropical diseases, infections, etc.  Good thing Shaun brought a huuuuuge book down called Armageddon Medicine...it's been informative and interesting.  I will definitely be doctor-worthy by my return.  Anyways, we do have a hospital nearby, but apparently if you want a half-decent doctor you head to Recife, 2 hours away.  Hence, the educational literature we stored away in our luggage somehow.

After Seth touched the toads around a week ago, he developed lines on his hands that almost looked like burn marks.  Oops, I should back up.  I believe in my last post I forgot to mention he had been "peed on" by the toad.  So we debated between the "poison" factor, and tried cleaning and bandaging, or that mosquito bites had become infected.  Then it started on the bottom of his foot.  I was treating it with neomycin.  After a few days, it started looking worse.  Somehow I ran across a page in my Armageddon book about how a "poison ivy rash" was common with that topical antibiotic.  Oh dear, then my theory changed to him having a reaction to it, as the bumps were raised, although narrow.  Then the one on his foot developed a red squiggly line up from it.  I thought it was weird that it was going up and down, however my theory became one of "blood infection."  This seemed to be going from bad to worse.  I asked around today, showed a few people, and viola, found out it is no big deal, only hookworm larva crawling around his skin.  Disgusting but highly treatable.  The medical terminology is cutaneous larva migrans and is mostly caused by playing in dirt that has dog feces in it.  Another disgusting factor.  We have currently banned our children from playing outside without their sandals.  And I headed to the farmacia and picked up some thiabendazole to treat it.  At least I hope that was the medication I bought, in Portuguese it was tiabendazol.

In happy news, we headed over to Sandro and Djane's terreino today.  These are friends of ours that live in the town of Maragogi, but own a nice parcel of land out in Peroba (the part of Maragogi we live in).  He has built a covered patio with a kitchen area and a bathroom, volleyball/soccer nets, there's an outdoor shower, an above ground pool and some hammocks.  It's wonderful.  Eventually they hope to build there.  We enjoyed a churrasco, which is the Brazilian way of barbecuing slowly over a charcoal grill and enjoying a lot of meat over a long period of time.  Good times.

And here are finally the promised pictures.  It may end up being a ridiculous amount, I still have to go through them.  Actually I've decided to do another post with pictures of our house to split them up.

The drop-off crew

Finally here!

Can you see some of our luggage piled high in the back?

The Biggest Spider Ever.  Not Poisonous as it's Not Hairy.

Seth's beloved frogs.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of him holding one the many toads before we banned him from them.

The first of many lizards that Seth has caught.

Watching Gnomeo and Juliet with all the kids at the retreat.  In Portuguese of course.

Seth and Hazel watching the men play soccer at the retreat from the safety of a high wall.

Happy to be here!  at least I am :)

Adjusting

Hello Again.  I guess it's been a few days, I have so many things I want to post about, so hopefully I will remember.

Already I'm finding we're getting used to the animals here.  The first day, Shaun killed what we think was a baby cockroach, and that was anxiety producing.  By now, I think it's pretty normal to have at least a few bugs crawling and flying around our house.  Most of them are of the small variety.  We have a ton of these little beetles that Seth calls his "friends," and all sorts of other small bugs.  The first couple nights, if I was up in the night, I made sure I had my sandals by my bed, and a light on to make sure I wasn't going to step on anything.  Last night, I walked to the kitchen to get something for the girls to drink, grabbed a couple of cups off of our dish rack, and out from underneath ran a cockroach, and then under our counter.  Aaaaah!  I took a few smacks at it with the mini hockey stick, and it escaped me behind the stove.  I had seen it earlier in the day, flying behind our fridge, but just decided to pretend it wasn't there, seeing as I couldn't do anything about it.  In other animal related news, we have had little frogs and salamanders on our shower wall, and after the huge rainfall last week HUGE TOADS everywhere.  Which Seth insisted on chasing everywhere and caught a few of them, until we realized there's a small chance it can ooze or even rarely spray poison at you.  We were wondering why everyone was running away from him!  And just so everyone knows, on the many websites I researched, the toad poison may cause pain, and temporary blindness.  Key word: temporary.  Apparently the poisonous kind can get mixed up with a "normal" kind as well.  Still, we emphasized to Seth to keep away from them, and didn't let him try to catch the frog until we knew it was safe.  He has also been obsessed with catching the many lizards on the property, and found a crab who seems to live here!  Today we found an animal behind our couch that we had never seen before... a humongous spider!  Hopefully the picture does justice to it's size.  It was something Seth didn't want to kill, but to catch and release outside.  Shaun and my opinions won out in that department.  And despite his hatred for the mosquito bites, he feels like he should not kill God's creatures.  They are quite bad in the evening, and seem to be the only thing Seth dislikes about Brazil.  He scratches and scratches and cries and complains.  And some of them he has scratched open, so we have to make sure they don't get infected.

Speaking of infected, Lyla has been a mess this week.  Until today though, she has been pretty happy.  It started off with blisters on her feet from her crocs, as well as a bunch of mosquito bites, some of which got infected.  Then she stubbed her toe.  She had a bruise and a cut across her shin (we don't know where from).  She had 6 mosquito bites on one side of her lily-white face and reacted quite badly to them, so they were red and hard.  Then Seth was on a swing and clocked her one, so the two mosquito bites on her forehead split open, as well as a slice across her chin.  Then when she couldn't get any worse, she got diarrhea.  It's the fifth day, and her bum is raw!  She waddles like an old man, if she walks at all, and is crying in so much pain when she pees and poops.  It is so sad!  And then two days ago, she woke up with one red and swollen eye!  Good thing I brought eyedrops, apparently it's quite common in the sandy, hot climate.  It is amazing that in general she has been so incredibly happy and sweet, continuing to give us kisses, hugs, and smiles even right after we hold her down to clean her or put drops in her eyes.  So although this paragraph makes her seem like she's falling apart, the biggest concern is keeping her hydrated and the diarrhea which doesn't seem to be getting much better.  As this post has taken a few days to write, I also should add she now has a fever!  She cannot catch a break.  Although her diarrhea seems to have improved this afternoon, and she is still drinking lots (we had some multivitamin/electrolyte powder we took with us and she is drinking it really well) and having wet diapers.  Her fever is responding to tylenol so that's also a good thing.  We are praying she feels better soon.

So if you're wondering about what we've been doing... well I have to tell you right now it seems like surviving!  We're still living out of suitcases (hopefully that will be rectified next week).  We're helping our kids adjust and attempting to keep them healthy and happy.  I'm finding a lot of the same things that frustrate me at home are frustrating me here... that feeling like there's so much more to do in the day.  Currently we don't have a maid, like we did the last time we were here.  And let me tell you, there is a lot to clean in a little house!  In a sandy, tropical climate things are dirty very quickly.  In some houses (such as ours) there is no separation in the bathroom between shower and the rest of the bathroom, there is a little lip that is supposed to keep the water in the shower area.  Believe me, it doesn't work!  So with people walking in and out of the bathroom and having wet floors and dry sandy floors I am sweeping a lot.  I'm sure once I get into the routine of things it will feel a lot less overwhelming.  One other thing you may not know about Brazilian living is they have their big, hot meal at mid-day.  People always ask me why that is so I will venture my guesses here:  cooler to cook in the morning? healthier to eat a big meal when you need it?  that's when the maid is usually around? etc.  Not really sure, but I've been trying to live Brazilian.  It has been a bit strange thinking what to make for dinner when I'm done eating breakfast, but I think I'll get used to it quickly.

I do hope that my readers understand that I'm not trying to be negative.  I'm trying to give a realistic picture of what we're experiencing, and let me tell you, there's been many good things as well.  Like today, Seth caught a frog and a lizard, and thanked God in his prayer for that, as well as the time he had at the beach today with Shaun and Hazel.  Like the little playset (swings and slide) that Hermes and Thacianne have that the kids have enjoyed so much already.  The kids are also loving where we live as it is right by the ocean and has a bit of a yard to play in.  It is in a gated community and as a lot of the homes are weekend getaways or vacation rentals so the kids can bike up and down the road even.  We paid extra to get the bikes here and it has already been sooooo worth it.  Also there has already been a lot of great times with people we know from here, who we care about so much and whose company we enjoy, with good food and great conversation (at least we're having fun talking, not really sure if what we want to say is getting across!).  The church here had a retreat to get away from the busyness of Carnival, and we were able to enjoy church fellowship and Brazilian cuisine (which was a relief to me!).  One of the most exciting things to see at the retreat was all the kids including Seth in soccer, basketball, volleyball, especially since we knew he was a bit apprehensive about talking Portuguese.  It was also great that the retreat was at the school, so he got to get used to some of the kids and the school while mom and dad were still around in the background.  Hazel has had apparently no qualms about meeting, greeting, trying out Portuguese, and has been having an absolute blast here.  Lyla... well when she hasn't been feeling poorly she has had a great time chasing lizards with Seth and actually starting to speak a little bit of English!  She also has begun this week a habit (which she is disciplined for but you can't help but think she's cute but can't let her know it) of crossing her arms and frowning at us, sometimes for long periods of time while she waits for us to notice.  And like always, she thinks she is in charge of Seth and Hazel.

Carnival ended Wednesday (Feb. 22), so the last two days Shaun has had a couple meetings.  He has a number of things on his list of things to do, but can't immediately get to the working 9-5 (or probably 7-12 and 2-6), so it is a relief to have him around most of the time for now as we settle in.

Anyways, I know it's another long entry.  I noticed I started it on the 20th, so it's been a few days of ramblings.  We hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe and healthy.  We really would appreciate and ask that you keep Lyla and Seth in your prayers to regain health, and Hazel, Shaun and I to remain healthy.  Also that we find a little niche here and our transition is as smooth as can be.

Love you all, and goodnight!
Brenda

PS I will have to try do a "picture post" tomorrow, I know it will take a lot of time and it's getting later here.