...a lot about the hazards of living in a tropical environment, new words, and a lot about myself as well (apparently I don’t handle pain as well as I thought I did):
· Verma means worm in Portuguese… I wish someone had recorded the interaction with me and my doctor when he said that “Voce tem um verma no seu pe”… Ok, I understand the “voce tem” and the “no seu pe” but what is a verma?... check the book; slow realization of the meaning of his sentence… gasp and look of horror on my face… “um VERMA?!?!?!”
· Apparently they don’t use anesthetics for such things as the peeling back of one’s toe nail and the removal of such microscopic parasites as the ones that measure as large as the eraser on a brand new bic mechanical pencil…
· A hole in your toe (the size of the aforementioned brand new Bic eraser…) doesn’t require any other bandaging and care besides a piece of gauze and some masking tape…
· There are such things as parasites that burry themselves under your toe nails… They are called “Tunga penetrans – Bicho de pe” and according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunga_penetrans,
o The chigoe flea or jigger (Tunga penetrans) is a parasitic arthropod found in tropical climates, especially South and Central America and the West Indies. At 1 mm long, the chigoe flea is the smallest known flea….
· “EEEeeeeewwwwww” in portuguese is “EEEeeeeewwwwww”…
· I still don’t know what “give me some anesthesia please” is in portuguese but I am about to look that up.
And above all, the most important thing I learned today was that if I have the slightest irritation or pain, or just something that looks kinda off (the black dot was small – I though a cut that got infected and “would go away”…) – I WILL BE RUNNING TO THE CLINIC TO GET IT LOOKED AT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can I re-state, “EEEeeeeewwwwww”!, one more time?!?
