Blog

Whilst we were waiting for our lunch at one of the restaurants at Enseada de Garapua, to cool off from the oppressing heat, I went for a 20 minute swim in the ocean. With lunch beckoning, it was time to head back to the rest of our group sitting on the beach. Walking out of the water, at around 300 mm deep, I felt this massively burning sting on the bridge of my right foot. Then as I step onto my left foot, I stepped onto something sharp and once again felt a burning pain - but much more intense than my right foot. I was clear that I was bitten or stung by something vicious on my right foot and stepped onto something sharp with my left foot. Limping to the showers, I could struggle to cope with the escalation burning pain in both my feet. Indeed, there was a needle like penetration on the bridge of my right foot slightly and slowly oozing a couple drops of blood. My left foot had a deep laceration of about 10 mm on the ball of my left foot near my small toe.

The pain was excruciating and felt like somebody was burning my feet with a blow torch. The waiter came over and explained that a local fish was the culprit of all this - we gathered from him that it was a toadfish. I started sweating from this massive overdose of pain, completely lost my appetite and my left leg started trembling. One of the locals gave us a lift to the public medical clinic in the area where they checked the wounds, cleaned it with some anti septic liquid, gave my an anti inflammatory injection and bandaged my left foot. The intense pain continued for another 3 hours before subsiding. This was by far the most intense pain I thus far felt in my life. It later emerged that the needle like spike of the toadfish entered the bottom of my left foot and emerged between my toes on the upper side of my foot. Damn toadfish! If I ever catch you, like somebody we know once said, "I will kill you dead!

This is Dr. Gina Borges and her assistant (who we simply call "Nunu" due to the language barrier) who meticulously worked on my teeth over the past few weeks. You might recall, my tooth felt a bit sensitive when I went to bed the one night and I woke up with a golf ball implanted in my upper right side gum. How the hell can a tooth swell up like that within a few hours!? As the pressure climbed, the throbbing pain went through the roof. Sue immediately had me on strong anti-biotics and with two days, the swelling was down and so was most of the pain. But where to find a decent dentist here in the strange lands of Salvador?

Prior to this, whilst walking around looking for supplies, I noticed a number of so-called dentist working from dirty offices strewn throughout the poorer areas of Salvador. Some of these dental practices had a number of patients awaiting their turn and seeing them sitting there, I would cringe of their pain as imagined in my mind. Hey man, some of the places are so bad you will be lucky if you have any teeth left once they are done with you. If you survive the teeth onslaught, then you might die of some disease or another caught within the dirty and disgusting interior of these practices.

So we asked the people around the marina if they knew of a good dentist. Marcello, a really nice guy who did some repairs on the boat, recommends a certain "Dr. Gina". Recalling the Frankenstein movie and having seen a couple of the pavement dental practices, I am super skeptical about this Dr. Gina and I want assurances. I find myself staring at his (Marcello's) teeth for a quality clue and they looked OK, so they pass my quality test - I now demand to know if this "Dr. Gina" worked on his teeth. With Marcello's confirmation and assurances, especially him passing my teeth quality test, I feel a bit more at ease and the appointment is made.

My concerns and fears were absolutely needless as Dr. Gina is most certainly one of the very best dentist's I have ever encountered. She, her assistant worked with meticulous care, spanning many appointments to sort out my teeth. Her attention to detail, making sure that everything is done well, all without inflicting pain, going out of her way to cross the language barrier explaining most of the procedures, all the time making sure that I am at ease and without discomfort - should be an benchmark and inspiration for other dentists. Then there is Aiara, (pronounced "Ajara"), Dr. Gina's niece who especially came to the dental practice on most of my appointments to translate and bridge the language barrier between all of us - without compensation, always friendly and giving us a further insight into Salvador and Brazilian life. So a HUGE THANK YOU to Dr. Gina, "Nunu" and Aiara for everything you have done! Although we are privileged guests in your country Brazil, will be leaving soon and perhaps never see each other again, we will not forget your kindness, your laughter and most important of all - you as a person.

Obrigado a cada um de vocês! Muito apreciado!

For some time now, Sue has been buying a variety of items for our medical kit onboard Revelations. Today we bought a bunch of additional stuff; bandages, plaster of paris bandages (in the event of us breaking bones), various ointments, anti septic and anti bacteria lotions, etc. This is only the start and we still have some way to go before we will have a proper medical kit. Over the next couple of months, we will be expanding our medical supply and soon we will met with a doctor to obtain a comprehensive prescription of scheduled medicines. Here is a photograph of the stuff we obtained today. We now have to sort everything and then make a detailed inventory.