Finding help when you need it.

So I've been having some trouble recently which has stopped me from writing these blogs. I forgot that I sometimes get this rash on the back of my hands from grass or leaf sap in the spring time. What have I chosen to do? A walk in nature in the spring time, with my hands dangling along beside me brushing off springtime grass. So about five days ago I started developing this rash on my hands.

It blistered up and became really hot and painful when I was in Astorga and my sister and my mother helped convince me to see a doctor.

So I find that with this experience I am well versed in knowing how to find medical help on the camino.

Rule 1. Pharmacies or farmacias are your very best friends. If you see one and you have a problem, there is a very good chance that they can help you, there and then. Also it is more likely that they will speak English because of the amount of pilgrims that pass through. Also they will have dealt with your issue before, a thousand times, this year already.

Rule 2. The pharmacist will know if you need to see a doctor, they will also know where the nearest medical centre is and draw you a map. If you can't speak good Spanish it's a good idea to ask them to write down what your symptoms are and what you have been doing to cure it do far.

Rule 3. If you are European, get an E111 card. I literally walked in, gave my card in, the guy behind the desk photocopied it and handed it back to me. Boom. Free health care.

Rule 4. Get Internet on your phone so you can use google translate when the doctor asks you something.

Rule 5. If the doctor draws a little pill, a tube of cream and a big injection don't freak out.

Rule 6. When the nurse comes in with an injection needle the size of a horses leg and points to your bum with an evil grin on her face, also, don't freak out.

Rule 7. Always say thank you.

It all worked. My hands are no longer covered painful stinging blisters, the next day I felt no pain anywhere, that injection is full of wonders.

Everyone was out to help us, the pharmacist I went into saw me later on that evening with bandages and a bag of cream and tablets, waved at us and asked if we were ok as she went home.

I have been walking with bandages on my hands to keep them away from cursed nature and the sun. Everyone has asked how my hands are. I make up excuses like, oh I was fighting wild dogs, or I was defending a baby from a ravenous stork. Then my sister butts in with "she's allergic to nature" which is true.

Ah well.

I'm almost better now.

Below are the perpetrators.

Buen camino!