Update

As unnamed child's fever spiked to about 104, we decided it was time to check out the local hospital. The end of the story, gentle reader - lest you are worried - is that all is fine. I had a very successful conversation with the taxi company, who promptly arrived at our home and 20 euros later dropped us off at the children's ER of a local hospital. Several decent conversations later, we were examined by a doctor. Strep test negative, other stuff negative. They pulled some blood and did some tests. It turns out that two of this child's 3 ailments (pink eye and high fever) are related - we had a case of adenoid virus. Took a cab home (the whole adventure took about 4 hours) and then continued the ibuprofin. Last night we had one more vomiting episode, but today unnamed child did not vomit, started to eat, and seemed more like we had turned the corner.

Other than the fact that my child was very sick and miserable, I have to confess that I found the whole adventure in the ER to be fascinating. The Spanish health system (at least based on this one experience) is excellent. We got in fast; we were seen by very high quality providers. When it was time to leave, it appeared that we could just walk out the door. Do we need to check out, I asked? Necesitamos pagar (do we need to pay)? The answer was no - everything was free. In addition, it was very interesting and exciting to try to communicate and to be somewhat successful. I had been worried about the possibility of health problems - how we would deal with them. So part of my excitement at the success of this episode was that it all worked remarkably smoothly. So if it ever needs to happen again (which I hope it won't), we are ready.

And while I'm on a roll, I had another minor victory today. It turns out that our apartment complex comes with TV service. We just needed to get a converter box (which I bought today for 20 euros) and voila we have TV! Nothing great, but certainly with a sick child this is a good thing. I'm beginning to realize that the key to navigating Spanish bureaucracy (is this true for all bureaucracies?) is to figure out the right question to ask and then determine the right person to ask this question. I got lucky on both counts today with the TV!

So, we seem to have weathered this storm with the sick child. Heather and I are just loving it here so far. Today I had the sensation (yet again) when swimming that I think is unique. It is 95 degrees here and hot but very dry. So after getting out of the swimming pool, the water evaporates so quickly off one's body that you become quite cold! But once you dry off, it is hot again. But because it is so dry, we haven't felt the need to turn on the A/C in the apartment yet - just don't need it.