Pediatrician

The kids have been playing outside in the back yard every day because the weather has been so nice. When Mike gets home from work we usually play a little game of soccer before we take the kids up to bed. Ava got a bug bite on her elbow and one on her legs one night - I'm not sure if it was a mosquito because Mike an I usually get eaten alive but nothing touched us. The next morning I put some Benadryl spray on it and she went to camp where they took a quick trip into the forest (which is right across the road). That night she had more bites on her, but the one on her elbow really began to swell up, along with one on her ribcage. This has happened to her the past two summers that we have been back in the US, one of the doctors we brought her to thought it was a reaction to a horsefly bite. Anyway I was hoping that they would clear up on their own so I wouldn't have to find a doctor already, but unfortunately her elbow got really bad. This isn't the best photo but the red area goes up to her bicep and about 2 inches below her elbow, and it was hot (which always happens).

Bad elbow

So to be on the safe side I decided it would be best to take her to the doctor so I asked one of the few people I have met here (the wife of the GM of the Sheraton Hotel) for a pediatrician recommendation. I google mapped it on my phone and it seemed a bit far and I saw that it was in an area called Nowa Huta, which is where the power plant is that people say is polluting Krakow.

I'm assuming this is the Nowa Huta plant that I saw nearby

 I typed the address into my GPS and I don't really have my bearings yet so when it said we were arriving at destination, we were sitting outside of what appeared to be the projects so I figured I had typed the address in wrong (right street, wrong neighborhood?). Luckily I had time to spare to find my way, so I took out my phone where I had saved the location in the maps and when I searched for directions from my current location it said 20 seconds....I couldn't believe I was actually in the right place. Well, I had driven all the way there so there was no way I was turning around. The address was '41/9' so after wandering around a bit and trying to ask for directions I realized I was looking for building 9 of #41. The place seriously looked like it was going to come falling down around me - we did a circle or two around the building and then realized building 9 was numbered as 2 on the outside of the building so that's why I kept passing it. Luckily I had noticed the doctors name on a sign next to the door, but the office looked like it was closed. The door was locked and there was no bell, just a keypad so I started pressing a bunch of numbers but the door didn't open. I waited a few minutes and then called the number and the doctor finally came down to let us in. He was an old Polish man, probably in his early 70's. His English was decent, Ava seemed a little scared of him at first because she has only been to female doctors but he was really good with the kids so she relaxed a bit. After examining her he said that it was an allergic reaction caused by something in the air - I couldn't understand everything he was saying but I did hear him say how there are so many bad molecules in the air here and they cause all sorts of problems. He didn't think it was a bug bite because the two worst areas were at her joints (she had one on her knee too), so he gave me a prescription for some steroid cream and then something to take orally if it didn't get better. I really did like him a lot - it turns out he didn't even have office hours that day but when I called him and he heard that I was American he figured I must have an emergency so he made a special trip into the office. I just don't think I can go back there!! Not to mention it really was too far away- so I will just have to keep searching for another doctor...

Wandering around looking for the office - and getting kind of scared...

Playing on the slide while we were waiting - I was worried about ticks in that grass! (They do have them here -unlike Dublin- because the school sent out a notice about them)

Found it - anyone who can pronounce the doctor's last name wins a prize

side of building

walking back to the car