Day 281-283: Manila Medical Mayhem

Apologies to one of our favorite drag queens Manila Luzon: we did not do your city justice 🫠 you can blame Japan for this one.

After Kieran got his hair cut, we noticed some rings on his head. Mary had been waiting her whole life to get some kind of worm or weird infection due to everything she eats and strays she pets, yet it was Kieran mother fucking Perkins who got ringworm first!!! We worked with our health insurance to locate health care facilities in both Taipei and Manila, and decided Manila would be better based on the long drawn out process associated with Taiwanese health care.

Unfortunately our 10:30am flight to Manila was delayed by 2.5 hours so we couldn’t get to the healthcare facility in time. Enjoyed a delicious dinner though. The Poblacion neighborhood was gritty and raw, but had so much art to it. We couldn’t sleep that night due to the bars and heavy traffic.

This delayed us getting to the hospital the next day which was such a good experience that it made us even more mad at American healthcare. We show up to urgent care that redirects us to a concierge; we tell them we need a dermatology appointment, and the concierge locates a doctor with availability. We walk into his office, sign Kieran up and within 10 minutes are called in.

Doctor asks us what brings us in and in Kieran fashion, he beats around the bush saying, “oh I have a rash and we went to this island and pet a lot of stray cats; they all receive veterinary care but you never know. ” Mary immediately followed up with, “I think it’s ringworm, you can see two circles on this side.” Doctor was scanning his head with a UV light and said, “I agree, you definitely have fungal infected eczema which can be caused by ringworm.”

Doctor proceeds to write us a prescription for body soap, shampoo, oral medicine, and an oil to rub on his head 3 times a day. We go back to the front desk, pay for the appointment and prescription, and the front desk lady hands us over the meds right there!!!!!! $50 for the appointment and $25 for the medicine.

Tell us in what hospital or urgent care in America can you get in and out within 35 minutes and pick up your prescription at the office directly at a specialty doctor like dermatology. Madness!

We used the rest of the night to plan our Thailand and a ski trip with friends in February. That’s when more medical issues hit. Mary gets a killer migraine behind her eyes. The migraine lasts until the next 1.5 days so we decide that Manila and perhaps the Philippines should be an entire rest country to get back on our feet.

So here are a bunch of pictures of food because it’s the only thing we could manage to achieve in Manila. Maybe next time…Baca lagi