January 7, 2012
I had a wonderful time in
Bohol
for New Years but as soon as I got on the boat in Ubay for the trip home I
started feeling pain on the right side of my face and forehead. When I woke up
the next day I had a huge oozing sore on my forehead and a smaller one on my
chin. It was very painful. The next day it had morphed into a bright blood red
scabby oozing mass and continued to be very painful.
After six days, no signs of getting better, infact signs of
infection, I went to the Rural Health Unit where Anita works to have the doctor
look at it. She prescribed antibiotics and an anti viral. Alex and Anita
suggested I go to a natural healer they knew of. They said they always took
their kids and themselves for this natural treatment for skin wounds like this.
I thought it couldn’t hurt.
Conception Pyote lives in Barangay Maljo, a five minute
pedicab ride away. She was sitting on the porch of her nipa hut with several
people milling about when we arrived. She told me to sit next to her and looked
me over. I could tell she was assessing my aura. She told me to put my head
down and placed her hands on top of my head and murmured a prayer. Then I felt
a strong poof of her breath directed at the top of my head. I felt a strange
wave of energy flow down my spine and then a slight tingling all over. Then she
told me to look up at her while she unwound a length of lavender sewing thread,
broke a two foot length off, ran it through her mouth, laid it on the sore on
my forehead and drew it up and off my face. That was it. She told me to cleanse
it with warm salt water and come back two more times.
I did go back two more times and then I came down with a
nasty cold/flu. This made me think maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have
Conception putting a thread saturated with her saliva on my open wound. What
kind of viruses had I exposed myself to?
Now I’d been sick for nine days and it was time for my call
in with Boni, my regional manager. He asked me how I was doing. When I told him
he admonished me a bit for going to a natural healer and directed me to go to
the hospital in Tacloban immediately the next day.
Tacloban is a three hour van ride from here. By the time I
got home the trip had taken 12 hours. Being seen at the hospital was a
challenging process with lots of waiting, being sent here and there for proper
paperwork, the lab for blood work, waiting for results, back to Dr., to
pharmacy, etc. Doctor said the sores were related to chickenpox and shingles.
She prescribed meds for my cold/flu symptoms and told me to continue with the
antibiotics and anti-viral meds.
When I got home it was 9:00PM and Mark and Anita were
excitedly waiting for me. It’s January 11
th and my Christmas box
from home had finally arrived. It was sent nearly two month ago. I’d almost
given up hope it was ever going to arrive. Everything was in good shape and my
spirits were lifted a great deal by the balsam & cedar Yankee candle giving
me peaceful healing scents of PNW home, a little curly white stuffed puppy to
cuddle with, new underwear and enough coffee to last me a couple months.
Two months later the sore on my forehead finally healed
leaving me with a nice battle scar as a reminder of my Peace Corps days in the
Philippines.
the sink area before
door to the street
