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Travel Health Diaries

This is a true story

Holiday  in Pattaya, Thailand, about 6 years ago. My partner cut his foot opened with a dead fish while walking along the beach. Aaaaauch!. Went back to our 4.5 star hotel  to check if they had a First Aid box so that we could give it a good clean before it got infected. “A first aid what?!!!” , they replied ( this was a 4.5 star hotel, remember ) Anyway, we headed towards the nearest chemist, trying to find some antiseptic cream, but of course, everything was written in thai language, so we didn’t really know what we were buying. As we didn’t want to end up getting thrush cream instead of the one that we needed, we left hoping we would find another chemist with imported brands, but nah!, no luck, my partner already in pain & limping by now. That caught the attention of one of the locals, who got this bottle out of his bag  , stating that it always worked & that  they use it  for skin cuts & other wounds all the time. He poured it down my partner’s foot, right into the wound, giving it a good massage to help it penetrate well inside. “Is it stingy, darl?”   “ Bloody hell , yeah! ” ( I’m sure  he saw all the stars in bright daylight.) It was pure gentian violet . Poor man, I felt sorry for him!  Put a dressing on it & advised us to keep it dry.
So he spent the rest of our holiday resting, &  in the swimming pool, he had to sit on one of those floating rings, foot up in the air, trying not to get it wet.
At least it didn’t get infected, but still now he has a scar on his foot.
We learnt the lesson:
Always pack a first aid kit with you when you go travelling.
Do not assume health services availability/ standards are as good as ours.
& if walking barefooted, watch the bloody way you are going!!!

Elena Fernandez
RN
The Travel Doctor Adelaide