t this point in my life, I pretty much have perpetual sinus infections and tonsillitis. It’s not always fun, but for the most part I can deal with it. Until all of this leads to me waking up with the thing I dread more than any other: pink eye.
If you’ve never had pink eye before, you’re lucky. It’s actually the WORST. I’ve had it a few times, always as a result of a sinus infection.
I knew the second I woke up that I had it, and I also knew I needed to get it taken care of right away because not only is it incredibly contagious (and I’m staying in hostels), it also progresses quickly. Waiting a day might make things a lot worse. I have a couple z-packs with me if all else fails (which would probably also help with the sinus infection, come to think of it) but I much prefer something that goes directly into my eye because I feel like it will work better. And of course, of COURSE this had to happen in Budapest, which is quite a bit different than the US. This would have been much simpler in London.
Here is where my adventure begins:
The Pharmacy
I decided to go straight to the pharmacy down the street and see what’s up; some places in Europe will give you antibiotics without a script. I quickly learned that this is not the case in Hungary. After some awkward translating attempts, they directed me to a doctor about a five minute walk away. I put the address in my phone, and off I went.
The Doctor
I arrived at the address they told me to go to, but it looked nothing like a doctor office. There were no signs, nothing. Pretty sketchy looking – but to be fair, a lot of things in Budapest are pretty sketchy looking. I rang the doorbell twice. Nothing. Cool. I wasn’t that surprised.
Google maps is my friend, so I googled where the nearest urgent care was, which was a 25 minute walk away. Alright, doable. I had pretty much just woken up and left as soon as I could, which means I looked like garbage and didn’t eat anything, so I was hoping I could just power walk to this place and get all this taken care of. How wrong I was.
The Urgent Care Clinic
Yeah. This was definitely NOT an urgent care clinic. It was a kind of outside tunnel courtyard thing, with some doors and words on them I couldn’t read. And basically deserted. I walked up to the doors, trying to figure out where to go, and a guy wearing a worn out sweatshirt labeled “AMBULANCE” appeared. He didn’t speak English, but ran and got his friend that did. They told me to come inside, which looked like the lobby of an old office that had been destroyed by the zombie apocalypse. They kept offering me help with like, cleaning my eye (gross) but I was like guys. I need a prescription for antibiotics. That’s all.
Well. Turns out there are no doctors at this place, it seems like it was more of an EMT thing? Regardless of the reason, they couldn’t get me a prescription either. However, they were super nice and helpful and even called a couple places, and finally directed me to what they told me was an eye doctor. I put the address in my phone, took the tram, and was terrified the whole time that I would be caught ticketless and fined, but I made it there.
The Eye Doctor
I arrived at this big building, with hardly any signage (and what was there I couldn’t read anyway. When I got inside, the guy at the front desk didn’t speak English, but pointing to my eye was apparently all he needed to tell me where to sit. He directed me to a door, and I sat down and waited my turn to go inside.
I thought I was waiting for the doctor, but after finally getting inside, I realized that this was just for the initial checking in with the nurse part of going to the doctor. Which took even longer for me because I needed one that spoke English. When that was finished, I got to go and wait in the hallway for like, an hour and a half or two hours to be seen. Not fun on an empty stomach.
I just kept talking to myself and reminding myself that all this bullshit would be over soon, and that there was nothing I could do about the situation, and that I would be grateful that I was taking care of it earlier rather than later. And I super was. By the time I got into the office, my eyes were OOZING green pus.
After an incredibly in depth exam, I was finally prescribed an antibiotic eye drop. And then I wasn’t charged? I’m not sure if I’ll just be getting a bill at home, or whatever. I tried to ask how to pay but I didn’t totally understand her answer. Oh well, I suppose I’ll figure it out if I need to.
The Journey Home
Naturally my phone died on the tram on the way back, but I guessed which stop to get off on and I was right, which was super exciting. I normally rely so much on my phone for getting around, so it was liberating to be able to do something without it. And I got my prescription at the original pharmacy with no problem at all, just five hours later.
All of this was really annoying, but I’m also not mad it happened. I had absolutely nobody to tell me how to get this taken care of, and I figured it out all on my own (well, with some help from locals, but you know.) It was the reminder I needed that hey, not everything is going to go right. And when shit goes wrong, I actually CAN deal with it. So I’m feeling pretty okay about everything right about now. Just wish my eyes were less itchy and gloopy…but you win some, you lose some.