Things to do in Antigua when you're ailing

Sunday night, the annoying cough that had been merely frustrating me turned downright frightening. From 11:30 pm to 1:00 am I could not stop the barking, body shaking, wracking cough. It was accompanied by severe chills. I kept asking Husband if it was freezing in our room. Considering that we are just north of Venezuala at the moment, the answer was 'no'. Husband made me herbal tea (our "junior suite" has a tea kettle (thank you British Colonialism), and borrowed some prescription strength decongestent from our traveling companions, and I fell into brief, fitful sleep. In the morning my ear and throat were on fire. Husband called the concierge to see if there was a nurse on the resort. As luck would have it, there is a nurse on the resort, and she saw me and said I needed to see a doctor. She telephoned a Austrailian trained doctor in St. John's who said he could see me shortly, and so, with the nurse's directions, Husband and I took a taxi into town. The doctor's office was above a Chinese restaurant. I was expecting something akin to the SOS clinic in Hanoi, but this was nothing at all like that. Just a small office with one nurse and one doctor. The doctor was lovely, who looked in my ear, my throat, and listened to my breathing and pronounced my ear and throat to be in "bad shape" but assured me he would "fix you right up." Thirty minutes later, armed with amoxicillin, prednisone, codeine cough syrup, and prescription strength sudaphed, we returned to the resort, where I promptly drugged myself into a four hour nap. Whereupon, I woke up, took more drugs, and fell asleep for two more hours. After that I felt well enough to wander down to the pool, find a chair under a shady cabana, and read my book. I'm feeling about 1000% percent better today. I have to say, I never expected to need to see a doctor while on vacation, but I am glad to have been able to find one. LM