There have been times as a mom that I think I know how to diagnose and treat our children.  There have also been times where I felt qualified to diagnose and treat myself.  In the States, although I “knew” the health problem, it was necessary to see a doctor in order to get antibiotics.  In France, it’s necessary and also a game of convincing the doctor to help you when you need antibiotics.  Having these life experiences, I was a little excited about moving here where there is an open pharmacy to get whatever medication you want.  I’m not a doctor or have any training in health services, but I thought, how hard could it be to get and take medicine when one of us is sick?  Jonah started a high fever that wouldn’t break with Tylenol and Advil in his system.  I took him to get a malaria test because the first thought I have is worse case, so I was thinking malaria.  He doesn’t have malaria, but has some kind of bacterial infection.  He needed an antibiotic.  Well there is a lot of knowledge I don’t have when it comes to medicine.  It’s necessary to have his weight to know how many mg he needs in each dose, it’s necessary to know how many mg you need in every 5ml, it’s necessary to know how many times a day the medicine needs to be taken, how to mix the medicine and store it, how long does he need to take the medicine, how many doses will be in one bottle – is it necessary to buy two bottles for his duration of treatment and most importantly to know what type of antibiotic is needed to treat his illness.  Once all the information was compiled, calculated, all questions answered and discussed with the person at the pharmacy; I still got to play doctor coming home, mixing the medicine and dosing it to Jonah.