I'm totally fascinated by this video.
(Warning- if you don't like watching larvae getting pulled out of a hole in someone's head, this is not the video for you).
When we visited Gilberto's family in the northern part of Brasil, his Grandmother had just gotten back from the hospital where she had a parasite removed from under the skin of her stomach.
She got it while swimming in the river on their property, and it burrowed in and created a spiral on her belly. They live on a remote ranch and weren't able to get to town for medical care for a while, so she just let it live there. No big deal.
NO BIG DEAL? When she told me what had happened, my mouth must've been hanging down to the ground, because she slapped me on the arm with a kitchen towel and teased me about how squeamish I was. Then she showed me the slit where the doctor had cut her skin to pull the sucker out (you have to do it very slowly so the parasite doesn't pull apart).
I worry about stuff like this for when we move down to Brasil. Besides the water parasites, freaky spiders, giant flying beetles, hallucinogenic frogs and poisonous caterpillars, I totally forgot to worry about mosquitoes depositing fly eggs into my head.
I give the woman in the video credit for letting the tropical disease specialist handle the maggot removal. I probably would've tried to pop that bad boy out myself, assuming the bump was just full of hardened puss.
Wow. Well at least life in Brasil will NOT be boring...?
ReplyDeleteI am so grossed out I can hardly put it into words! I would not handle either of those parasitic situations well...at all! I feel for you and the road you have ahead living in a tropical place with all those interesting creatures.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Definitely interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. You just saved us $3000. I had always dreamed of going to Costa Rica for a vacation and now that I've watched the maggot video, I've reconsidered. YUCK!!
ReplyDeletePretty gruesome. I'm glad we just deal with black bears on the deck, white sock flies,and no-seums. So far, Alaska has no snakes!
ReplyDeletePretty gruesome. I'm glad we just deal with black bears on the deck, white sock flies,and no-seums. So far, Alaska has no snakes!
ReplyDeleteomg omg omg! that is soooo sick! i only got 11 seconds into it, and i couldn't handle any more. i think it was actually the music... i might have been able to watch it if it weren't for that.
ReplyDeleteanyways, i actually thought that I had brought a parasite home with me from mexico, but thank GOD i didn't... i was making fun of it so as not to get too grossed out... but when I really think about it, it freaks me out.
i know that probably isn't helping you feel better about being in brasil, but hey, i'm just sayin. i know the feeling...
Hmm, visited Costa Rica, glad it was only for a day off a cruise ship. She thinks YOU'RE squeamish? I could barely read your post!
ReplyDeletehehehe you know, it is incredibly disgusting, but is isn't really a big deal. It's not like it goes into your body or something. I mean, it's not life threatening. My friend's father had the same thing when he was little and guess what they forgot to say? You will live with a hole in your head forever, where the worm lived :) and you can fit one third of a finger inside this hole!(yeah, she made me try it because she thinks it's so funny that her dad has a hole in his head... we were 8 btw)
ReplyDeleteBut don't worry. It is not at all as common as you're thinking!
That is just wrong!
ReplyDeleteI would be forever checking myself for other things I couldn't see.
Yikes!
I'm with Jen. I'll cross that off my vacation list.
eww!
ReplyDeleteThat makes my skin crawl!! I can't stop itching now-- YUCK!!!!
ReplyDelete