Medicinal arsenal

I took some preparations before I left in the case of some medical (minor) emergencies that may happen to us. I tried to think of the basics we would need, if something in fact did happen to any of us short of a broken bone or stitches. In my medicinal arsenal (to rival any 500+ year old weapons’ arsenal we have viewed in the past few weeks) I packed, and we have used the following:
Tylenol: headaches due to Le Gas leaking before the hot water heater was fixed
Advil: for aches and pains of the grown-ups associated but not limited to excessive walking, cramps (and they DO NOT have Playtex Sport here!!! I was right to pack all that stuff) and backaches due to lumpy beds
Benadryl: Miss Christal’s magical remedy for any childhood ailment – plane rides etc… But we have found it MOST helpful in combating (but alas, not winning) the battle against mosquito/bug bites. Aidan has had the most severe reactions. And when I say severe, I mean that we would be at the doctor’s office if we were at home. Huge monstrous turning bites that are hot red and swollen on him. We have to monitor him closely and have had to venture to the Italian Farmacia for additional supplies. We thought we had learned the lesson after Florence’s awful bug infested trip, but even with our precautions, Venice (city on the water) bested us.
Hydrocortisone: for the above itching due to the bites. All of us have used it, with Aidan needing his own tube.
Triple Antibiotic cream: used to try and keep the inflamation down with Aidan’s bites, and for many of the scrapes on Edwin’s legs and knees due to the amount of falling he does (due to the amount of running everywhere that he does)
Antifungal cream: One word: jock-itch. Italy is a damp country….
Band-Aids: fairly self-explanatory
Claritin: A godsend for Colin and myself as the flora that explodes in the summer is wrecking havoc on our sinuses.
What I have had to purchase (mostly by using Engliano – my word for “English with a few key Italian words thrown in) at the Farmacia:
More Benadryl or “anti istimine”
Idrocortisone
OFF bug spray and a few other bug repellents
Ear drops for swimmer’s ear
We were doing well with all of our medicine but the one thing that came in the MOST handy was: ice. Ice for numbing bug bites and ice for keeping the swelling down on Ed’s lip. Ed had an experience with a teeter-totter that didn’t go his way. Basically, he fell/hit/did something that landed his bottom teeth through his lower lip – almost all the way through. Additionally, he nearly completely knocked the top two teeth out. They are very loose and surrounded by many purple hematomas now. As if his speech wasn’t hard enough to understand, now he’s got the fat lip and loose front two teeth. This happened just a few hours before we were supposed to leave for Venice. After some Tylenol, a nap, and a phone call to Gramma Lee and Papa Paul to see if the ER was perhaps necessary, we decided to continue with the trip with as much yogurt and ice as we had in the house. Ice for the swelling, and yogurt for Ed’s current semi-liquid diet.
So there’s the medicine update. Just FYI in case you are travelling and need some advice on what to pack.