Housecall

I've had a cough for about two weeks now, and earlier this week, it was actually so bad that I lost my voice for two full days. My voice has only just begun to return and I'm still coughing a lot, so I sound like a mess (even though I feel just fine). My contact in the Ministry of Health (who, as a sidenote, may become the president of Djibouti within the next few years) noticed this tonight while we were meeting around 8:30 p.m. in the lobby of my hotel (his schedule is always packed so usually the only time I can get a couple hours of his time is pretty late). He interrupted our meeting to say he would be back in half an hour - he was worried about my cough and was going home to get his stethoscope and prescription pad. I tried to explain that I was fine, but he was insistent, so I figured it couldn't hurt to get a physician's advice and finally agreed. Half an hour later, he returned to the hotel and after a quick check-up, wrote me a prescription. Before I could begin to wonder how I would ever get the prescription filled, he had sent his driver to the pharmacy and told me the driver would deliver the prescription within an hour. I was all set!