January…I had Malaria.
February…I was great.
March…Malaria came back. What the crap?!?
On Monday, I started feeling weird and I tried to blow it
off like it was nothing.
On Tuesday, I got a Malaria test that came back negative.
On Wednesday, I got a Typhoid test that came back
negative…followed by another Malaria test that came back negative again.
In the doctor’s office, I was told that it must have been a
resistive form of Malaria from Kenya and that sometimes it would take awhile to
show up in the blood because of my anti-malaria meds. He explained very simply
that they would give me some stronger medication that would completely take
care of it and have me on my way
So I walked into another room. I should have known that
treatment would be difficult when I read above the door that it was the
“injection room.” They stuck an IV in my hand and proceeded to pull out a 3
inch needle. The tech asked me to lay down on the hospital bed so that he could
give me my pain meds…in my butt! What the heck!
I kind of “sternly” told him to give me the pills. But he
just responded with “we have to do it this way” and smiled.
Ugh.
So Brian
walked out of the room and the tech didn’t hesitate in giving me the most
painful shot of my life. Actually, he might have enjoyed it a little too much!
As I stood up, I started to black out and fell back on the
bed. He came over and asked me to follow him and my response was “oh, heck no!
Let me lay here for 1 moment.” I’m sure he was super thrilled with me at that
point…until he realized that I was woozy and in danger of fainting.
So Brian helped me to another room where the tech placed an
IV bag on the stand. I thought I was just going to receive some injections into
the IV thing in my hand up until this point. It’s what they had done for others
during their trips here. So I asked him how long it would take and he responded
with “just 3 hours tonight.” I was unprepared for what was coming next and I
think it showed all over my face when he said that I’d have to come back for
the next 3 days for more.
Fast forward 3 hours later. I got up off the bed and attempted
to go pay my bill for the night. My head was spinning so badly from all of the
fluids and drugs they had given me and I felt like I was floating. It came up
to a total of $28…seriously!? That’s insane.
Pastor John and Brian came to pick me up at 11 pm that
evening and take me back to the house. I counted, that night, and realized that
I had gotten 10 different injections in different forms over the course of 1
day!
Thursday…I went back to the clinic for 4 more hours of IV
fluids.
Friday…I went back to the clinic, again, for 4 more hours of
IV fluids…although, this time, the flesh under the IV began to swell and bubble
up…so they took it out and inserted another IV needle into the other hand. This
time, the guy didn’t know what he was doing and fished around for a vein for
awhile. I was in shock, shaking, crying and ready to throw up…and he asked if I
was ok…heck no! A lady came over, pulled the needle out and went straight into
the vein. Whew…so that was over!
Saturday…I went back to the clinic for my last 4 hours of IV fluids!
YAY!! I think it’s time to go celebrate!
