I am so careful about what I eat and what I drink out here, I mean I am so careful people like to poke fun of me. I take my probiotics, my vitamins, and I’m the first person to refuse food if it looks sketchy. So how in the world I have Typhoid is well beyond me.
Let’s recap the past 48 hours shall we?
Thursday 9:45pm
I dash out of our common room because I feel the sudden urge to vomit so I go to our bedroom to go to sleep.
10pm
Get out of bed and go to the other girls room to request prayer.
11:30 pm
Realize I am burning up and freezing all at the same time and my body is so achey I cannot even fall asleep because my shivering and sweating keeps me awake.
Friday
12:30am
Wake up Emily next to me to let her know that at any moment I will vomit.
12:37am
Emily gets out of bed and grabs a garbage bag from her pack. I then begin to vomit.
1am
I realize I have to pee and since we need a buddy to go anywhere and everywhere I again wake up Emily. We walk down the hallway only to realize that the front door is literally NAILED shut! I can’t even get out of the house we are staying.
1:03am
We end up making such a ruccus trying to get out that we woke up the African family and they let us out. Having to go so bad and not having the time to figure out where the squatty is, I decide to go right on the other side of the squatty on the lawn. There’s some things that only happen in Africa.
1:10am
Squat down because I realize I have to vomit again. At some point I decide to close my eyes which leads to me passing out or getting so confused I topple over on the cow pooped filled lawn.
3am
Start to hallucinate. Wake up Emily again to have a full fledged conversation on the pros and cons of transportation in America.
4am
I pass out and sleep until 8am.
8:30am
Go find team leader Ali who decides we will go to the Hospital.
9:30am
Arrive at the sketchy hospital. Emergencies and Casualties are in the same location.
10am
Fill out random paperwork including what tribe I belong to and my fathers first name which some how then becomes my middle name.
10:30am
Get examined by 2 Scottish ladies. Praise God for other white people in Africa.
11am
Get blood drawn from people who aren’t wearing gloves.
11:30am
Get a shot in the butt. Get an IV put in me after 4 attempts of them poking me and saying that my veins are all to small.
Noon.
Blood work comes back. No malaria, praise God. Everyone seems to be convinced that I have Typhoid but I don’t have the rash. Africans are still convinced that it’s Typhoid.
4pm
After 3 IVs later we venture back home with the needle still in my hand and am told to come back at 10pm for another round.
5pm-10pm
Feeling incredibly well. I even eat dinner.
10pm
Show up at the hospital with Christian and Tom in tow as my bodyguards. We realize at this point they won’t let them in to sit with me. Ridiculous.
10:07pm
I am told I did not take care of the needle in my hand and they decide to take it out and stick me again.
10:10pm
They put the IV in me which starts to leak profusly and everyone in the room seems to think it’s normal and I should not be concerned.
10:12
Done with IV because it went all over the floor. They send me home
11:00pm
Start to run a fever again and become increasingly confused, weak, and sick.
8am-1pm
The house we stay in likes to blare loud music. I consider very seriously buying a plane ticket home to recvoer in peace. Why on earth people blare music when they know there is a Typhoid ridden person in their home is beyond me. Little kids decide to barge in and wake me up because we don’t have a door.
1:30
Trek up to our contacts to get some peace and quiet and fall asleep on one of his chairs. Over hear him telling Ali and Tom that I need to eat because if I don’t then I won’t recover. If I could eat, I would. What I actually need is a cherry popsicle, my husky pup, my king sized sleigh bed and chicken noodle soup. As you guessed, none of which are readily available here in Africa.
3pm
Still dizzy and disoriented I decide to write a blog only to have the modem taken away 10 minutes later.
Enjoy the pictures
My Chart…. questionable
This is where they sent me….
IV Drips
Tom and Christian were my bodyguards for the night!
