I was once that world racer, the one that thought I was invincible but If the world race has taught me anything it is that I am very much human.
Sick. This is a word I have come to be all too familiar with on the world race. Cambodia I had a parasite… for pretty much the whole three months I was there. I was told it could have been numerous things such as the pesticides on the fruit I was eating, an allergic reaction to the food, or possibly food poisoning…. it wasn’t until the last week that I was in Cambodia that my mom looked up my symptoms, and told me that she thought I had a parasite. So I went to the clinic and just asked them to give me parasite medication. The lady behind the counter gave me three little pills and told me that it would be two dollars. The pain in my stomach was gone the following morning. To think I went through all the pain and doctors visits, only to find out that I just needed three little pills.
Ethiopia. I have thrown up off and on since I have been here. That’s not un normal for a world racer. Each world racer one time or another will ask the question “why does my body hate me!?” It’s a real question I have asked my self many times. Besides throwing up every other week due to untreated water, un normal food or whatever else. Things have been great up till this past week… this week I was diagnosed with typhoid. Typhoid is a disease that is caused from eating either animal or human excrement. I unknowingly ate human or animal poop. It is definitely a new low for me. The whole experience of how I found out that I had typhoid was also one I wish I never had to experience.
Monday around 8:00am I was told that I needed to go to the clinic, to find out what was wrong with me. It’s about a quarter of a mile walk from my ministry. When we got to the clinic we waited to talk with one of the only doctors who spoke English, which was a blessing from God. I told him my symptoms which include unbearable soreness all throughout my body, bad head aches, nausea, light headedness, occasional vomiting, skin rash, stomach pain, loss of appetite, and fever. The doctor told me to go to lab 6 to do blood testing, a stool sample, and a urine sample. So I walked to lab 6 and the lady that works there looked at me, and pointed at a chair beside a tub of needles. I sat down trying not to freak out about them taking my blood while waiting for her. She finally came over to me, grabbed my arm, tied a string around it and proceeded to slap it aggressively. She said in the best English that she could, “invisible vain.” She stuck the needle in 5 different places and still couldn’t find any blood. She tried doing the same thing to my other arm with no luck. Then she went back to the first arm and stuck the needle into my wrist. That was very very painful. After she drew the blood, she pointed to the window and told me that I needed to go outside. I went outside to the window and through it she handed me a piece of card board with a tooth pick on it and a plastic cup, and pointed to what looks like a broken down out house. I went to the out house and was immediately welcomed with the unbearable smell of human excrement and urine all over the floor. I attempted to go to the rest room while trying not to throw up. I finally filled the cup and in the process peed all over my hand because the cup was basically a tube. Then I tried to go number 2 but for the life of me could not go. I tried so hard I thought I was going to pull a hernia. I finally gave up after 7 mins of being in a nightmare. Then I handed her my cup and sat down next to my teammates. The doctor then came out and told me I had typhoid… I thought there was no way because I had the shot but then we looked it up and it turns out you can still get typhoid even with the shot, it’s just supposed to help with the symptoms just my luck. Oh and I may have lice. But The reason I wrote this was not to complain about a few misfortunes but to maybe make what felt like a bad story in the moment a funny one. Writing this also brought a lot of laughter with in me and my team. So like a team mate said to me “there is no such thing as a bad time, only a good story.”
