Here is the story about my being sick on the race! It may seem pretty long, but trust me this is the Campbell's soup (condensed) version….
'Twas the night after Christmas in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Team MARVELous Avengers was experiencing "The Best Mexican Food in Asia"…that slogan really doesn't say much. Anyways, as I started eating the fish tacos set before me, my discernment kicked in and told me I shouldn't be eating them. Well, peer pressure and hunger came upon me, so I ate them anyways. Bad idea.
3 Hours later we were boarding a night bus to meet the rest of our squad in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We had paid for a sleeper bus, but it was broken so they sent us a pretty jank replacement bus. We all crammed in and I tried focusing on just being thankful we had a mode of transportation. About 30 minutes into the bus ride I started feeling extremely ill. I just tried not to think about it and hoped to fall asleep. Well, the bus bounced all over the roads and there was no rest for the weary on this ride. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the tire blew out. We then proceeded to drive on our flat for a good 45 minutes. The flat was then patched with bandanas, towels, and other random items. Finally, we drove another 30 minutes to a place that actually replaced the tire.
Our 6 hour bus ride had turned into 8 hours and I was so thankful to reach Phnom Penh. At this point, I had past the point of feeling horrible and could barely stand up. Thankfully, there was a restroom right outside the bus and that provided me with enough motivation to get off. We reached the hotel in Phnom Penh and I collapsed in my room. We stayed in the hotel for 24 hours, before flying to India, and I never left my room.
I felt better the morning of our flight and that was purely the Lord. I didn't eat much and I got sick on the plane a couple times, but I didn't feel as bad as before. I figured I was still working out some food poisoning or something and that I would be better the next day. Our food in India was prepared by the hostel we were staying at and was, of course, all Indian food. My system was a little shocked going from no food to curry, but I ate pretty small portions. I made it through breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then it hit… I was so very sick. I realized, after 3 days, this was not food poisoning.
I couldn't go to the hospital until the next morning, so I stayed awake in bed all night plotting my world race escape. When I am sick, I tend to be a little dramatic. But I came up with a great plan on flying back to Texas with my world race coaches that were in India for our debrief. I was "deathly ill", so surely AIM would fly me back home with them…
By the time morning hit, I felt miserable. I hadn't been able to hold down water for about 12 hours and was really dehydrated. Our contact in India drove myself and another sick squad member to a local "hospital of sorts". We were immediately escorted to our own room and hooked up to IV's. We each had our own bed and there was an AC unit in the window, so we were feeling pretty spoiled. By the time our visit was through I had 3 saline IVs, an antibiotic IV, 6 shots of something that hurt really bad going in through my IV, a blue pill, blood work, and an overnight stay. Oh and I have 5 different prescriptions for the road.
Thankfully, we were discharged around 4pm on New Year's Eve. I brought in the new year asleep on my sleeping pad in my room at the hostel, but I am glad I was surrounded by people I love. New Year's Day I was able to eat bread, crackers, and french fries, so it was pretty awesome!!
The experience was kind of one of those moments that really made me evaluate my commitment to the Lord. I gave Him this year, all of it. It's not always going to be fun. I'm not always going to want to be here. However, I told Him that He could have everything, in SICKNESS and in health. It's easy to serve the Lord when things are going good, but your true heart shows when things don't go as planned. Our love and devotion for the Lord should be unconditional.
All in all, I really couldn't imagine a cooler way to bring in the New Year than serving the Lord in India!!
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