Let
me see.. where did I leave off? I guess it has only been a few weeks.
Sorry about that. I'm just super busy between training, trying to do
all the activities I want to do, and spending time with the
fambuldem. It is hard to find time to get the computer out and write
something. Right now I should probably be spending time with the
family but instead I am writing a couple posts and eating nutella and
protein powder. A de try small.
I
got pretty sick the end of the week before last. I couldn't sleep
Thursday night due to GI distress, and had felt malnourished and
overworked the past few days to boot. I began taking oral rehydration
salts in the morning, then felt terrible at training, got a small
fever around noon, and went to the infirmary to sleep it off. I was
there the rest of the day and figured I was in the clear since the
fever had peaked and was going down. At the end of the day, I
stumbled home and collapsed into bed, feeling absolutely not fayn. I
called our medical officer (PCMO) who told me to take some
anti-nausea meds. I go to do so but feel the need to go to the
bathroom first. I walk to the bathroom, but begin to feel a loss of
consciousness on the way. Not thinking, I start taking off my
underwear to do my business, pass out and hit my head lightly (no
concussion!) on the door. When I wake up, I think uhh what just
happened, and to my unpleasant surprise found I have relieved myself
all over my host families bathroom floor.
So
now I feel a bit better so I clean and disinfect everything to try to
save my family from the terrible bug I've got. I decide I ought to
call the PCMO back and say "so, I just had a horrible
experience". She tells me I need to get a friend to come over to
check me for concussion and take care of me, so I call someone, M,
and they get over to my house as quick as they can. I'm pretty
disoriented, but feel (relatively) just fine, and am fully aware and
conscious. We are just sitting on the veranda and me, my ma, and M
are talking. Then, I apparently lose consciousness for over a minute,
and I wake up to mi ma shaking me and M throwing water in my face.
I've resoiled myself, and it takes me a bit to get my vision and
hearing back to normal. So yeah at this point everyone is freaking
out and I'm wondering hmmm.. maybe I did get a conscussion.
My
mom and M pack some clothes for me, PC sends a vehicle out to my
house, and me and M get driven to Bo national hospital. I sit around
for a bit feeling fine, wishing that I didn't have to be giving
everyone so much trouble (this is like 8 pm on a Friday). The doctor
gets called in, and I talk to him for a little bit. I have a small
fever. He thinks it could be malaria, of course, so he wants to give
me meds for it. It wasn't malaria, and the PCMO just wants me to get
an IV. While talking to the doctor, I pass out again and they take me
to a room in a wheelchair. I'm pretty disoriented and having some
visual distortions and am still wondering whether I got a slight
concussion. I clean myself up and they get me into an uncomfortable
bed and put an IV in my arm. M has to stay with me the whole night in
a room that smells like death, and I feel pretty bad about it!
So
yeah, feel just fine in the morning, but according to PC policy, I
have to get driven to the PC compound in Freetown the next day. This
takes like 4 hours. The sickness don don. I eat delicious indian food
(I was starving) and get a stool sample for the lab which I still
haven't gotten the results for. The PCMO is pretty certain it was
cholera, but who knows. It was quick, but super terrible nonetheless
while it lasted. I hope you enjoyed the terrible story!
The
PC hostel is pretty great. It has 24 hr electricity, a nice kitchen,
reasonably fast free internet, and was just a really relaxing
atmosphere while I was there. The building is high up on a hill
overlooking Freetown and the ocean on three sides. There were a few
Salone 3s there with medical things, and about 10 Salone 2s that were
doing their Close of Service (COS). In the end, coming here for a few
days was a pretty good experience because I got to talk to all of the
people that have been in country for two years. These are the people
that we are replacing the sites of. Everyone is pretty interesting
and has many crazy stories. Most seemed a little bit jaded about
dysfunctional schools, (bad?) cultural aspects Americans don't really
care for, terrible transportation, and lots of other things. Everyone
was sad that they are leaving, but happy they are finished and going
home to America, too. The generational aspect of PC is pretty strange
feeling. I know I'll be in the same place in two short years, but it
seems like they have gone through a lot.
I'm
going to bed and don't feel like typing out the second post right
now.
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