Now the doctors aren't sure if I have malaria or another parasite. Let me start from the beginning of my sickness to explain. It all started with me being really cold and a little achy. Two hours later I had severe body aches, tenderness, chills, a headache, and was very fatigued.
It was miserable. I just laid in my hammock trying to sleep it off, but I knew it was malaria. I finally got the energy up to go get tested. The results were negative! So, I texted Olen and asked him what other sickness causes you to have those symptoms.
I was told that only malaria has that cocktail of misery and was prescribed quinine. I took the pills that afternoon and hoped for the best. By 7:30 pm my stomach was churning. I went to my hut early because I wanted to sleep off the sickness.
At 10 pm I woke with a start. I had to use the squat pot (restroom) very badly. Upon arrival it was like Niagara Falls was coming out of my butt! After that fiasco I was able to go back to sleep. To bad 30 minutes later I was running to the squat pot again. I was running back and forth until 12:30 am. By the end of the water works I couldn't walk straight. I collapsed on my bed and slept the rest of the night.
By morning I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders and no appetite. I ate enough to take quinine and barely made it through the day. This night was the same as the last. I was running sprints to the bathroom. All I wanted to do was lay down next to the squat pot. Don't worry I didn't lay on the floor. I was cognitive enough to think of the many other disease I could get from the ground. I laid on the floor in my hut and prayed that God would stop the mudslides.
I felt even worse in the morning. I didn't even have enough energy to get into the hammock. I laid on a hard wooden bench and texted Olen. I asked him if waterfalls gushing out of your butt was a normal side effect of quinine. He told me that it was probably amoebas or some other parasite making my life miserable. He told me to poop on a mango leaf and bring it to the lab. He would get the results and let me know what I had.
I had the leaf sitting next to the toilet ready for action, but it never got the action it deserved. It withered and died because I had performance anxiety . . . or so I thought. Instead of having severe diarrhea I was extremely constipated.
I don't understand how it happened. I wasn't eating, so I shouldn't have had anything to poop out, right? Well, I was constipated for three days until things normalized. I explained to Olen why I didn't take the test and he was baffled too. He said that the diarrhea would probably come back and I could get tested then.
In the end I had two torturous nights of diarrhea, three days of constipation, I went seven days without eating (or eating very little), and suffered seven days with the side effects of quinine. My ears were ringing, I was nauseous . . . I had every single side effect possible. To make matters worse we had 55 nasaras visiting the hospital. Maranatha came to build the nursing school and then Adventist Health Institute (AHI) and other people came for the "cutting of the ribbon".
That meant even though I was sick I had to help set up and clean for the nasaras, and I had to deal with the loud noises of the crowd in my ringing ears. The most important people in Bere came to the party too, which meant I had to deal with my molester and other really annoying government officials. I chose the best and the worst week to get sick. I got out of a lot of work, but had to do and deal with a lot of things that wouldn't have annoyed me if I was well.
Anyway, I had a torturous week both mentally and physically. However, the week did end on a good note. I got the Christmas package from Union! It was full of letters and wonderful gifts that cheered me up. Vernee even decorated the box for me. That made my week so much better. Thanks guys!
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