Last night wasn’t any better than the day previous. I woke up in the middle freezing. The heat index was probably over 90 degrees and I had on sweat pants, a sweatshirt, and two blankets and I was still shivering. Then I woke u a couple hours later and was so hot that all the clothes I was wearing were drenched in sweat like I just jumped in the pool. Then I just fell back to sleep in my sweats cause I was too weak to take them off.
In the morning Maria came to check on me decided we should go to the hospital. I started crying. Then I sucked up and went. The ride there seemed to take forever because I was dreading going so much.
The hospital is pretty much indescribable. I feel like there is nothing I can say that will give enough insight on the experience. When I walked in the door there was a bumper sticker that said, “don’t fight people with aids fight aids”. I had to hold back tears. After waiting and waiting and waiting. I finally got checked in and they checked my vitals and asked my symptoms. They told me it sounds like I have malaria and they would have to do a blood test.
I was so nervous. That was literally my biggest fear coming true. Then, thankfully, in walked three American interns from Chicago, fresh out of med school. I felt so relieved. First of all, they spoke English, and helped me understand what was going on. They also assured me that everything is clean and sterile- that I would not get aids. I feel like if it weren’t for them I would have been a hot mess.
After the test we waited and waited and waited and waited for the results. When the results came I was happy to hear that I didn’t have malaria. Thank God. Maria and I dismissed it has some kind of African flu or food poisoning. We decided that we could go home and if I was still sick in a couple days we would come back. I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to be lying in my bed, not moving.
I laid around for the rest of the day and night and prayed I would start feeling better in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment