A fancy term for getting e coli., or some other equally fun germ that settled quite well in my digestive system. I have to say that it´s pretty phenomenal I got this as I don´t eat meat (strike out raw meat sources), I boil my water, I wash my veggies, and I use hand sanitizer. Oh well eh? It´s probably from my cat sticking her paws in my mouth in the middle of the night. Tests were pretty conclusive so I got the right meds and am on my way to healthiness!
So that was a fun update.
I should also add that I have a date with Pucará, my new community, on Wednesday! I head up to Quito on Tuesday for some Mister Bagel, run up to Otavalo and then Pucará on Wednesday for a day of meetings and activities, come back for a night in Quito, run back to my site, and hopefully begin packing like crazy. I´d take pictures of the site and of the journey ahead but my camera (my waterproof, shockproof, dustproof camera) bit the dust when my cat bumped it off the bed. So much for being shockproof. So far she´s broken my digital camera and my DVD player. Must be on a mission to cut me off from modernity.
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Fiebre got me.
I was feeling relatively ok yesterday, but I didn't get any sleep the night before and woke up with a racing heart. Still some chills. But I went to training and got along mostly fine except for a little nausea.
PC changed the plan for today and asked us to go home and get money to buy our required cell phones. So back on the city bus which bounced us around for what seemed like ages - and instead of letting us off at the regular corner so we can catch the faster bus, it continued on. I found about 3+ others who live really close to me (yay!) so we walked home together. Grabbed the money, took something for the nausea, and walked to the park center with the others.
The Sickness, whatever it may be or why, started increasing. We walked from store to store in the city and had virtually no luck finding the enormous quantity of phones that we needed. As we went to each new store, I felt weaker and weaker and really just wanted to lay down. At the final store that could supply each of us, I got a chance to slump down and rest. Chills came on and nausea attacked, I felt indescribably...bad. Eventually I was shaking pretty hard and no number of coats would warm me, despite it being pretty warm outside. I was the last one to get a phone, and the venders gave me a caramelo (candy) to make me feel better :)
We returned to the training center on the bus again, this time completely packed with children - and me, trying oh so incredibly hard not to be sick. I passed on lunch as I did with breakfast and laid in the sun for a while which took away the chills so long as I soaked. Oh yes, I got a little red. It didn't matter. Training started, and not soon after, a doctor came to get me upstairs for a checkup. Temperature: 102. She gave me two tylenols and told me to lay down and sleep until she was ready to take me home. Despite noisy fellow aspirantes and blinds that fluttered so hard in the wind that they sounded like bird wings flapping (interesting dreams...), I definitely got some easy rest.
After the doctor dropped me off at home, I settled right into bed with some difficulty sleeping. A couple hours later, my host mom and grandma arrived in my room to ask me bunches of questions. I don't remember really what they were, I just wanted to go back to sleep. Paula came back with a thermometer of her own because neither of us could see the silver line in mine. Low grade fever now. I slept, she came back with a little soup, and still I had a low grade fever.
But oh what a beautiful restful sleep I had last night. No racing heart, no chills, just sleep. Paula woke me up and asked for my temp again - still, 38*C, about 100.something. We decided I shouldn't go to class despite how incredibly sad it made me. Today is Brigadas Verdes - the training class is going to local schools to ask kids about ecoclubs and is starting their personal gardens (a sidenote - I just had a very difficult time writing that in English: first 'jardines', then 'gardins'). If I feel better later, I'll go. I hope I can!
Paula brought me a toasted sandwich with some kind of mystery jam - I'm not really sure what the name was. And mandarin juice that's a tad bitter but quite good.
So... here I am. It's a partly cloudy day and every once in a while, the sun shines. I want to be OUT there, with everyone else! But for now, I guess, it's sleep time.
PC changed the plan for today and asked us to go home and get money to buy our required cell phones. So back on the city bus which bounced us around for what seemed like ages - and instead of letting us off at the regular corner so we can catch the faster bus, it continued on. I found about 3+ others who live really close to me (yay!) so we walked home together. Grabbed the money, took something for the nausea, and walked to the park center with the others.
The Sickness, whatever it may be or why, started increasing. We walked from store to store in the city and had virtually no luck finding the enormous quantity of phones that we needed. As we went to each new store, I felt weaker and weaker and really just wanted to lay down. At the final store that could supply each of us, I got a chance to slump down and rest. Chills came on and nausea attacked, I felt indescribably...bad. Eventually I was shaking pretty hard and no number of coats would warm me, despite it being pretty warm outside. I was the last one to get a phone, and the venders gave me a caramelo (candy) to make me feel better :)
We returned to the training center on the bus again, this time completely packed with children - and me, trying oh so incredibly hard not to be sick. I passed on lunch as I did with breakfast and laid in the sun for a while which took away the chills so long as I soaked. Oh yes, I got a little red. It didn't matter. Training started, and not soon after, a doctor came to get me upstairs for a checkup. Temperature: 102. She gave me two tylenols and told me to lay down and sleep until she was ready to take me home. Despite noisy fellow aspirantes and blinds that fluttered so hard in the wind that they sounded like bird wings flapping (interesting dreams...), I definitely got some easy rest.
After the doctor dropped me off at home, I settled right into bed with some difficulty sleeping. A couple hours later, my host mom and grandma arrived in my room to ask me bunches of questions. I don't remember really what they were, I just wanted to go back to sleep. Paula came back with a thermometer of her own because neither of us could see the silver line in mine. Low grade fever now. I slept, she came back with a little soup, and still I had a low grade fever.
But oh what a beautiful restful sleep I had last night. No racing heart, no chills, just sleep. Paula woke me up and asked for my temp again - still, 38*C, about 100.something. We decided I shouldn't go to class despite how incredibly sad it made me. Today is Brigadas Verdes - the training class is going to local schools to ask kids about ecoclubs and is starting their personal gardens (a sidenote - I just had a very difficult time writing that in English: first 'jardines', then 'gardins'). If I feel better later, I'll go. I hope I can!
Paula brought me a toasted sandwich with some kind of mystery jam - I'm not really sure what the name was. And mandarin juice that's a tad bitter but quite good.
So... here I am. It's a partly cloudy day and every once in a while, the sun shines. I want to be OUT there, with everyone else! But for now, I guess, it's sleep time.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
All is well. I think... I hope.
That low grade fever in my last post went down right after I wrote about it, but I still held a warm metal bottle of tea in my down sleeping bag when I went to sleep. THAT is bliss when you feel like the world is an ice bath. Hot spots to hold a hot thermos - on your neck, under your arms...and yes, between your legs.
So I woke up mostly fine. Just still a little achy and a little tired but nothing like yesterday. Still no appetite so that bowl of fruit that's normally very strange to me was extra difficult to finish (I didn't, it was my first meal at home when I couldn't eat everything). Out the door, and my host mom walked me to the bus again but I was on my own after that.
Training is much, much easier when you actually feel ok. We had many more sessions on rules and organization like money distribution, banking, student loans and the like, and again drew out on posters what we felt was needed to become functional volunteers. Throughout the day we had more interviews to get a baseline on our progress through training. My first interview was with a language proficiency facilitator who asked me a series of questions in Spanish. Eh, it didn't go so well. I expect to be placed in one of the novice levels because everything I said was pretty choppy. I snuck in a subjunctive verb and that's about it. I'm disappointed with how I did, but I'm ok with starting out in a lower level so I can erase 'blunders' and start sort of fresh.
After lunch (soup with many noodles, a bit of cheese, and potatoes, rice, lentils, some kind of meat, strawberries and cream and some kind of amazing juice - again, all for $2) we returned to split ourselves in groups according to our perceived level of Spanish proficiency. Beeline to the novice section! And it seemed like a good choice. I feel like I could keep up in the class, enjoyed the company of the other students, and actually learned quite a bit. I was the last person to be called away to have my Natural Resources Conservation interview with the coordinators, and they just asked me more about my skills. It was a lot like a short job interview.
Then I was told my host mom called and would meet me at the bus stop in town where I'd be dropped off. I just missed the bus, so I hopped in a taxi van that costs $.05 more. And my host mom wasn't at the stop. So I walked home the way she showed me yesterday, and had no problems - except I didn't encounter her all the way to the casa. And no one answered the bell! So I walked back to the stop (it's about 15-20 minutes away) and still nothing. So then I walked the main street to the bus stop where I go in the morning, and nothing... and walked back to the casa. By that time I was totally drenched from the rain, but at least Greta was there to open the door!
Dinner was phenomenal. In the States, I never really gave quinoa a chance. The taste didn't jump out at me, it was just... eh. But here, I almost feel out of my chair with glee when Paula said that was what I was having for dinner. For vegetarians and vegans and even omnis, it's the ultimate grain with a complete set of amino acids...basically it wins the prize for healthy food. So Paula made me a quinoa and potato soup, YUM. Carlos was around for a little while, and helped with some questions on my five-something-page homework on safety in Ecuador and Tumbaco. But then Paula took over, and then thankfully Mateo showed interest and helped me with most of it. Such a patient bro! He not only helped me fill it out, but helped me understand what some of the questions were asking (and sometimes what he would say).
Think it's time for sleep... 10 p.m. has been a normal bedtime for me the past week.
So I woke up mostly fine. Just still a little achy and a little tired but nothing like yesterday. Still no appetite so that bowl of fruit that's normally very strange to me was extra difficult to finish (I didn't, it was my first meal at home when I couldn't eat everything). Out the door, and my host mom walked me to the bus again but I was on my own after that.
Training is much, much easier when you actually feel ok. We had many more sessions on rules and organization like money distribution, banking, student loans and the like, and again drew out on posters what we felt was needed to become functional volunteers. Throughout the day we had more interviews to get a baseline on our progress through training. My first interview was with a language proficiency facilitator who asked me a series of questions in Spanish. Eh, it didn't go so well. I expect to be placed in one of the novice levels because everything I said was pretty choppy. I snuck in a subjunctive verb and that's about it. I'm disappointed with how I did, but I'm ok with starting out in a lower level so I can erase 'blunders' and start sort of fresh.
After lunch (soup with many noodles, a bit of cheese, and potatoes, rice, lentils, some kind of meat, strawberries and cream and some kind of amazing juice - again, all for $2) we returned to split ourselves in groups according to our perceived level of Spanish proficiency. Beeline to the novice section! And it seemed like a good choice. I feel like I could keep up in the class, enjoyed the company of the other students, and actually learned quite a bit. I was the last person to be called away to have my Natural Resources Conservation interview with the coordinators, and they just asked me more about my skills. It was a lot like a short job interview.
Then I was told my host mom called and would meet me at the bus stop in town where I'd be dropped off. I just missed the bus, so I hopped in a taxi van that costs $.05 more. And my host mom wasn't at the stop. So I walked home the way she showed me yesterday, and had no problems - except I didn't encounter her all the way to the casa. And no one answered the bell! So I walked back to the stop (it's about 15-20 minutes away) and still nothing. So then I walked the main street to the bus stop where I go in the morning, and nothing... and walked back to the casa. By that time I was totally drenched from the rain, but at least Greta was there to open the door!
Dinner was phenomenal. In the States, I never really gave quinoa a chance. The taste didn't jump out at me, it was just... eh. But here, I almost feel out of my chair with glee when Paula said that was what I was having for dinner. For vegetarians and vegans and even omnis, it's the ultimate grain with a complete set of amino acids...basically it wins the prize for healthy food. So Paula made me a quinoa and potato soup, YUM. Carlos was around for a little while, and helped with some questions on my five-something-page homework on safety in Ecuador and Tumbaco. But then Paula took over, and then thankfully Mateo showed interest and helped me with most of it. Such a patient bro! He not only helped me fill it out, but helped me understand what some of the questions were asking (and sometimes what he would say).
Think it's time for sleep... 10 p.m. has been a normal bedtime for me the past week.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Manzanilla tea vs. 100.2 degrees
I was perfectly fine yesterday until I took a shower. It wasn't a cold shower, not a hot shower, somewhere in between. Somehow after the shower, I felt terrible. I was freezing cold, and curled up in bed to shiver for an hour before finally falling asleep. And it's not that cold in my room - like 64* at night which isn't terrible at all. I spent a winter in New Mexico in a room that went down to 42* and lower at night... this is nothing.
When I woke up, my throat hurt and I coughed some drip out, popped one of those throat numbing tablets in my med kit (haha, am I the first to use my kit??), and went to breakfast. I tried to explain my symptoms as best I could to my host mom, and I'm happy to say my family seems to totally get me. I had one fried disc of platano verde (YUM YUM YUM) and would have had more if I didn't feel so lousy. And then, as seems the fashion around here, we were rushing out the door. My host mom Paula led me to the bus stop many blocks east from here, and we waited for probably 20ish minutes before it finally showed up. $.20 will get you anywhere in Tumbaco. The ride to Campo Alegro (our training center) is easy, but the way back is harder...
So we arrived at "school" and I thanked Paula. We had a full schedule today about policies and the like, and I'm heartbroken to say PCT/PCVs have been prohibited from going to Banos, or anywhere near the volcano Tungurahua. It being one of the reasons I was beyond happy to accept my invitation, I was less than pleased today.
At lunch, we wandered up the dirt road to a casa where, in the back, the family had a cozy restaurant set up. Lunch is just $2, and included a soup, a salad, rice, a chicken leg, pina juice, and a watermelon slice. Unfortunately, the soup had a chunk of beef in it and I think it was chicken broth. But Chloe nabbed my chicken leg so all was well with that.
More meetings and more of me trying very hard to pay attention to the speakers and our activities and not to how cold I was or how achy my head and body were. I'll admit it was a bad day for my Spanish, I felt annoyed and just wanted to speak English. With any kind of illness, it's no fun to expend energy other than taking care of oneself. Finally, it was 4:30 and we waited for the bus outside. The first one to pass didn't have Paula, but the one 40ish minutes later did. She showed me how to get home, so I sure hope I can manage my way there and back tomorrow. She asked me if she should come with and I said... no... I'll try alone!
Greta, my host abuela, immediately asked if I wanted something hot to drink. Yes, I said, hot is good. She presented a cup of manzanilla and lemon and ordered me to drink it all while it was hot, and when I slowed down, Paula took her place. It took a while, and Paula and I made small talk... I realized mid-conversation that *I was speaking Spanish and understanding most of it*. Sweet relief, I thought, this is possible! And then we even had an argument in Spanish! She asked if I wanted to put more tea in my metal bottle, and I said no, it's only for cold water. She then told me yes, I need to drink warm liquids. And I bowed my head in defeat and said OK. Con dulce? No, sin dulce. I laughed.
So out of curiosity I busted out the med kid again and took out a disposable thermometer. Ugh, 100.2*F, a low grade fever. Best remedy - rest, liquids, stay warm. I'm keeping an eye on it, but I must say, I'm really excited to see the PC medical team tomorrow. I don't know why I'm ill, but maybe it's a reaction to the vaccines we had a couple days ago?
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