Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Sick as a dog

Well we all knew it was coming... and now it's here: my first aggressive intenstial bacterial infection. And let me tell you, these last 24 hours have been hell on earth. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling fevery and weak and so I went home and took a nap, woke up, checked my temp: 102.

Patrice, my LCF (Language/Culture Facillitator) came over for dinner and we had chicken and french fries and it was delicious. I already knew I was getting sick so why not eat food that tastes good. What's a little more diarrhea, right?

Went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 10:30 and the stomach sickness started. Nausea, diarrhea etc etc. Didn't want to have to march past my family with the toilet paper so I just held it in as best I could (dumb I know). Woke up later and couldn't hold it anymore but by then the rain had started pouring and pouring so I couldn't go out without probably having a lengthy conversation about going out in the rain with the family so I opted for my bath bucket and a pringles can. Did I mention the Peace Corps steals your dignity? lol

Dragged myself into training this morning but only could make it half a day before crashing in the med unit. I slept through my interview with Seb about my site and when I woke up at 4:30 my fever was up to 103.3. I knew i needed to find some IBuprofen fast, but go figure, there isn't any on hand here. I can't ever remember having a fever that high. Usually at home when I run a fever it's 100 or something. So the driver took me to my house (which I didn't mind because of the AC in the car) and I found my med kit (has everything under the sun you might need medically w/o a prescription) and my MIF kit (stool sample preparation kit) and went back to training. I scarfed down some Ibuprofen and submitted my MIF kit to the lab, got the results back, and here I am just a few hours later with the knowledge that I have a bacterial infection, probably E. coli and have to take some Cipro (hardcore antibiotic) for a few days.

The Cipro will clear stuff up real soon I hope. My family is really sweet; they wanted to know if they could come visit me at ECLA tonight (I'm staying at our training site in the med unit tonight). It'll all be fine soon, so don't worry; antibiotics are magic. I've never had a fever that high though - I was really starting to feel insane. Scary stuff.

3 comments:

Martha Kohler said...

Liz, This is Martha Kohler, Lara's Mom I am sorry to hear you were sick but cipro works miracles. I trust that you are healthy again now.

I am enjoying your terrific and informative blog. I especially enjoy the photos because it is hard to envision these scenes.

I send Lara "boxes of stuff" so let us know if you need anything.

Katherine Crocker said...

Oh no...If it helps, I'm pulling for you.

budtuck said...

E, Guess where your dotty step-mom found that great piece of cutlery - the smaller of your special kitchen knives? Carefully stowed in my compost bin, of course. Was composting a flower and there it was! Cleaned and sterilized its good as new - I am keeping it in use (ha-ha) so it will be ready if you want it. Luke got a good report from vet today - medication brought him more into normal range (heart & thyroid)- next checkup in 1 month. LuvYa A&D