So one problem I've noticed with my blog is that I never seem to write enough about Uganda when I'm there. I think the issue is that when I'm there its hard to get internet connection / plug electronics plus just daily living takes up so much energy and the end result is that I have scantily few blog entries from my time there.
Well, I'm submitting for a travel-writing contest and thought I would write about one of the times I got sick in Uganda because it was quite the experience. I remembered that I had written an email home about it, so I dug that up in my sent mail for research purposes. It's actually pretty comprehensible and does a great time laying out my thought processes and reality at the time - so I thought I'd copy it here! I haven't edited it or anything so sorry for a few typos.
Here we go:
3/6/13
Hey family! I didn't include alex on this because I don't actually know his email- feel free to forward it. So I just thought I would let you know the biggest even recently which is that I got sick. It SUCKED. The other night I was up barfing and with diariah ALL NIGHT. It was just constant. And then at one point it was like 3 in the morning and I went outside to the bathroom and there was a rat the size of a small cat in my bathroom! It was so freaky. Anyway, I was sick all night and couldn't sleep. Kristen was also barfing too although she didn't have diarhia. The next morning we were still super sick so we called to cancel our appointments. We still didn't feel better so our nice gatekeeper went and got us some medicine. Then, we STILL felt awful so we decided to ask Jaron (the white guy whose house we took) for a blessing. He couldn't come until 5 and the power was out a lot of the day-thus sweltering heat along with fevers and no fan.
Kristen and I had power for a little bit of the day so we finished up a movie and just talked for hours and had the fan on and life was ok. But then the power went out again. We just sat there becoming more and more plastered by the heat to the bed. Kristen felt too dizzy to stand up so she was just crawling everywhere when she needed to move. I actually had chills so even though it was SO HOT and kristen couldn't stand it, I was covering myself up with my blanket. As I mentioned it has been hard to sleep because of my upset stomach and the positions that I usually sleep in are no good. We were so exhausted and hot and drowsy that we fell into a feverish sleep. WE woke up to the sound of men's voices and realized that Jaron must be there. Neither of us were really dressed. So I stumbled out of bed, pulled a dirty shirt on and walked out to great them. It turns out it was Jaron and this guy Steve who is doing an internship with Jaron's small buisness. He saw Kristen and was like "Kristen!" turns out they both lived in the Enclave last year. Small world. So we sat down. Looking back on it Kristen and I must have been quite the sight. Our apartment was a shambles. My hair was sticking out at all angles. We were covered in sweat. We started some small talk and then Kristen got out of her chair and started crawling towards the door. She grabbed a black bag from the floor and crawled out to the porch. I wasn't sure whether to act like this was normal or not to give her privacy so we all just watched her crawl away and I was like "so...she's sick" because I wanted to be sure they understood that she was out there to puke. So we all chatted for a little bit and Kristen was outside trying to politely dry heave without making a fuss about it all. And I am NOT a hostess entertainer type. So it was just so strange how both of us were acting. I must have seemed kind of callous/like this was totally normal. Eventually I was juts like "well thanks for coming." and they were like, yeah and we started setting up to have a blessing. Kristen crawled back in and I asked if she wanted to go first but she said no (she was too tired to try to move into the chair). So they gave me a blessing and that was nice. Then it was Kristen's turn. Steve gave her a really nice blessing. Once it was over they took their hands off of her head and Kristen leaned forward to get up but didn't say anything. Again, trying to be thankful and hospitable, I was like "well thanks again for coming" and at that moment Kristen fell to the floor in a faint.
The rest of us just looked at each other and then someone rushed over to turn her over. After a second she woke up. She had hit her eyebrow and got a big bruise over it. Jaron was like "umm...can we take you to the hospital now?" and I was like "yes please!" So Steve was like rubbing Kristen's arm not sure what to do. And I got a pillow for her and Jaron called the elders who have a truck. Then as we waited Jaron went to get sodas for us (since we hadn't really eaten all day --we had sipped water, had 3 little crackers each and I had sipped some juice). Kristen's extremities were all tingly. She said that she had actually blacked out while the blessing was still going on--Steve was pretty traumatized by this--he was like I'm never giving a blessing again!
I was so happy that they were there when that happened. I mean, yes maybe she wouldn't have fainted if she wasn't up moving with them there but it was good to go to the hospital. So eventually the elders showed up (one is from salt lake, the other is a white south african who got out on his mission a month ago). There wasn't enough room in the truck so Jaron sat in the bed of the truck. They drove us to Gulu Indepent Hospital--the nicest hospital in Gulu that almost no one can afford.
This was quite the experience. I'm not sure that I have even the energy to describe it. Basically what I will say is that I still had diariah. There were bathrooms there. NONE of the bathrooms had soap. Most did not have toilet paper. Half did not even have lights. They were all squat toilets.
They would not treat me until I paid. This involved walking back and forth between different buildings a few times and standing in front of a counter feeling faint and nausious while the man meticulously did paperwork/payment stuff. At one point as I was working stuff out with him I was just like 'ok I go to the toilet now'. And just left my stuff there and came back feeling disgusting because my hands had not been washed and I was in a HOSPITL). No one had very good English. I realized I didn't have enough money. Kristen almost fainted again so they took her to a bed and plugged an IV into her. As I was led to the lab to get tested, William, the nurse kept flirting with me. The man taking my blood and doing other tests stopped in the middle of the medical to write down his contact information and tell me about the orphanage he runs. There were guards with large wooden rifles sitting outside the main doors. At one point when I was left alone in the lab room all the power went out. I poked my head out with the flashlight on my phone and there was an African man, the only other person in the building I think (another patient) just sitting there undisturbed. Steve said he saw a cockroach crawl across the floor. They kept getting our paper work messed up so Kristen became Christine Saib and I became Christine Geriga. When they took my blood I was made sure it was a clean needle. But even with that I felt sketch. The guy took FOREVER. And then when they brought me the container for the stool sample I just kind of looked at William (the nurse who kept flirting with me) like 'umm are you gonna lable this?' I didn't actually say that but he caught the message and was like 'we lable everything here! Otherwise it might go to the wrong patient!' He seemed really proud of this knowledge and then meticulously wrote my name and I had to assure him that he had great handwriting.
Basically we are SO lucky to have the contacts from church. After they got us settled they left but said to call them if we needed anything. I called asking if they could help us get money. So steve came back to get my bank card. He went to an atm but our company hadn't put enough money in it so he just took out $250 from his personal account and lent it to us with no reservations. He also got us more sodas and he and his friend (an African guy, Ray, who they all work with) came and hung out with us. Rom called to say hi and I told him we were in the hospital but we were fine. He would not listen. Immediately he was like 'which hospital? I am coming" and there was no stopping him. So it turned into a bit of a party in the sick ward. Kristen was laying down on the bed with stuff plugged into her hand, Rom, Ray Steve and I all stood around talking with sodas. Eventually I convinced Rom that he could leave and Ray left too. But steve stayed and called the senior missionaries for us when we were done .They picked us up in their car and drove us home.
The end result of this 4 hours in the hospital was that I have gastrointestinitis (again! yay. I had this last year too). Luckily they were able to give me some medicine. Kristen didn't actually have anything big wrong with her. She never had diarhia. She was just really dehydrated with low blood pressure.
So we got home and low and behold the power was still out. So we used our flashlights and the gas stove to cook some soup that looked like vomit. By the time we crawled into bed we were totally slap happy talking about the ridiculousness of the day's events. Mercifully we were able to fall asleep and we didn't wake up until NINE IN THE MORNING!!! it was so beautiful. Unforuntatly there was still no power. So I am writing this from a cafe on the other side of town where we are charging all of our electronics.
So yeah. That was our little Odyssey. We are feeling better but still not healthy.
I just thought I would let you know! Really we are fine and hopefully we won't get sick again (it had to happen at least once though!)
Love you all lots! Please write!
jenny
