Let the Fun Begin!

Written March 30th

So, I thought Monday was bad - its got nothing on Wednesday. I woke up at 5 a.m. and my stomach hurt. I didn’t think much of it - just rolled over, ignored it, and tried to sleep for 30 more minutes before I was going to go on a run. My alarm went of at 5:30 a.m. and I was prepared to suffer through my little bit of stomach uneasiness, but that didn’t happen. Not that you all need to hear about certain things, but I’ll just say I ended up spending some time in the bathroom. I decided against running because I thought staying near a toilet would be a good idea, which ended up being the best decision I’ve made in a while. I had to rush back to the bathroom (remember it is outside, it is close, but not super close) three more times. I could only eat half of my breakfast because my stomach was just not feeling right. I went to class, but I felt miserable, and I couldn’t pay attention. Everything went in one ear and out the other. We were learning about the boy version of “Yo Meresko” that I talked about yesterday. It is called “Yo Tambien Meresko.” It teaches boys about puberty, what safe sex is, what a good role model is like, etc. But, like I said, I couldn’t pay much attention. I felt bad for the volunteers that took their time to come here and help us with this program, but I just couldn’t focus and was not participating much. I definitely was trying. Everyone could tell something was wrong because I was not acting my usual self. Hector asked me if I wanted him to call the Medical Officer and I said no, but if I started feeling worse than we could call them. It took me about an hour to make that decision. Unfortunately, it took about an hour for the Medical Officer to call us back. They had someone take my temperature, which thankfully I didn’t end up having - even though I felt like I was totally burning up. It was just really hot today I guess. So, the doctor on the phone told the guy helping me, he is the technical director here at our training site, he also happens to be a parametric and our medical go-to guy. They gave me Pepto for my tummy and to help stop the diarrhea, and they gave me something called Enterogermina, which is spores of polyantibiotics. It is in distilled water, so I just had to take the little canister full. I’m not entirely sure what that is for. It is to help settle my stomach and to get rid of bacterium I might have. They also had me put four rehydration salt packets in a liter of water and drink the whole thing: rehydrations salts + heat + diarrhea = not a good mix…I felt miserable.

So, by this time it was lunch break, so I took all the meds they gave me, chugged my rehydration salt mixture, which was absolutely disgusting, and then laid down for a nap. I actually was able to sleep and woke up to my alarm at 12:50 right before classes were supposed to start up again. I went and used the bathroom again, and then called Hector to see if I could stay resting for another hour and a half and then meet them to practice our charlas that we have tomorrow. He didn’t have the authorization for that from the medical office, though, so I had to go to class. My stomach still hurt, but not nearly as much as I did in the morning. The medicine definitely helped. Lasting four more hours was fairly difficult, though. I hadn’t eaten anything since my breakfast. Thankfully I brought a banana with me (the Medical Officer also told me to only eat “soft” foods for the next 2-3 days, and to stay away from grease). That made me really happy actually because I could use that as an excuse to get my host mom from using so much oil when she cooked. For now, though, I’m sticking with some fruits and I went out and bought the Honduran version of Saltines. They are a little more buttery - kind of mix between Saltines and Ritz, but they are comforting! My host mom had also made me something special when I got home after afternoon classes. It is cream of rice basically and it had some cinnamon bark in it. She said it will help my stomach. It is soft and not oily or sugary, so I went ahead and ate it. By that time (5 p.m.) I was actually pretty hungry. Now it is 6:30. I am feeling a lot better, but my bowl movements are still not quite what they should be, and my stomach is still a little off. I’m hoping that I will wake up in the morning just fine. I have to take the polyantibiotic for 3 days, so if it is a bacteria causing me problems that should deal with it. If I would have had a temperature or been vomiting, they would have taken me to the hospital for a urine sample, or just had me give them a sample here. Thankfully I didn’t have a fever and even though I was pretty nauseous, I never ended up actually vomiting.

My first experience with sickness down here in Honduras. Thankfully it was nowhere as bad as most people that have gotten sick. A couple days ago my friend Brian ended up in the hospital for 2 days with a really bad amoeba, and that was what Glenn had too - she was the one in my group for the presentation on Monday that was sick. When we were still in Zarabanda, so many people got bacterial infections in their stomachs, one guy even ended up with Ecoli! So, I’m definitely counting my blessings that I haven’t gotten that sick, but I definitely shouldn’t count my chicken’s before they are hatched. I’m sure my time will come, and I must tell you - I’m not looking forward to it.

Written March 31st.

Because my bowl movements were still not what they should be, I had to give a sample to Luis to send to our Medical Officer. I’m not going to explain that, but I am going to say that it was not the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had, and I certainly hope I don’t need to do it again. So, I just got off the phone with the Medical Officer and found out that I actually have Girardea (spelling) and an amoeba in my stomach - hence the diarrhea. I wasn’t excited when I heard that news. As relieving as it is to have a reason behind my stomach issues, hearing that I have Gerardea was no bueno. I don’t know much about Girardea, but I’m pretty sure that in the states it is the one that is known as “Beaver Fever.” I was always warned not to drink out of streams when out in the woods because you could get it from animals using the streams as their bathroom - and it causes diarrhea - and now I can certainly confirm that.

So, tomorrow someone from the main office in Tegus is driving up to visit us, so the Medical Officer is giving him some medicine to give to me. I will have to take two tablets for three days, but apparently they can cause nausea. I have to take them after a big meal to make the side effects not as strong, but I’m not really looking forward to feeling sick for three days. I’ve already been going through that and it is no fun. But, if it gets rid of the Gerardea and the amoeba, obviously, I will suffer through it. Apparently the amoeba that I have is in the same family as Gerardea, so they will both be able to be killed with the same medicine - the only good news out of this: I will only have to take one type of medicine.

My only big concern out of this whole ordeal is that I will end up just getting sick again. If three of us have already gotten amoebas in the one week that we have been here, what is causing it. Probably, more of the students have ameobas too, but don’t know it yet. I don’t want to take the medicine and get better just to get sick again. I wish I could know how exactly I got sick. Is it the water here that we are all drinking. Is it because people are not washing fruit and vegetables correctly, or possibly washing them with contaminated water? There are a whole mess of reasons that could cause us to be getting sick, but with out knowing what it is, I can’t control it from happening again. I think I’m going to pay close attention to how my host mom prepares her vegetables for the next couple days.