Hospital adventures in a 3rd world country: Patience and an acceptance of discomfort

Ah, yes.......sometimes you get sick when you are adjusting to new lands. I did. I thought the worst was over and that I was feeling better. However, when I woke this morning my stomach was quite unsettled. Everyone wanted me to go to the hospital....except me. I figured that I was just adjusting and that I had to deal with the minor discomfort during that process. Unpleasant, but whatever. I realized that the people here at the school are essentially my caretakers and want to make sure that I am okay, so I went more so to make them feel better.

My, oh my.....I'm sure it wasn't as bad as I remember. Most things seem unpleasant when you are not able to eat and constantly feel like you are going to throw up. In no way am I trying to make this place seem uncivilized because there are many beautiful, amazing, vibrant things about this place. Some things are true, though....and this is definitely a developing country. On that note, I am just going to share my experience.

The building was very small and luckily the wait was not long. I did not feel like the receptionists were very nice, but maybe that was just because of their lack of English. Translation can be difficult, both language and body when you are in an unfamiliar culture. Sometimes you get sick of being stared at for being a muzungu (white person), especially when you feel like total crap, but it is the way of things.

Unfortunately the doctor did not speak very good english. I had memorized the swahili words for vomit, fever and pain. He did a lot of smiling and nodding. He sent me to the bathroom for some samples. In my already nauseated state, the state of the bathroom did not help one bit.

The picture may not portray, but neither the toilet nor the sink worked. I was really not interested in using the water in the large orange bucket for any purpose.

And then random bedpans.....for me to use??? I did not. I do not think of myself as a germ-a-phobe. Hell, I'm a country girl that grew up with no running water, running around barefoot on gravel roads.....but this tested me a little bit. 

I had to wait an hour for the results, so I just sat in the parking lot. I decided to call Cully, who is just over in Kenya. It was so nice to hear a familiar voice. I was so grateful to have an old friend for a tired ear in an unfamiliar landscape. His project is going well and he was on the coast of Lake Victoria getting ready to take a boat to a small island where he may have a subject for his documentary on urban migration. As we were talking, my phone ran out of minutes. Crap. It was getting hot, I had hardly eaten and my water bottle was getting low. I was not going back in that bathroom. 

Needless to say, they found nothing wrong. I told the doctor that I was just sick and he asked me if I wanted anti-nausea pills. Yes, please. If that is all that I got out of it, then it was a success. So I went to collect my medicine and found out that I had to pay. I was told that it was free....I did not have enough money on me and they did not take cards....Awkward. So I have an I.O.U. with the medical center. 

Then I realized, because my phone was dead, I had no way to get a hold of the driver to let him know that I was ready. I waited and then waited some more.....then finally I reluctantly asked the hospital staff if they could phone him for me. It worked. 

Then for the bumpy, bumpy, fast, swerving, braking, bumpy half hour ride back to the school. All in a days work, right?

I was greeted back at the school with smiles and hugs and sentiments of well-wishes for my health. The people at TCDC are so wonderful and warm. They made it all better. 

I realize that this qualifies as complaining. Sorry for that. It is just part of my experience and I would regret not sharing the bad along with the good. In a way, I am doing this just as much for you all as I am for me. I don't even know if anyone is reading this! 

Well, tomorrow is a new day. Today is already improving.