Being Sick is the Worst

It's been over a week since I last wrote so even though it doesn't feel like that much has happened, I'm sure I have a lot to say. The most noteworthy (for lack of a better word) thing that has happened is that I got really sick for the first time in my site. It was perhaps the sickest I've ever been in my life over a 24 hour period.

I started to feel sick on Tuesday night around 10 pm when I left the internet cafe. I noticed I was feeling really weak and achey as I was walking home, but didn't think much of it. When I got home, I was absolutely freezing and was laughing at myself for how many clothes I had put on to go to bed. I was wearing long johns (tops and bottoms), sweat pants, a tshirt, my hoodie, a hat and gloves for bed and I opened up my sleeping bag and put that over me! I've never worn two pairs of pants to bed, not to mention my hat and gloves, or used my sleeping bag since I got here. After I got into bed and started shivering uncontrolably, I didn't think it was so funny anymore that I couldn't warm up. I decided I must have had a fever, but didn't want to get out of bed to take my temperature, figuring I would just sleep it off. I went to bed around 11 pm and tossed and turned until 2 am. At that point I got up to use the bathroom and felt like I hadn't ever fallen asleep. I was exhausted and still freezing. When I got back to my room, I was finally able to fall asleep, but woke again at 4 am to use the bathroom. This part of the story isn't that clear to me, but I'll tell what I remember. In order to get to the bathroom, I have to walk outside, down some steep wooden stairs, and across the patio. I got out of bed and grabbed toilet paper (since bathrooms here never have them, or worse, toilet seats!). The next thing I remember is hearing this really loud banging noise. It turns out I passed out and the noise was my body falling against the door of my room as I tried to leave. I opened my eyes and I no idea where I was or what had happened to me. I don't remember leaving my room, but I somehow managed to do so and get to the bathroom where I proceeded to pass out again (thank God I didn't pass out as I was walking down the stairs). Again I opened my eyes and remember being really scared because I had no idea where I was. It was pitch black so I tried to feel around to figure out where I was. Honestly I didn't even know if I was in Peru or not. I finally realized I was in the bathroom and managed to get up and turn on the light. I looked at myself in the mirror and looked green - just like the cartoon characters when they're sick - and really sweaty. Because my fever was so high and making me delirious, I lost control of my body and didn't make it to the toilet in time. As if that weren't enough, I realized I didn't have any toilet paper with me, even though I remember grabbing it before I left the room. I had to go back to my room to get more and my towel and more clothes to change into. When I entered my room, I noticed the toilet paper on the floor so I must have dropped it when I passed out. So at 4:30 am I went back to the bathroom to clean up and take an ice cold shower. In the shower, I noticed I had a huge cut on my knee from hitting the door in my room. I was really scared and incredibly humiliated. I've never passed out before in my life and couldn't understand what was happening. I felt like I was drunk and had no control over myself. All I wanted to do was talk to someone at home, but I don't have any credit on my phone to make outgoing calls. When I finally got out of the shower and into clean clothes, I took my temperature. It read 100.4, but I'm guessing it was a lot higher earlier in the night. I called my Peace Corps doctor at 5:30 am and he told me I must have eaten something contaminated. I have a bacterial infection that is causing my high fever and diarrhea. So I'm now taking an antibiotic to wipe my system clean and get rid of this infection.

As you can imagine, all I wanted to do was talk to my parents, but of course we don't have a phone in our house. I had to go to the health center to tell them I was sick and couldn't visit Melany's (Rita's daughter's) class like I was supposed to and was hoping I'd be able to make a quick call on their phone. Rita was at Dr. Martin's house (behind the health center) so I asked to use their phone, but they hadn't paid the bill so you couldn't make any calls (even using a calling card). I was so upset that I must have prayed to God for about 20 minutes to please send a subliminal message to my parents to let them know I really needed to talk to them. Ironically enough, my phone rang right after that, but it was my friend Jessica instead. Anyway, it was nice to go to the doctor's house in the morning and talk to he and Rita because they were extremely worried about me. The doctor sent someone right away to buy me some gatorade and told me I needed to be taking Cipro (which I already was). They thought I should rest there so his wife could check up on me once and a while to make sure I was okay and didn't pass out anymore, but I just wanted to go back to my own bed. They insisted I come over for lunch (they just live right across the street from me) because his wife wanted to make me a chicken noodle soup. It was really sweet and I really appreciated it. It was nice to know that there were people there looking after me and concerned. Although Rita doesn't live near me, she checked on me three times yesterday and again this morning to make sure I was okay. She also told me I should call her the next time anything happens (I thought of calling her yesterday morning, but couldn't make any calls on my phone outside of the PC network). The doctor and his wife are really concerned about me now because they think I got sick from eating at my house. Honestly, that is the only thing I can think of because other than that, I cook all of my own meals and am very careful about how I prepare my food. On Sunday, I ate lunch with my family and we had a raw radish salad with lunch. I wasn't thinking about it at all, but I have to be really careful with raw foods because they are often just rinsed in tap water (which is very contaminated). My house also has an incredible number of flies everywhere. I can't understand why there are so many because Rita and the doctor's house only have one or two. On Tuesday, I counted approximately 30 flies on the dining room table where we're supposed to eat. I was really grossed out and took my lunch up to my room to eat. This morning I found a dead fly in one of my pitchers of water. Yuck.

Anyway, because my house isn't as clean as it could be, Dr. Martin and his wife think I should move in with them so I don't get sick again and can live in a healthier environment. I really like my family, but they aren't as inclusive of me in their activities as I think the doctor's family might be. My family is really big (and more people keep moving in) so they usually hang out with each other. They are really nice to me when we're all together, but they don't necessarily invite me to hang out with them if they're doing something together. I really enjoy talking with them, but sometimes it's hard because there are so many of them and my host mom is really shy. I get along much better with her sister and her sister-in-law. They all felt really badly that I was so sick, but didn't know until I told them. They heard something in the middle of the night, but no one got up to see what it was. They asked why I didn't wake them up, but honestly I was thinking clearly. They told me they know it can be really hard to be alone when you're sick because it's really lonely so they told me that in the future I can wake them up at any time of the night. I'm definitely torn about the whole living situation. As much as I'm enjoying my family, if I live with the doctor I'll just be right across the street so I can easily go visit them. Sometimes I think you spend more time with people when you don't live with them because you visit more. I visit more with Rita and her family than my own so I think it would be easy to still maintain a relationship with my family. The doctor's house is definitely a lot cleaner so I would feel really comfortable there. His wife, Isabel (but everyone calls her Chabu), is really sweet and isn't from around here so doesn't have too many friends here. She said she's usually home all day and would love to have me there with her. She does a lot of arts and crafts projects and sews and knits. She also loves to cook and said she'd love to teach me how to do any of this stuff. I think it would be really fun to live there because I think I'd be more social with the family, though still have the opportunity to visit with my family and be friends with them. If I d move, it wouldn't be for a few months so we'll see how things go in the meantime.

It's really funny when you're sick to listen to the different explanations that they have for why you're sick. I didn't want to tell my family that it was probably their food so I just said I don't know why I'm sick and it's probably just all of the changes my body is going through right now. They insisted it was because I ate something from the street, though I haven't eaten any food from the street since I got to Peru for that very reason. The professor's wife, Alix, who lives in the room next to mine is really sweet and very worried about me. She thought it was from this seasoning she gave me to use because she thought I didn't cook it first even though she told me 20 times to cook it first when she gave it to me. I finally assured her it wasn't that so now she thinks it's either indigestion (she said people here have a lot of gas from the food here and that her husband walks around farting everywhere - haha), that I eat a diet high in fat, or that my stomach is too cold from the cold water I drink. Of course you have to just smile and say, yeah probably because they won't believe you if you offer another explanation. She made me this concoction last night that is excellent for indigestion she said (since that is apparently what I have). It was boiled water with some apple and cinnamon for flavor mixed with a little sugar and cornstarch! Who knows, but I ate it anyway because I know she was just trying to help. She is really sweet and as I was leaving her room last night, she told me it's a honor for her to be neighbors with someone from the United States because it's the first time she's ever met anyone from another country. I was really flattered.

I'm happy to report that I feel much better today. Maybe it was the cornstarch mixture, maybe my stomach is warmer today, or maybe it's because the medicine is doing it's job. I still don't have much of an appetite, but I know it'll come. Luckily I didn't have anything planned for today (tomorrow I'm visiting 4 classes at one of the schools) so I was able to take things easy again today. I'm going to take things slowly and be even more careful now about what I'm eating. It's so crazy how sensitive our stomachs are to things that our bodies aren't used to. It's funny how we don't really think twice about what we're eating in the States because we know that for the most part, everything is prepared in a sanitary environment and in a higenically sound way. Here you have to be so careful. Rita and Chabu told me they never eat anywhere other than their own houses (or at each other's) because they're so worried about getting sick! I really hope I don't ever get this sick again. That was one of the scariest nights of my life.

I have to run, but I'll write more later about what else has been going on in my life. I miss you all so much.