Blame it on my body’s reaction to the prolonged training that Peace Corps has subjected me to. Blame it on the extensive traveling. Blame it on sleeping, eating, living with so many people. Blame it on the stress of training and being with so many Americans at once. Blame it on reducing my treasured sleep from 10 hours to 6 hours. Blame it on the change of food. Blame it on gulping down mouthfuls of Nile River water while rafting this weekend. Blame it on the extensive “socializing” we’ve been doing since reuniting. Blame it on whatever you’d like. The reality is that I’m sick, and it doesn’t matter how it happened. Let me mention, this is the first time I’ve been sick in country, which I think is pretty good. I basically went seven months being super healthy. So what happened?
Truth be told, somehow, at least half, if not more, of our training class has come down with about the same symptoms. That’s actually more comforting than you might think. In situations like this, there is a huge pressure to be social. Currently, we are at the All-Volunteer Conference, which means all 160 volunteers in Uganda are together for a few days. Going back to your room at 7:45 pm to get ready for bed is usually frowned upon. C’mon! You have to rally because how often do you get to see us? How often do you get to be with so many Americans? Hey, wait, how often do you even get to act like an American without worrying too much about the consequences? You’ve got to get down here and hang out! Fortunately, most of my friends are pretty ill, so I don’t feel too guilty for lying low these past few days.
For your sake, I won’t go into too much detail about just how sick we all are. I know people state-side aren’t used to hearing all the nitty gritty of GI issues. Let me just tell you one thing though: Peace Corps volunteers constantly talk about poop. For whatever reason, it’s a completely accepted topic of any conversation, particularly dinner. I can’t tell you how many times in the last two or three days that I’ve asked people, Hey, how you doing? when I really mean, Are you still suffering from explosive… huh… episodes? Well you get the idea.
I must say though, I have never experienced an illness quite like this. It all started on Monday, after a particularly intense dance party night. I thought maybe it was my body’s natural reactions to “toxins”, but unfortunately this was something much worse. Sadly, my roommate was experiencing similar problems. We did not get out of bed, unless it was for toilet reasons, for 17 hours. For me, I was in the middle of developing a head cold as well, which is just lovely. Drinking water was a forced situation, and eating was completely out of the question. As a prepared PCV, I had at least packed Pepto, but only three tablets worth. So, I was SOL. Literally.
As I lied in bed, curled around my laptop, falling in and out of sleep while watching Two and a Half Men- don’t judge me- I honestly was also falling in and out of reality. It must have been the massive dehydration, but there were moments when I thought I was actually back in the states. Granted, I don’t think I would be suffering such symptoms back home, but any time I was sick in college, this was my go to remedy-continuous TV shows while hugging my computer. But, this habit goes back even further. Again, don’t judge, but whenever I was sick at home, I would always crawl into my mom’s bed and just fade in and out of TV shows. So, as I lied there, with my arms shivering but my feet burning (which by the way makes trying to find a blanket compromise difficult), I would finally realize, wait, hey, where I am?!?! It would take a few seconds, and the reality would slowly sink in. I am alone, well not really. Audrey was there, but she may as well have been dead considering she hadn’t moved in the past 10 hours. I am in a completely foreign place. I have no idea what’s wrong with me. And I definitely don’t feel well. I don’t even have Gatorade- my cure all for any illness.
At those particular moments, it took everything I had not to cry just a little. Just coming down with a fever makes me pretty prone to tears, as Brittany can attest to, but I just felt so incredibly helpless. I felt similar feelings the first time I got sick in college and reliving them wasn’t particularly enjoyable. All I wanted was to be back at home, snuggled down in my mom’s bed, watching TV, having unlimited clean drinking water, curled up with Kosmo and Henri- the dogs and knowing that my mom was going to take care of me. Needless to say, I missed you, mama.
Our saving grace? Patrick. Maybe I forgot to mention that due to our poor health, Audrey and I splurged on a somewhat nicer hotel room to suffer in. I needed to know the bed was clean, there was a toilet near by and far away from any bar blasting annoying music until 3 am. As we checked in, we made friends with the receptionist/waiter/bell boy at the hotel, Patrick. Even as he showed us to our room, we begged for at least five bottles of water and a few bananas; however, that was at 2 pm. By 8 pm, water bottles are strewn across the room, the banana peels are starting to attract flies, and we’re unable to muster enough energy to walk the 100 feet to the restaurant to at least stock up on water. I think Audrey and I were both trying to wait the other out to see if one of us would go. Nope. Thankfully, I had saved the flyer of the hotel, which included its contact number. Did the hotel offer room service? No. Did we demand it? Yes. Patrick came to get our order and went about fulfilling our request of water, Sprites, toast and bananas. He was our savior.
Don’t you worry though. I am definitely on the up swing of things. Finally, I’ve been able to eat a meal, which is very exciting because the hotel food at this All-Volunteer Conference is awesome! Still suffering from the head cold, but at least that’s more reasonable. No matter where you are, being sick sucks. And I think I am usually a baby about getting sick. Apparently, my Uganda recovery strategy includes 41 episodes of Two and Half Men, one disgusting packet of Oral Rehydration Salts, a clean hotel room, 17 hours of sleep and snuggling with my fleece to keep my shoulders warm but let my feet cool off.
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