Bacteria

I’ve kept a low profile this past week mainly because I’ve been sick and I wasn’t able to be up and about. Unfortunately, I ate some food that wasn’t stored well (not from my host family) and I ended up getting an intestinal bacterial infection. I’ve gotten stomach bacteria within the first month of being here in Nicaragua, but this is much worse. I ate the food, which seemed to be just fine, around 5:30pm on Monday and I felt fine. A little later I felt like I kind of had an upset stomach so I ate some soda crackers. I was feeling really tired so I went to bed around 8:30pm. This wasn’t too unusual because I was getting over a cold so I didn’t have much energy. I woke up around 10:30pm and my stomach felt a little weird but I laid in bed for a little while longer. I then decided that it felt like I might throw up so I grabbed my water bottle and flashlight, put my hair up just in case, and planted myself on the bathroom floor next to the open toilet. Well, to say the least, I was right in my prediction and I did feel a little better after that so I went back to bed. However, about an hour later I felt the very same way so I headed back to the bathroom to take care of things. I was feeling a little weak by this point because I had thrown up quite a few times and things were coming out the other end too. So, I didn’t have much of anything in my stomach. I stayed in the bathroom because I felt this wouldn’t be the end of it. I draped my bath towel around me as I found a semi-comfortable position on the floor and camped out until my stomach decided to get rid of whatever else was left in there.


I did end up going back to my bed, but after the 5th trip to the bathroom, intense stomach cramps, and crawling to my bed, I decided to call the PC medical officer on duty. I explained my situation and she instructed me to take Dramamine to hopefully stop the vomiting. She said if I could hold that down for at least an hour, then I could start drinking rehydration salts. Fortunately, my stomach accepted it and I began drinking suero (my new best friend) to rehydrate. She also told me that in the morning I would need to go to the lab and do a test to see I for sure had bacteria. I didn’t know how I was going to make it there in the morning, but I didn’t have enough energy to worry about that right then. My body allowed me to sleep for a little with a few trips to the bathroom to take care of business.

In the morning around 8:30am, I pulled together as much strength as I could, which meant putting on a zip-up jacket and walking out of my bedroom. I woke up my host brother and asked if he would go to the lab with me, and apparently he didn’t realize the urgency of this request as he got ready, fixed his hair, etc. I felt like death and could barely walk so I told him that we needed to take a taxi. Usually it only takes about 8minutes to walk to the lab which is in Boaco arriba, but there was no way I was going to make it on foot. I sat on our porch as we waited for a taxi and then we hopped in.

As we walked to the lab, my bro put his arm around me to help me walk. There was road construction so the taxi had dropped us off about a half a block away and as we were walking, my flip-flop caught a cobblestone and broke. So, I then had to walk with only one flip-flop the rest of the way, and up the narrow stair case to the lab. I got some weird looks with only one flip-flop, in pajamas, and I probably looked like I was going to throw up or pass out. I managed to tell the lady that I needed a test which she shouted back to the doctor—no need for privacy anymore :) I was too sick to be embarrassed, fortunately. She then told me to come back at 11am, but I asked if they could do it earlier as I was clearly in pain and I needed test results to tell me what kind of medicine I could get. They said 10am would be fine. Ok, so I returned to my house and laid on the couch in pain. My host mom came home and then found out what was going on and got upset that I didn’t tell them last night while I was sick. Well, when your head is in the toilet and you have only enough energy to crawl back and forth from your bed and the bathroom, going to wake up your host family to explain in Spanish that you’re not feeling well is not exactly the number one priority. I told the PC doctor that I dropped off the specimen and I had to wait to get the results, and she told me to call her back after that.

The next thing I knew, the living room was filled with my host mom’s side of the family—he mom, two sisters, and two nieces all with their own opinions of what should be done. As I laid in pain, they asked me about diarrhea, vomiting, what I ate that caused this—of course all things that I did not want to be thinking about, nor discussing with the whole family. They all suggested their secrets to cure what I had—lemonade, alka-seltzer, etc. I told them several times that I spoke with the PC doctor and I had to wait for my test results, but they kept talking. Finally, 10am came and my host bro went to the lab for me to pick up my results, and sure enough I had bacteria. I had to wait a half an hour for the PC doctor to get back to me and then she told me what medicine I could take. I took a taxi with my host bro to the pharmacy and got the goods and then was on my way home, but the taxi had to take others to Boaco arriba first. I was just so anxious to get home and lay down.

The doctor instructed me to not eat anything dairy or fried, but I could eat fruits, veggies, or bread. I actually had no appetite so I went straight to my room and hoped the meds would kick in soon. Unfortunately, the doctor told me that the diarrhea would continue through the next day, but I needed to keep myself hydrated with the suero, which tastes disgusting (salty, sugar water). I continued to take Dramamine and took Tylenol as well. I got a little sleep, but felt absolutely miserable. That day was pretty much a blur as people came in and out of my room and my host mom tried to get me to eat, but my body just couldn’t do it. I did eat 3 bananos that day and drank some oatmeal drink, which actually turned out to help because it had some substance and tasted good.

That night (Tuesday) was the main celebrations for Purisima, so the streets were filled with music and people running around setting off fireworks. I could only hear what was going on, but others came in and told me. My counterpart came over worried as ever and wanted me to go to the hospital, but I told him things were under control and I had talked to the doctor. He then wanted to call my PC boss, but I told him no, that I had already talked to the doctor and there was nothing my boss could do. About a half an hour later I got a text from my boss telling me that he called her, but she assumed I already talked to the doctor. After all the craziness wore off (inside and outside of the house), I finally got to sleep.

I felt a little better Wednesday, but still couldn’t eat much—I had a banano, crackers, some cooked potatoes, and lots of suero. I had a little more energy, but realized that it wasn’t much as I got tired very easily after walking around the house. My host mom heated up water and I took a bucket bath, which made me feel a lot better too.

Thursday I felt much better, but still had some stomach pain. I poached an egg in the microwave and ate in on top of soda crackers—one of my favorites that mom always made (poached eggs on crackers). This was some comfort food and I knew it would get some good substance in me. I rested in my room and then later had a pb & j sandwich. I ate very slowly as I still wasn’t feeling able to eat much even though I was hungry and knew I needed food.

I lounged on the couch and watched tv and was bored as ever. Then, I decided that I needed to get out of the house to check the mail. The post office is only a half block away and I was short of breath by the time I got there, even though I walked slow, not Nica pace, but pretty slow. There was nothing in the box, but the lady at the desk informed me that I had a package. What a surprise! I got a package from my aunt and uncle in Arizona. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any money to the post office with me because I wasn’t expecting a package, so I had to go back home, get 5 cords, and then go back to pay for the package. I walked back home, excitedly with my package. I struggled to open it—a mixture of a very good tape job and my own weakness from being sick. After opening it, an overflowing stocking with individually wrapped presents came pouring out. I almost started crying because of this wonderful surprise. I had felt a little sad the past few days being sick and without friends or family, so this was just what I needed. Thank you :)

I’m feeling a lot better and have eaten more today.  I hope to be ready to eat ice cream again by next week ;)



My host bro's Purisima's display--he worked so hard on it and I thought it was pretty cute.