WARNING: Do not read this if nausea makes you...nauseous.
Wow. What a difference 24 hours can makes. Yesterday, I was out in the field, loving (almost) every second of it. Today? Stuck in bed sick. Like real sick. Getting sick at home sucks enough, but getting sick thousands of miles away from your comfy bed and your own doctors? It's worse...much, much worse. Now that I think about it, I wasn't feeling 100% yesterday. I kept getting dizzy and I had a killer headache, but I honestly thought I was just dehydrated or something.
I started this blog with the intentions of writing about all the ups and downs of my life here in Bolivia. The good times and the bad times, the highlights and the lowlights. Well, last night/today was about as bad as it could get. At least, I can't imagine it getting any worse.
As I fell asleep last night, I felt relatively normal. I was getting congested and my headache was actively turning into a migraine, but that's become the norm since I got here in the peak of the burning season. The farmers are clearing new land, and I'm reaping the consequences physically...with stuffy noses and sinus pressure from all the smoke. I knew something was off when I woke up at 1:17 AM and my stomach was in knots. A trip to our bathroom and a few minutes later, all of my dinner was gone. AND I NEVER THROW UP LIKE THAT. I think the last time I threw up, I had appendicitis. I mean, my stomach tolerates pretty much everything. It only goes into vomit-survival mode if something is really wrong. Anyways, I regained my composure and made it back to bed (after, of course, I brushed my teeth and refilled my nalgene with some ice water). It took me a little while to get comfortable, but I eventually fell back asleep...only to be woken up by my stomach AGAIN at 2:53 AM. Side note: yes I know I'm a compulsive time-checker...I check the clock every time I wake up...can't help it. This time I puked up all the water I drank after the previous puking. It was an awful night. I went back to bed around 3:13 AM (again with the time checking), tossed and turned for about 30 minutes, then finally fell asleep. What happened at 5:10 AM? Another trip to the bathroom and more vomiting. By this time, there was nothing left in my stomach. No food, no water, nothing...but clearly there was still something there that my body didn't like. This time was the hardest time to fall back asleep. My whole body was aching. I was freezing. I was shivering. I was not in a good place. Plus it doesn't help that I have the strangest and lumpiest mattress of all time. I mean, I'm so grateful to have a place to lay my head at night, but it's seriously a weird mattress.
So there I was...and there I stayed (awake) until 7:15 AM when my roommate woke up. I have the best roommate. She set me up with some ginger ale and some cheerios, and she let our house parents (Yuvinka and Steffen) in on my current situation. I didn't go to the field today. There was no way I wold have made it there. We commute to Yvaga Guazu by bus and taxi, and I knew I'd be yelling out "pare porfavor!" (stop please!) like every two minutes to throw up on the side of the road. So I stayed home...and I hate staying home. I hate being sick. Especially when I have things to do! Like follow my monkeys around all day! So I slept lots - well, as much as I could given my mattress situation. And I cautiously ate cheerios and sipped on my water. I'm pretty sure a fever was involved at one point. I was hot and cold and cold and hot all in the span of about 20 minutes. It's currently 8:08 PM and I'm feeling a little better. Roomie says I sound better...since evidently this morning I sounded "like death." I'm a little hungry, but I don't trust my stomach yet. And my entire body is still in pain (but I guess retching all night will do that to you). And I'm still having body temperature regulation issues. But tomorrow is another day...hopefully a better day. And I hope I never ever ever throw up ever again.
Also, I apologize to anyone who feels this was way too much information to share on the internet. Sorry.
FUN SCIENCE FACT #9: Rats can swim for a half a mile (0.8 km) without rest, and can tread water for three straight days. Such troopers, those rats.
No comments:
Post a Comment