104… my new least favorite number…

My journey back up to monapo ended up taking a little longer than planned. So I’m up into inhambane, and I just don’t feel well… my head felt like it was detached, I was sweating profusely even though I wasn’t doing anything strenuous, and I felt super nauseous. At first it was just really bad diarrhea and vomiting to the point where I wasn’t eating and it was still continuing. And then the fevers started. I don’t think I’ve had a fever in my adult life so I didn’t really know what was going on or what to expect, but that first night I thought my body was going to either burst into flames or spontaneously combust. The next day the fever still hadn’t gone away and when we measured it, it was at about 39C which is about 102F and that was when I was feeling a little bit better. Over the next two days my temperature went back and forth from about 100-104F and the times when it got up to 104F I felt like straight death. But like all sicknesses I thought this would just pass, so I didn’t call the doctor til after about 3 days. I even thought I was getting better so I tried to travel again, but I left my friends house, and I got as far as the main road in front of her house, which is only about 20yards away, and I was already winded, sweating and then finally I threw up. I am seriously so lucky that Alexandra was around to take care of me, force feeding me oral rehydration salts and electrolyte drinks, making me cold compresses and singing really awesome songs for me. I finally called the doc who said to keep hydrated and to take antibiotics and we would see how to felt in another day or two. Well unfortunately all symptoms continued and finally the doc decided to fly me down to Maputo to check me out. So in the 4 day stretch after getting sick at alex’s, I had eaten a bowl of soup, some crackers, a banana and a piece of toast. It was definitely the sickest I had been in my adult life. So I arrive in Maputo and the doc after checking me out a little took me to the hospital so that I could get hooked up to an IV cuz I had gotten too dehydrated. So I was there for about 24 hours getting hydrated, getting shots on my butt to help me not vomit, and when I got fevers, they gave me a paracetamol drip and my fever went away almost instantaneously! That was good stuff!! They also ran tests on me to see what was going on cuz up to this point the doc was thinking maybe I had malaria, but when I took a self test it came out negative, so a few blood, urine and stool test later it turned out I had tick fever and some sort of dysentery stomach inflammation something or another. Basically it wasn’t just one thing but a few things that hit me at once and made all symptoms way way worse. And being in Maputo by myself was so friggin lonely… in a hospital alone, at the hotel alone, walking around alone. But what really sucked was that I was starting to feel better, yet my stomach was still not so that meant I still couldn’t enjoy quite possibly the only good thing Maputo has to offer… good food! I was still eating only saltines, bananas, apple juice, Gatorade and water. In the 9ish days I was in Maputo I think I drank about 15L of liquids and in all honesty that could even be an understatement! Luckily my friend Anna was in town for a few days and had her laptop with her so we got to catch up and watch some big bang theory too! Also, I mentioned the Hazels in the last blog, and they are an American family of 4 living in Maputo for work and they are amazing. They really took to PC volunteers so they let visiting PCVs crash at the house, raid their fridge, do laundry, watch cable tv and use internet! They were within walking distance of my hotel so once I started feeling well enough to walk around, after test and dr’s visits I would head over to the Hazels and hang out at their pad usually with their 2 girls, who go to a private school kinda like I did in korea so we had lots to bond over, but mostly just talking about American things we missed most! it was just nice to be around people and they made me feel so welcome and seeing all the good food they were eating, kinda made me wanna get better faster! I think it was really good motivation! Finally about 2 days before I was leaving Maputo I finally started feeling well enough to eat normal human food, while still staying away from certain things, and boy was it great! They have a BEAUIFUL dream kitchen, and just to say thanks, the girls and I baked a pineapple upside down cake and then later I made us a penne pasta bake with probably a pound of mozzarella cheese on top! Then the next night we had a picanya (this one part of the cow that melts in your mouth like butter) bbq with their neighbors and omg I think it was a small glimpse of how I’ll be feeling after living here for two years and going back to the states. After not eating for 2 weeks, this was heaven! There was this salad with another leaf kinda like arugula… I forget… and feta and tomatoes and cucumbers and chickpeas and a balsamic vinaigrette and so friggin good! And the meat… holy cow… it was just these picanya steaks salt and peppered and thrown on the grill for like a minute and then taken off and cut into pieces immediately and you just eat right off the cutting board! Still dripping juices and perfectly marbled with fat and OMG! And then there was this celery salad that was pretty much just celery and onion but sooooo goood! Anyway, food aside, the Hazel family just made me feel like I was a part of their family, which when sick, felt really really great. THANK YOU SO MUCH HAZELS! MISS YOU SO MUCH ALREADY! REALLY REALLY HOPE I GET TO SEE YOU SOON!! Anyway so after 10 days in maputo I was finally feeling in good enough shape to head home, so I got to fly up to nampula, stay in the city for a night, then headed back to monapo! It had been so so long since being home it was so weird and so great all at the same time. The best thing about being back is getting all my clothes washed, as I had been washing things here and there in the sink of my room, and not living out of my backpack anymore! Since being back I had a few more fever attacks with really bad chills, but it’s now mid feb and I think I’m pretty much back up to 100%! Ok I think that’s about it for now! Hope you enjoyed reading about my last 4 months! I put up all my pictures from these blogs as well so be sure to check em out on ‘the Facebook’! can you believe I only have like 10 more months? CRAZY! Miss everyone so much!

Healthy panda