thank GOD for community

Some new words I learned on Thursday: fiebre, diarrea, posta, pastillas, injección, vomitar.

Yea.

I warn you, this is a bit graphic.

The last time I remember being this physically sick was something like 7 years ago. Many of you might know, I never get sick. Almost never. Really, though, I don´t get sick very often at all. Not physically, at least. And I can´t swallow pills, so I tend not to take them. Well.... So, here is how it went down. I woke up at 3am on Thursday with sharp abdominal pains that sent me running to the bathroom. Sure, that´s was fine though. We had a nurse talk to us at orientation in Boston about diarrhea problems and how we all would get it at one point or another, usually after one week of being in country. I was a little impressed that the timeline was pretty exact for me though. I went back to bed, though, and well, I wish all I had was diarrhea. Nope. I then got a fever, body ache, and chills to go with it. My communitymate Mallory happened to wake up, and I told her I was sick, so she went to get me some water. Eventually, because things were getting worse very quickly, Mallory woke up the seasoned JV´s, Cara and Gabe. They found me shaking violently in my bed, and gave me some pills for the fever that a local nurse gave them, just to hold me until I could see a doctor. I went back to sleep and woke up again at around 7am feeling okay, but beat up, so slept again until 9am when I woke up with chills again. Then, well, ew. It was the most horrible feeling I´ve had in a long time. Are you ready for this? Vomitting and diarrhea at the same time. Disgusting. Yes. Well, Gabe (JV ´08) had been staying with me all morning and quickly took me to the medical clinic some half hour or so away. I actually had no sense of where I was, and my sense of time was blurry too. When we finally got there, the nurse got mad at Gabe for giving me a banana....? It was weird. Gabe thankfully was translating a lot for me. I didn´t really have the mind to concentrate on spanish while I was shaking in the doctor´s office. The doctor pressed on my stomach in specific spots to figure out where the bacteria was too. Damn, that hurt. But then, Gabe had to go to the pharmacy and buy one of the medicines that they didn´t have for my injection.... Yea. Apparently in Peru it is not expected that doctor´s offices have all the medicines needed. Nor is it expected for bathrooms to have toilet paper. Instead, it is expected for individual people to have those supplies, or get them themselves. So, while Gabe was away getting me medicine, the doctor tried to talk to me about myself. It was, well, an interesting conversation. I sat there shaking with chills while she asked me about the perceptions of people in the US about Peru. Do people in the US think Peruvians are terrorists!? UMMM.... no. She also told me there are no toilets in Cusco, only holes in the ground... Not sure if that is true... I´ll tell you when I get there. I finally got the shot they were going to give me, which was pretty weird to me. Basically, they took the four different vials of medicine and mixed it in one siringe, then shot it in my arm and VERY SLOWLY injected it into me. They made my lay down because it hurt like hell the first time she tried to do it. When I got up from that ordeal, I had to vomit again into a bag.... lovely. Then we got a taxi home, and i slept all day, taking pills when I woke up, eating soup, and sleeping more. That kind of thing.

Thanks for listening to my disgusting experience.

Through this all, there were two things that kept coming into my mind. First was that I had only been in the country for 9 days, and it was an utterly horrible experience to be so violently sick so soon into my experience of culture shock. I mean, I couldn´t help but think that all I really wanted was for my mom to be there to take care of me. Or speak in English. Or know what the shot they were giving me was for.

Second, I have a deep appreciation for my fellow Jesuit Volunteer here in Peru who have taken their time to take care of me. Mallory for waking up and getting help for me, and for going to the posta with me for moral support. Gabe and Cara for waking up at 5am and figuring out a game plan. Gabe for skipping his class to take care of me, getting water and gatorade, getting medicines for me, sitting and talking with me, translating, giving me a banana =), and all around being a rockstar. Mateo and Sam for keeping an eye on me while I rested... though I don´t remember them being there. Greg and Mo for getting me up to take pills. Rose for telling me what not to eat! Haha. Seamus and Nate, and everyone really for continuously checking up on me and watching out for me. Gosh, I´m sure there is something I´ve forgotten, but really everyone really stepped up and took good care of me. I am incredibly grateful for this community. I´m not sure I really have expressed it well enough to the other JV´s how appreciative I am. I was really scared and really sick, and they took care of me. I am going to make sure I tell them that I am grateful.