A week and a half ago I got really sick like a sickness unto death....or so it felt. Lots of vomiting and diarrhea . YUCK! It's the sickest I've ever been in my life. All my friends here say "Welcome to the mission field." I started feeling sick on Friday a week ago and by Monday I was in the hospital from dehydration. I came home the next day thankfully. They hadn't treated me yet, just hydrated me with IV fluids but they let me go home to my own bathroom to be sick in. I had one light moment in the hospital when I asked Joe "How come every time I'm in the hospital I feel so bad?" We both got a quick giggle before we went back to our groaning. The doc said I have ameba, parasites and an infection.
Joe's been sick too with the same stuff. The doc also said that it's probably a contamination of our water supply. He said he's seen a lot of it lately. We told him we have a water filter, but he said it doesn't catch everything. Joe has felt better since Wednesday or so. I'm so grateful that he went to the hospital and stayed there with me even in spite of his being sick. Jake and Caleb are REALLY grateful as they were next on the list to stay with me in the hospital.
The hospital I stayed in was very nice by Bolivian standards. I didn't even have to take my own TP they supplied it...another thing I was grateful for since I didn't take any! The 'air conditioning' was opening the window and it was a bit warm and extremely noisy outside. Joe nor I slept very well or very much at all. At one point at about 3:00 a.m. we heard a truck load of dogs going by....barking like crazy. I said I don't know where they are taking them, but I hope they kill them all. This is something you can't understand until you've been in Coch. I love dogs. I don't like cruelty to animals and the killing of a truck load of dogs isn't probably something any of you thought you would ever hear me say I desire. But you have to understand the situation here. There are literally hundreds of thousands of dogs running in packs all over the city. Outbreaks of rabies are not uncommon. Every time we walk to school, the store or to church we have to watch out for mangy, wild, barking dogs who also bite. There is one especially mean one just one street over from us who we saw attack a small boy. It's scary. I'd be happy if someone killed it too. Anyway I digress. We heard and saw all sorts of commotion during my night in the hospital and am so thankful to do my recovering at home. It's the first time I've been admitted to the hospital without being in labor and bringing home a baby. Joe said he was going to ask for one, but they probably wouldn't have understood us anyway. That's another resolution I made during my sleepless night in the hospital. I vowed to help every Spanish speaking person I can who is having trouble communicating with someone when we come back to the States for home assignment. :>)
One thing we found universal though. When they asked how many children we had and we said ten the ER doc said “That’s a futbol team”. The same answer we get in the States. The only difference is he meant a different kind of futbol. :>)
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