Honduras 2013 Dia 4

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Dia 4
If anyone thought yesterday's entry was intense, or crazy, wait until you read today's! Normal morning, and I still can't believe how I was not that tired. Started with a breakfast of eggs and potatoes, and 2 cups of coffee for me today. (just in case) Yes, I am drinking plenty of water. Not to worry y'all 😊 The coffee here is so good, and strong, which I usually don't prefer. But the sweetener we use is sugar cane sugar, so much sweeter and so amazing! In fact, all of their soda is also sweetened with the cane sugar, unlike in the states where they use that high fructose corn syrup crap. I was very much looking forward to the work today, where we would be laying the floor in one of the classrooms at the Bilingual School in Villa. This was also the day I would be going into the classrooms to deliver the letters from my 7th graders at LMS. To finish one floor, we needed approximately 20 bags of cement! With all of us working together, mixing cement, filling buckets, and then our assembly line to deliver the filled buckets, we knocked the whole thing out in just a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I learned that Matt was not feeling well, so I went back to the lodge to check on him. Seemed like he had the usual traveller's stomach thing, and it was coming out of both ends. Being sick in another country is never fun, I should know, have been there many times! And while I kept encouraging Matt to drink water, he didn't want to listen. I don't know why, I ALWAYS listened and followed directions when I was his age! 😉 Anyway, Ana Lucia made a little concoction of water, fresh lemon juice, and pepto which she gave to Matt and helped settle his stomach a bit. I left him to rest and headed back over to the school to deliver the letters.
The 3rd graders were super-psyched because they had a blast receiving and responding to the letters from last year's 7th graders. This year my kids were extra creative and use stickers, glitter, and one even made hers into a Honduran flag! The 1st graders were excited as well, but they just kept stealing each others and trying to make paper airplanes out of them. What was really perfect is that both classes were practicing their English, so most of the kids were able to respond using what they had learned. Just needed a lot of help with spelling.
I went back to check on Matt at lunchtime, and he still wasn't feeling much better. At this point, it was just his stomach that was hurting, so we tried to get him to eat a little bit. There was nothing coming out, as there was nothing going in either! So we hung out the next few hours and tried to wait it out, but he was starting to get dehydrated. Turned out we ended up taking him to the clinic in Progresso. Yes, the same clinic where I spent 2 hours last night! The Clinica Los Angeles is the only place SHH takes their volunteers, as they have developed a good relationship with them and trusts the care they provide. Unfortunately for me, I would be missing the Cage soccer game I had been looking forward to, and even bought knee pads to wear to play goalie this year! The turf tore up my knees last year so this year I was prepared. We took the bus with the group to the cancha, where we met up with Ana Lucia and Chilo (no hens this time, only meat for tomorrow's dinner) and headed back to the clinic.
Matt did have a low-grade fever, but was not able to provide a stool sample for them. They had to draw blood and hook him up to an IV to give him some saline, so they do everything via a catheter in his hand. The nurses couldn't get a single drop of blood from his right hand, so they had to start all over again with the left! This time, success! The bloodwork showed a small bacterial infection, so after the saline finished they put him on an antibiotic via catheter. Have I mentioned that I was the only one there with Matt for most of this evening? Ana Lucia had to drop off the meat back to the office to refrigerate. My point in this is that my Spanish is finally strong enough to discuss medical scenarios with doctors! But enough about me, back to Matt. He was feeling much better at this point, and now we were just waiting for his discharge papers and prescriptions. While we had been there, Ana Lucia was back with Chilo and helping him with his English homework. Chilo is 17, and the son of one of Ana's best friends. Since he can only attend school on Sundays (it is really far away and he works the remainder of the week) he had an entire workbook to complete. Chilo is learninf English, Matt has been learning Spanish... see where I am going with this? So Matt took over and was helping Chilo until we left for the pharmacy. Que perfecto, no?
The pharmacy was a modified "drive-up", where we pulled up next to the window, and the security guard came over to pass off the prescription to the pharmacist through the window. I guess the doctors at the clinic like to cover their bases, since they prescribed 6 different medications! We only picked up 4, as I had Dramamine and Pepcid. 1-Antibiotic. 2-Tylenol. 3-system cleanser. And the 4th- pain meds as needed. Who wants to guess the total amount for Matt's clinic visit and prescriptions? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Well in Lempiras, it came to about 2000... in American dollars? A little over $100. Just like in the US, right?
We didn't get back to Villa until after 9, but thankfully dinner was still awaiting us! Matt could only eat a little of the rice and chicken, as well as some veggies. Doctor's orders. That, and if he had any more diarrhea we had to come back to the clinic with a sample, so they could test for the type of bacteria. After dinner, shower and bed, alone tonight, no froggies. I hope...

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