Damned Kokonda

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I maybe died a lot today. Unfortunately there are pretty much zero pictures because starting at 4am I was exploding out my ass. I woke up with my stomach raging, I ran for the bathroom and pretty much repeated that every 30min or so. I didn't sleep much. I lied there thinking, goddamned effing kokonda. This couldn't be what Chris had. This made Chris' little bug look like child's play. Around 8am, Chris headed up to the dining hall for breakfast. While up there, I could hear the pounding of the drums, signalling the return of the mantarays. Chris came back with a plate full of food in case I was hungry, and dressed up for mantaray swimming. I was too sick to be jealous. Forget eating. He looked a little guilty as he snuck out the door. Really- it was okay. He stayed behind at Coralview while I went adventuring- he insisted I go even though he wasn't feeling well. This was another "it is what it is" moments in our travels. It could always be worse.

Mid-morning Chris came back from swimming. He was all smiles- apparently the mantarays were an amazing experience. Laura was with him. She wanted to see if I was alive. She got half a sentence out before I leapt out of bed, ran to the bathroom and began puking everything out of my stomach. There really wasn't anything in there but my abdomen was violently spasming. Holy fuck my gut was raging against whatever the hell organism I must have eaten! To this day, in spite of the hours I spent exploding out of both ends, I will tell you that GODDAMNED KOKONDA WAS AMAZING. Was it worth the sickness? Eh, who knows. But it tasted so good!!! Eat it. I probably got sick from improper food handling or maybe it was sitting out too long. Who knows. Maybe it wasn't even the kokonda. It was just the shadiest suspect of everything I'd eaten in Fiji.

Anyway, that day was a particularly wasted day of vacation. But I had many things to be thankful for... like having Joy, a pharmacist, in our group, with her arsenal of meds, including anti-diarrheals and anti-nausea meds. Why in the world, with all my trip planning and strategizing, I hadn't thought to bring anti-diarrheals, I have no idea! I'm a nurse, and I even got vaccinated for Hep A and Typhoid. ::facepalm:: I was also insanely grateful I splurged on the Villa because if I had to die of dehydration, at least I was in air-conditioned bliss next to a bathroom. I couldn't have imagined the disgusting disaster that would've ensued had I had to run the distance from a bure and upstairs to a bathroom every time I had to puke or go diarrhea. Only to return to my bure, sweaty, near fainting and hot boxing in my stink. ::shudder::

By the afternoon, I was done puking. Chris periodically checked in on me but mostly he relaxed with the group outside. He brought me a couple Sprites throughout the day to sip on. I tried my best to keep water and the soda down, even though it would just inevitably come out one end or the other. I knew what a precarious situation it would be to need a hospital when I was currently stuck on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean so I did my best to take care of myself. Eventually a few hours had gone by with no puking, so I tried the leftover breakfast Chris had left for me from that morning. I mostly ate the starchy breads, an apple and an egg. It didn't feel great to eat but it did stay down. I tried sitting outside for a bit but the heat and humidity was just too much, even in the shade. So I retreated back into my room and read my book for short periods of time. Tony had also left me his camera at one point so I could see his pictures of the mantarays. They were pretty damned neat.

Dinner came and afterwards, everyone followed Chris back to our room. He tried to get me foods that might be easy on my stomach- soup and potatoes. I ate most of the soup and a few of the potatoes but my stomach still really wasn't up for much. The diarrhea was still happening off and on. Seems like as soon as the meds wore off, I was right back at that toilet. But at least I was able to rehydrate some now. Our friends lied around our room, soaking in the air conditioning. I didn't feel like talking very much but listening in was nice. I'd been pretty isolated all day. So I just lied in bed while they talked. Eventually they headed out and we went to sleep.

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