Projectile vomiting & guardian angels

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07/08/07


I am back at the orphanage after 4 days in the hospital. At 3am on Friday I woke with a really bad stomach pain. I was curled up in a ball, sweating, not knowing what was wrong. At 4am I started being violently sick, just about making it to my door. This happened every 10 minutes until 7am when I heard the children outside. I told them get someone but pretending I was ok as not to scare them. Samuel & I took a taxi to hospital as he saw I was in a really bad way. They rushed me to the nearest bed & hood me up to a saline IV drip. Many thoughts were running through my mind of dying in a Third World hospital or worse, I might get HIV or something. I made sure all the needles and tubes were from unopened packets & they cleaned the areas they were injecting me to stop the sickness & the pain. I had never felt pain like this before, I started to cry, partly because of fear but mostly because I came here to help, not to get help myself. They said I had a bad fever & I could tell by the look on everyone’s face that I was in a bad way. I was in a bed next to the maternity unit & there was a baby screaming her lungs out. She did not stop crying for the 4 days & nights I was there, this added to the stress! I passed in & out of sleep while Doctors poked at my belly. The nurses assumed that as I was white I worked at the power plant as they only employed overseas engineers. When the people at the orphanage told them what I did, I could see their whole attitude towards me change & from then onwards I had the very best care & they all looked after me very well. I was moved about 5 foot away into my own room & slept, sometimes waking to find Sammy or Ben praying by my side.

Nights in the hospital were quite scary. I had the baby screaming & woke many times to find someone peering round my door looking at me & then running off once I had spotted them. I don’t think they were trying to rob me, they just wanted to see a white man in bed, but it still worried me. I learnt very quickly to sleep with one eye open to guard my things. After a day in hospital I was still in so much pain & in a very confused state. I vaguely remember waking one morning to find a man standing at the bottom of my bed. He was wearing yellow & black African ropes, which I had only seen a couple of times since I have been here. Strangely I felt calm & asked who he was. He said he was Ben’s uncle & he heard that I was ill & wanted to come and see me to make sure I was ok. He wished me a quick recovery and left. I went back to sleep and forgot about it. The next Afternoon Ben visited me and I told him his Uncle had come the day before. He said that would be impossible as he has only one uncle & he told him I was ill that very morning, a whole day after the visit. Ben told me this must be my guardian angel. I’m not sure it was but it makes you think!!! On the 5th morning I was told I could leave so I pain my hospital fees & went back to the orphanage. The people who work between my organisation and the orphanage were waiting for me & they took me to their house to make sure I was ok & still wanted to stay in Ghana. They feed me & I spent the night their. Like everyone they have treated me so well. They told me that everyone who comes to Africa for the 1st time gets an upset stomach but I am the 1st person to get taken to hospital. It had to me didn’t it!!!!


Today is Tuesday & I still have some pain but feel strong. I want to get back to the orphanage & see the children, so they take me back. As I walk up the dirt road to the site, the kids spot me & all come running towards me shouting “Kwesi” (my African name) hug them all & I feel like I am home.

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Photos

In hospital
I had a Saline drip for a few days & not happy!

Back home.
Sammy told me everyone prayed for me every night when I was in hospital.