Post Hospital

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Hokay,

For the past two days. So very very very sick. I had hot chocolate at this reputable restaurant, and right away, I felt stabbing pains to the gut. I'd been good. Almost no street food, never drinking water unless I'd purified it myself, the works. And still. Awful. Like I said, instant stabbing pains to the gut, then I returned home asap. On the way, I decided I was going to make this as fun as possible, so I got 2 bottles of water (I figured I would NOT want to be waiting for it to purify), cookies (little did I realize the error in purchasing DIGESTIVE cookies), a good book...I was going to have an "I'm sick" party. When I got home, I pulled out my trusty 20lb, $400 first aid kit (I am basically travelling with a pharmacy on my back) and administered everything I could find that started with "travellers sickness" or anything of the ilk. Sandy, the Canadian, lent me his sleeping bag (the single best thing that happened to me that night) and I went to bed.

Aside from expected interruptions, I slept a full night, getting more and more dehydrated. In the morning, the first thing I wanted to do was to talk to Graeme (boyfriend), so I stumbled out of bed. I thought I felt okay until I got out the door and realized that I couldn't walk without the assistance of a wall or taking slow, shuffling steps like those old Chinese grandpas I used to see around my house in Vancouver. I did the normally 3-5 minute walk in 20. Everyone was worried about me. And I guess that shows some of the cultural difference between Darjeeling and, say, Toronto or Vancouver. On my 20 minute walk, about 10 people stopped and said "what happened to you" (yes, it was that bad). One man even called from his balcony "please miss, can you please come and sit down inside for a moment". In the end, one man decided that there was nothing I could do about it and he frogmarched me back to my room, carrying my bag, water, and everything.

I proceeded to sleep for 22 hours. Then the hotel owner, who knew I was ill, banged open my unlocked door and said "you coming to hospital". He and Sandy (Canadian friend) took me down to the hospital (by this point, I was weak, aching everywhere, nauseaus, very very dizzy, and losing my vision, fevered, and had the chills, etc. ). As we went to the hospital, I was frantically trying to find a phone to contact my insurance company. NOT easy at 7 pm in Darjeeling. In the hospital, I met the most wonderful angel of a nurse and a doctor who spoke better English than I. That was very comforting. They pumped me with 3L of saline solution, antibiotics, anti-pain (in the bum-So old school- I felt like I was in the bobsy twins or something! Cool), and lots of other crap. I was fucking terrified, however, when I saw them pump vaccines with air bubbles in them into my arm. That sucked.

But, alas, I am alive and though not fully recovered, MUCH better than yesterday. Though thoroughly pissed off at my insurance company who had the AUDACITY to "Yes maam, please be patient maam, maam please don't swear at me maam" and then put me on hold as they "checked my files" while I asked that they hurry up as I was about to faint...yes my broker will receive a (polite) earful from me tonight. By the way, when I said my name was Emily Nixon, her guess was A-e-m-a-e-l-i-e N-i-c-k-s-x-o-n.......reeeeealllly????? I kill you, lady.

So! That is the update for today. Still nervous about the bubbles. Bubbles are good in Aero bars but very bad in my bloodstream. But I feel like that would have been a quick death.

And: New twilight!!! Yay!! I am obsessed with this series, devouring hundreds of pages daily. But this is the last one.

Ah, Interesting people I have met along the way. Better start the list now. In Kolkata, I spent an evening with 3 professional soccer players (one of them accidentally showed me naked photos of another pro player on his camera...hmmm I wonder what those are worth...). I've met a German nurse. An Australian food quality control officer. A Dutch soil sampler. An Indian-American paramedic (wish I'd met her yesterday)...Monks!!! So exciting! love the Tibetan monks here. Can't wait to be living with them in a few weeks.

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Comments

[tim inkster]

shit man food poisoning is no fun! I'm glad I didn't get it hospital bad. Did they put the vaccines straight into your arm or the iv? If it went through they iv maybe they have some kind of valve system in place that makes bubbles not be a problem. I'm pretty sure that "bubbles=bad" is like the first thing you learn in "administering vaccines 101" anywhere.

[anonymous]

Oh, seeing those Chinese grandpas around the house. How did they even get in anyway?