I've Had Better Days

Pre-warning: This is a little bit graphic, so if you’re stomach isn’t feeling very strong today, you may not want to read any further.

When you move to a third world country, there is a high risk of getting extremely ill. Since August, I had my fair share of sicknesses. I’ve had heat sickness, the 24-hour flu, multiple fevers, and a couple common colds. Since I came back to Honduras in January, it seems as if I haven’t been healthy for a full straight week. I have had a couple fevers and some really bad colds which has caused me to miss some school. But those health problems don’t even compare to what happened to me the last few days.

Last Wednesday all the girl teachers came over to our house and we made a dinner together. We gorged ourselves in crepes filled with fresh fruit. By the end of the dinner I was extremely full and not feeling 100%. But nothing a good sleep can’t fix! I went to bed, got up, and went to school the next day. By the time I got to school I knew it was going to be a rough day. I kept having waves of nausea wash over me every twenty minutes. I tried to teach my first couple periods, but it was no use. The only thing I could manage to do was sit and put my head on my desk...I felt absolutely horrid. I found some teachers to cover my classes and headed home. Of course the only way to get home is to walk 20 minutes uphill to our house. I stopped several times on the way willing my body to throw up, but nothing happened. When I arrived home at 10:30 I collapsed on my bed.

The rest of the morning, afternoon, and evening was absolutely horrendous. My body cleared itself out every 30 minutes and every ten minutes I had huge waves of nausea, but of course I didn’t throw up. I spent the entire day sitting by my toilet, praying that God would let me throw up. I knew it would help me feel better, but my body would not let me. Around 6:00 I was positive I was going to throw up. You know that fun moment before you throw up when your stomach flips over and it feels like someone is wringing it out? Yeah I started to have that feeling…only I didn’t throw up…and the feeling didn’t end. I had such an intense pain in my stomach and I didn’t know what to do about it. Pretty soon my arms and legs started to go completely numb. All I could feel was my stomach wrenching in pain. I laid on my bed for 40 minutes crying in pain while Gayle was rubbing my back for support (she is a great mom-fill-in).  Eventually the pain subsided and I was able to sleep for an hour. The minute I woke up the pain started up again, and this time I actually did throw up. I was so thankful to finally have whatever it was out of my body!

I decided a good night’s sleep, again, was all I needed to completely recover. To my dismay, I did not get much sleep. I woke up every 30 minutes or more to have my body cleared out. From midnight-one I woke up 5 times to use the bathroom. By morning I was more exhausted than I was the night before. I spent all day resting and relaxing, making sure I was 100% better. You can about imagine how amazing I looked at this point. Gayle’s friend Paul arrived in La Union that night; he is visiting here until Sunday. I met him and talked with him and Gayle while they ate their dinner. After dinner Gayle and Paul were looking at pictures on the fridge; most of these pictures are of Gayle and I. Paul looked at one of the pictures, pointed at me, and said, “Who is this girl?” Haha...I definitely looked unrecognizably horrible!

I was happy though; I was starting to feel more like myself. When I woke up Saturday morning, I was positive I was all better. I felt like my strength was back, my appetite was back, and there was color in my face. It was a new day! I felt so great that I decided I was able to go on a hike with the girls and Paul. We took a beautiful hike to St. Augustine. It felt amazing to get some fresh air and exercise, although we had a very close call with a herd of cows (a blog post later to come). When I got home I felt good, but tired. I rested in bed that afternoon and evening. After dinner Saturday night I was starting to feel sick again. I waved it off and blamed it on my tiredness. I decided to take an early night and was in bed by 8:00. At 9:00 I woke up with an all too familiar wave of nausea washing over me. I rushed to the toilet ready to throw up…but of course nothing came. My stomach started having those same intense pains as before. I decided it was time to call for some help. I called Gayle, who was at the girls’ house, and told her I needed a doctor a.s.a.p.  Gayle came home right away and held my hand while I was screaming out in pain. She told me she was trying to get someone to come help me, but it was already 10:00 on a Saturday night, everyone was already in bed. This is Honduras, not the United States. You can’t just drive up to the E.R. and get treated by a doctor. There are only clinics in the town that are open from 8-5…not at 10:00PM. I didn’t know what I was going to do if I didn’t have help. The pain wasn’t subsiding; instead it was growing more intense. Thankfully, someone got a hold of Pastor Wilson who lives only up the road from me. He came down to my house right away and started calling the doctors in town. He found a doctor that would see me, and they agreed to pick me up in their truck and bring me to the doctor’s house. Gayle helped me get dressed; I was too weak and dizzy to even sit up. The doctor’s husband brought me to his house, which turned into the E.R.

The doctor had my lay down on their living room couch while they got the pain medication ready. At this point my entire body was numb; the pains were growing so intense, it felt like something was eating out my stomach.  I tried so hard to stay calm and take deep breaths, but all I could do was scream and cry out in pain. I could hear Jake, Pastor Wilson, and Gayle all saying prayers for me. The doctor was going to put an IV in me that would help subdue the pain. They tried for what felt like 30 minutes to poke and prod a needle into my veins, but it wasn’t working. As I found out my veins are extremely small! The doctor sent her husband on the search for a smaller needle. Gayle was such a great help rubbing my arms, praying over me, and helping me keep my mind off the pain. At one point she told me, “Keep your mind off of it, think of something else Erin. Think of Jaida and Connor!” I instantly burst into tears, bawling! I missed them so much my heart hurt; it was not good to think about them! I could hear Gayle thinking ‘I should not have said that.’ Haha, later Gayle and I laughed about this.  But honestly, I would not have stayed even remotely calm if it wasn’t for Gayle; she was my little guardian angel.

Finally the teeny tiny needle showed up. It still took them 10 minutes to inject it into my veins…I’m telling you my veins are almost non-existent! The instant the medicine entered my body the intense pains started going away. Jake and Pastor Wilson took turns holding up the bag of medicine; no IV poles in this E.R.! After 30 minutes the medicine was filled into my system, and I no longer needed to scream out in pain. The husband took me back to my house while the 12:00 bells were ringing. I headed straight to bed, I was exhausted.

Well, I got a great 2 hours of sleep in when I woke up from intense waves of nausea. The doctor had told me I will feel so much better if I would just throw up…so I tried. And tried. And TRIED. I tried to throw up from 2:00AM until 6:00AM, not sleeping an ounce in between those 4 horrid hours. All I wanted to do was throw up, is that so much to ask for?? Who knew I would be begging God asking him to let me throw up, it’s a pretty odd request. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Gayle was up at 5:30AM starting to get ready for our school’s fiesta tipica. Yes…I was missing our school’s fiesta tipica; an event I had been looking forward to since January. I walked into Gayle’s room, knowing she couldn’t do anything to help me feel better, but I was at a loss of what to do. I told her I had been up since two clearing out my body every 30 minutes, but of course not able to throw up. She said I needed to try and sleep and try to get whatever it was out of my system. I tried to sleep, but I was just too sick..I was starting to feel delirious. I just wanted to feel better!!

At 9:00 Gayle walked in my room telling me news that would change the day’s perspective: Jake was taking me to the clinic. I quickly got dressed and hopped on the back of the motorcycle. Ok hopped is the wrong word…I mustered all my strength to climb on the back of that thing and to hold on for dear life all the way up to the clinic. The Abundant Life clinic is right next to our school; so on the way we drove passed all the fiesta tipica events. But no stopping there, we drove right up to the clinic. The doctor took me into an examination room and told me immediately what my problem was: I had an amoeba. Basically, I had a bug or bacteria in my system that I could have contracted from dirty food or dirty water. It’s a common sickness people get in a third world country. They wanted to get my hydrated, which meant another IV with a drip, which meant more needles. I told them they needed the smallest needle they had, because my veins were extremely small. They smiled and said “Ok, ok.” They poked and prodded in four different places until they finally found a vein that took the needle. They kept laughing and saying over and over, “You have the smallest veins. They are so little!” I smiled and kept thinking, ‘Yes I know I can feel the consequences!’

I laid there while the drip was entering my body; it was hydrating me and making me feel more energized. Jake sat in the hospital room with me entertaining me with stories of all the times he was sick with amoeba. A few times he left to go check out the fiesta. While lying in bed I could hear my students performing their dance to the song Punta. I was so happy to be getting medicated, but I was so sad I was missing out on the fiesta tipica. I was wrong… a monster spider did not eat me up and keep me away from fiesta tipica, but a giant parasite eating my stomach did.

When the drip had finished Jake talked to the doctor about the pills I needed to take and then I could leave! Oooh but only one thing left..I needed a shot. Just didn’t have my fill of needles for the day, I needed one last big jab. At least this time they didn’t need to find a vein to stick it in. They turned me over on my stomach, and to my surprise pulled back my pants and put the needle right in the buttocks. Hopefully that was my last jolt of pain for a long while.

Jake took me back in my house where I collapsed in my bed and FINALLY slept peacefully for a few hours. Thankfully, I have been feeling a little bit better. I have been able to eat a few safe foods without upsetting my stomach too much. I hope the bug gets out of my system very soon. I called my mom to let her know I was ok and alive; she told me the congregation had prayed for me that morning in church. I could not be more abundantly blessed with prayer warriors in my life, thank-you so so much. There’s a reason God placed so many great people in my life; Gayle, my family, my church, Jake, Pastor Wilson, my neighbors. I could not be more thankful for such caring and helpful people.

Today is our last day of school for the week, we have vacation until Monday! I am still undecided to whether or not I will be traveling to El Salvador with the rest of the teachers. I can’t make up my mind if I want to be a little bit sick here in La Union all by lonesome or a little bit sick lying on a beach. Which is the greater evil?