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| Not me but the hair is right |
B is for: Be careful of who you share snacks with. Zahir was irritated when the doc explained sharing behavior is a common way for the disease to spread. We figured it was the hummus my class partner shared with me and another student after Baba's quiz Wednesday.
We were laughing and listening about his family's trip to Eritrea. One is now dead and the other is not doing as well as I am. It is looking like he may have permanent damage. I wasn't supposed to hear about the other boys.
I can't believe how fast the symptoms came on. I was fine at dinner. I was a little loopy at bedtime. Three hours later BAM. I was lucky, by the time I came in the Docs were actively looking for the next case. When they found out where I went to school they set up for the spinal tap. I was asleep most of the day yesterday, with the exception of brief moments every few hours.
Zahir tried to sleep in a chair in the corner of my room last night, he won't go home. Baba and Mama were taken home by Z's oldest brother after I woke at 11 pm. I feel so stupid. Baba reminded me this disease has even touched the royal family so I shouldn't feel dumb for being sick. Zahir says we are going to be reviewing my immunizations as soon as I am well.
This morning I woke to the men in my life performing first prayer around my bed. When they finished I asked if I was dying. They laughed and Baba said no but his son's prayed for my swift recovery. After breakfast my class partner's father visited. He was apologizing to my family. He just lost his son and yet he was worried for the third boy and me. His son was great, he taught me things about the campus. Stuff that doesn't show on the campus map or guidebook. Baba and Zahir even liked him.
After he left, Baba praised Zahir for what I dismissed at the time as an overreaction, the rush to the hospital. I was honestly thinking it was the flu. At least until the convulsions started and I was on the waiting room floor at the hospital.
I don't know what is in my IV bags but my mouth tastes like I swallowed a pharmacy. Still it was better than the ice packs all around my body in emergency yesterday. occasionally unconsciousness is a blessing.
To my friends in there late teens and early twenties. We are a prime age group for this. Some of the symptoms, are:
- Nausea or vomiting (ding)
- Severe headache (DING - Felt like a gnome was coming out of my skull using a hammer)
- Very stiff neck (ding)
- Confusion or difficulty concentrating (ding - but I dismissed it with all that is happening)
- Sleepiness (in my case tired but the pain from my head kept me awake)
- Decreased appetite (who would notice)
- Sudden Fever (DING! 38.5°C/101°F and dripping sweat when I woke Z for 1st prayer - then spiked to 39.5°C/103°F at the hospital)
- Seizures (not until the hospital)
- Sensitivity to light (ding)
- Lethargy (no)
- Skin rash (no and ick) (update YUP DING and ewww found during sponge bath on inner leg mid thigh to ankle)
I will probably get sprung in a couple of days, or four at the most. Then I can finish recovering at home.
They gave us (and explained) the list of foods to avoid during recovery... In general, I can eat as many/much as I want of fresh fruits and vegetables. Moderate amounts of high-quality protein (servings about the size of a half deck of cards) and generous portions of healthy fats (NUTS - insert obligatory boyfriend joke here).
I whimpered A LOT when I read what to reduce or avoid.
Reduce:
- Dairy (quarter servings)
- SALT
- Alcoholic drinks (meh)
- White flour food items (no big)
- Deli meats (no big)
- Processed foods (no big... wait hot dogs NO!!)
- Sugary foods (have I told y'all how GOOD the desserts are here)
- Smoked fish (damn)
- Sushi (NO!!!)
- Caffeinated beverages (FUCK).
- The list also contained tobacco products (INCLUDING second hand smoke) Z's oldest brother whimpered. I see a vape cig in his future.
Damn Mama grabbed that list quick. Baba says I can still be in class over the net, when I am able, until the Docs clear my return to class (so much for my first real in the chair college course). Not complaining, just disappointed. I was starting to enjoy the group dynamic.
Mama took Zahir's place when Baba and the men went to school/work. Temp is only slightly elevated now, but no trembles. The brother I've been calling "Arba'ah" in my blog has been in and out a lot. I hope he is working in the area and just peeking in.
ReplyDeleteZahir came by for lunch. He got busted giving me a salty french fry from his tray by the nurse. She looked at him sternly then held up a single finger. I guess "Wazzup Dog" is off the menu for a while.
Fighting a yawn. Each time I yawn Mama takes my tablet away. "Sleep heals..."
Temp normal... MAY get sprung this afternoon. My other classmate is still in the intensive care unit. Why did this hit him so much harder than me. Good news (subjective) the "outbreak" looks like it was contained to three here.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to find a positive. I am drawing zeros.
I think I used the wrong term when I said outbreak. The doctors and nurses are using the term cluster to describe the three of us.
DeleteOur cluster is PART of a possible "outbreak" in Eritrea. Before an official alert is issued a certain number of people must get sick. I am getting quite the education.
I am getting annoyed. I HATE my friends and I being referred to as "the subjects/patients." We are men/boys/children/brothers, we are NOT some safe clinical term, we and our families are people.
Sorry for the rant (I am also frustrated). I will keep it in the post though, you'd be surprised how much I have posted and deleted. Google must be going nuts keeping track.
In addition to frustrated, I am very tired, weak like wet pasta, and profoundly sad.
Betrayed by a kiss...
ReplyDeleteZahir kissed my forehead at the wrong time. With the nurse in the room, he notices and says "My boy is warm!" Nurse shot me with the thermometer gun 37.5°C / 99.5°F. They are keeping me in the hospital for another day. One more day on IV fluids with antibiotic drip, "Just to be sure..."
I am trying to be good, I HATE HOSPITALS. Still I am grateful... This could have ended so much worse for me.
Doc came by three hours ago. He explained he wants my temp back to normal for 24 hours before I can go home. "...The strain was very virulent, we must be sure..."
DeleteI asked why it hit the other boys so much worst than me. He replied we don't know it did. The boy who died was infected first (patient zero in our cluster). He and the other boy were good friends. THAT boy may have been infected days before me when the first initially returned from Africa. Even if we were both infected at the same time, we don't (and likely won't) ever understand why bugs affect people differently.
Doc also said we lost four to six hours as I was dismissing my symptoms as the flu. He told me not to fight alone next time.
Then he turned to Mama... He praised/chastised her diligence in keeping the tablet out of my hands. The boy walks a fine line, he fights sleep AND stress. We must help him with both. They made up the other bed so the "brother" who watches over me at night can sleep as well.
Midnight: Z is sawing logs in the next bed. I miss cuddling with my furry bear.
ReplyDeleteIt is now Tuesday. Saturday seams like a lifetime ago. I miss Kaeleb and my other fur babies.
I miss my friend. Dagher was so... I was going to say smart, he was brilliant. The WHYs are killing me.
Dagher and his father were in Eritrea as a matter of charity. With the new peace with Ethiopia, business is starting to return but "sufficiency" sometimes needs a helping hand.
DeleteScared the treatment team. I was awake all but three hours last night. I don't sleep a lot. They were concerned because one of the side-effects of treatment can be insomnia. My "brother" Zahir told them I didn't sleep through the night until I began cuddling with a large dog. I almost laughed.
ReplyDeleteI GOT A SHOWER!!! They had to replace my IV site so I asked if I could take a sitting shower. Z helped me, I tried to cover the rash on my legs. He told me they would heal. After three days using the bedpan it was nice being really clean. The doc has cleared me to use the potty on my own. No more bedpan YIPPEE.
They gave me an IV trolley so I can walk the ward (with a mask). DRUM ROLL Body temp 35.8°C / 96.5°F Chase "NORMAL." If it holds I get to go home tomorrow after rounds.
Today:
DeleteAfter Zahir and Baba left, Mama took a walk with me down the ward to the observation lounge. It was slow and the orderly followed with the chair the whole way. It was nice to feel real air and sun. As soon as we sat a nurse swept in to check my vitals. We rested for twenty minutes and returned to the room. On the way back we took the other hall to make a complete circuit. We passed the room of my other classmate Kaed. The door was open but the orderly told me we should not stop. I nodded to the family and continued. One of his older brothers came out and walked with us back to the room. On the way he thanked Mama for her and Baba's visit and kind words. We talked for a bit. He told me I was the first American his brother met. He told me I confused his brother. Apparently I was described as "the frail boy who is strong." I think it may have lost something in translation. It sounds like the bug took a lot from Kaed. He lost both his vision and hearing. They don't know if he will get some of it back. He has barely been conscious, they still don't know what other damage was done. When we got to my room he said he should get back to his family. He gave me a crushing hug and kissed the top of my head.
***
I had a visitor a bit before lunch-time... Shrinky Dink! Mama tried 'acting' surprised. After she and the orderly sat me up she excused herself. "Hey, kid! How'z ya doin... Your folks are worried, do I really goddah gives you da cockamamy schpiel 'bout survivah's guilt?" I love this guy. I shook my head no. He smiled down at me and said, "GOOD! Pisses me off and makes me tired..." He plopped himself down in the side chair dropping the very polished Brox shtick. He said I was smart, and if I need help to call." We did talk for a while about things, and yes I did give him my list of "whys." He said it didn't make me weak or sick... it makes me a normal, good human being... now IF I fixate and it overwhelms me I should call and we will talk. He told me to live in the moment, deal with it. Go ahead and miss my friends. The boy I knew as Kaed probably isn't coming back either, not as he was. He told me two friends in one week was a hard blow.
I really do like him, he sugarcoats nothing. No soft comfortable words or euphemisms. That said, is it wrong I want to give him an ear and nose hair trimmer.
My lunch arrived, it was bland and lifeless hospital food. He saw my tray jokingly cringed and excused himself, patting my chest before he left. Zahir had been waiting in the hall by the door. As Doc passed he said loudly, "Don't worry, da kid is good."
Kaed's family has been in and out all day. They told me more about the friends I only knew three months. It was good giving them a place to decompress.
Mama and Baba went home about three hours ago when Zahir came back. Doc came in before going home he told me my temp has been shifted less than a degree all day. I was taken off IV fluids. The port is staying until discharge, "just in case."
Trying to go back to sleep. I wonder if nurses go to special classes to chill their hands before checking vitals on sleeping patients? He smiled telling me I was still on track for departure!
DeleteI hope you get to go home soon!
ReplyDeleteSo unlucky that you got sick. I had something similar. Someone in my school got tuberculosis. We all had to get tested and my body reacted to the test. That meant six months of preventive medicine :(. Luckily nothing life threatening.
Get well soon!
Thank you. If I am released in the morning, I will likely be recovering at home for some time.
DeleteThat's terrible. Glad to hear they caught it early. Feel better.
ReplyDelete