icky-sicky

Phew, through one solid week at our new home and we’ve definitely been given a wake-up call. I was ill on Tuesday but recovered nicely but just as that passed I started to have the beginnings of a bloody nose. If you know me well my bloody noses are infamous, which usually end hours later, my nose being cauterized and leaving me light-headed. Naturally, this scared the Pu out of me, what are we to do? We went to the hospital to buy a styptic pen (silver nitrate), which is the cauterizing agent on the end of a long wooden cotton swab. Apparently, Haydom Hospital doesn’t have anything for cauterization, good to know if either of us begin bleeding profusely we’re hours away from the nearest functioning medical facility. Another item that eludes our grasp here is a tube of Neosporin, which is the most basic of items to have on hand!

Betsy, on Saturday evening began to feel ill herself, the next morning she was unable to get out of bed, not good. She burped once and I caught a whiff of it, I remember Vikas emailing me and telling me about sulfur smelling burps being Giardia. Giardia is a stomach infection transmitted through fecal matter, yuck! As her state continued to worsen we decided she should take antibiotics. Good thing, she’s feeling much better today, so much so that she was actually able to eat breakfast. So far it’s been quite the test, physically and mentally for both of us, hopefully as we become more and more accustomed our surroundings, life here will become easier. I knew we would both become ill through our time here but never thought it would be so soon. Hope all is well back home, I wish I could drink tap water right about now…
-Ryan