The Short Story:
The words to my dad on the phone: "I feel great... but I'm in the hospital"
After an allergic reaction to some kind of bug bite I ended up spending Wednesday evening to Friday afternoon in hospital. I felt fine, but they wanted to keep an eye on my as they gave me steroids to get the swelling in my ankles and feet down. It was actually very funny.
The LONG Story:
Monday evening: I noticed some mild swelling on the back of my calves. It's not uncommon for bug bites to swell a bit on my body so I didn't think too much of it.
Tuesday: At the end of the day, when I took off my socks (a regular routine as I free my feet from the bondage of socks at the end of a work day I realized that I had some significant swelling in my ankles. I iced it a bit, took some Benadryl and prayed it would be better in the morning.
Wednesday: I felt fine, but the swelling hadn't reduced (and I began to ask questions about why God answers some prayers, but not others). I didn't think it was too bad, and thought it would clear up eventually. Wednesday evening my roommate and a couple of other friends thought the swelling looked pretty bad and should get checked out soon. The only place that was open was the hospital... so to the hospital we went.
Now, let me reiterate that I felt absolutely fine, I just had awkwardly sized ankles and now feet. Let me also point out that I have been in Honduras for about six weeks now. I have taken one Spanish class so far, where we learned the alphabet (in hindsight, medical terminology would have been much more pertinent). I don't speak Spanish. The following visit to the hospital, all interactions with nurses and doctors all took place fumbling through my Spanish with the assistance of my dear friend Katharine (who has also only been here for several weeks) and whichever bilingual person I could manage to get on the phone.
The doctor ended up telling me they wanted to do a blood test to see about the reaction (okay) and keep me in the hospital over night (I'm sorry.... no!!!). Though I protested, I ended up spending that night and the following night in the hospital... all the while thinking this is VERY FUNNY because I felt quite well.
Thursday and Friday: I was very impressed with the with the professionalism and kindness of the doctors and nurses (I think some of the nurses might have been a little amused with the gringo in their ward). All were very friendly and patient with me as I looked up words in my Spanish-English dictionary to describe my condition at that moment. Thankfully, as I was still in very good health (apart from my fat cankles/feet) I thought this was all very amusing and ended up having a great.
I had visitors from the school and other friends from the area come to stop by and had some nice conversations with people in other beds or passing by. While it was a pleasant time, and probably the best I've ever felt while in the hospital -- visitor or patient -- I was very glad to get out of there and back to my place.
Saturday and Sunday: I'm currently under house-arrest... sorry... bed-rest over the weekend. Much has happened over the past couple of days, and I'm very glad for God's protection over me and keeping me healthy. It's funny, you're not really glad for your nice, slender ankles and feet until they are swollen beyond normal proportions!
So now I rest up and anticipate getting back to classes on Monday! Hoping your week has been less eventful, but just as much fun!
7 comments:
Hey Noel,
WOW thats insane. I just have to say as horrible as i felt for you about this entire situation, when i read your blog i absolutely died laughing. ( Only because i can only imagine what you looked like in that hospital with your spanish/english dictionary)my mom and I had a good chuckle over this story.
On a serious note, i really hope you feel better, or rather that your ankles reduced to their normal size. I am praying for yah.
see yah soon
kristen
i wish wish WISH that you had pictures of your feet!!!
Well, my friend, I think we've both had very eventful weeks! Hope everything is back to normal. I have personally discovered the magical powers of Coca-Cola, and am feeling so much better. Praying for you!
Laura
Kevin and I were cracking up reading your blog. We completely understand the feelings of not being able to communicate, although Kevin and I just joked a couple weeks ago that we would at least be able to get by if we were speaking Spanish here! Hungarian sounds like nothing else in the world. I will be delivering our first baby here in Hungary, but fortunately, I found a doctor who speaks English well enough so that we understand each other. I did like the idea of your dictionary, and I feel the need to get a Hungarian-English dictionary for us. Hope your cankles are less swollen. Mine are starting to swell, but that's due to the end of pregnancy and not a reaction to a bug! Enjoy the bed rest.
It's my fault noel. This past week I had been thinking about you and what you were up to in Honduras, and there was even a service where people who had friends in other countries doing any sort of mission work could come and pray for them. I completely ignored these signals, and your feet swelled up not because you weren't doing a good enough job praying for yourself, but because olivia was refusing to pray for anything this week. I am sorry for your pain, and obviously I am just joking that it was my fault that your feet swelled up, but true story about the rest, because I haven't talked or heard from you in a while. Good rest friend,
olivia the unprayerful
I'm seriously glad you're okay, but...no pictures of the cankles???
It is true what everyone says: NO PICTURES?! :~) I hope you're all better now and enjoying teaching your students!
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