Health Update

April has brought more serious illness into my life. I’m still not sure what it was and if it is gone for sure but I can tell you I have lived through the worst stomach pain ever. At first my friends and I thought it was bad food. When that didn’t pass then we thought it was worms. Then when the medicine didn’t work and I was only getting worse I went to the stomach/obgyn doctor. The man listened to me and my friend as we told him about how I was sick and what the symptoms were. The doctor pushed on my stomach and was sure that it was amebas that were hurting me. He ordered blood work and wanted me to begin the medication immediately. He also, bless his heart, prescribed pain medication for my stomach.

At the lab the secretary, who was not so nice in January when I was there, decided that she would draw my blood personally. She used, I kid you not, an extra large needle. Then she pushed so hard to “stop the bleeding” that she bruised me. I have never had a bruise like this before and I swear I was not being a big baby about it. After taking the medicine I began feeling some relief and the running stomach was not so fierce and I began eating a little more and that was nice too.

The next day the lab results showed that I didn’t have amebas, but I had numerous fungi in my blood. It also showed that the sediment rate of my blood was very high. When I returned to the doctor he basically told me I didn’t have amebas, but the fungi could also mean I had an ulcer. He wanted me to start taking fungi and ulcer medicine immediately and then go and get an orthroscopic camera exam and more blood work.

I first cried to think that I might be very sick and living in a near third world country. This didn’t help my friend as he hates it when I cry. Later when I got it together we talked and talked and decided that I would wait the five days and go to Accra, Ghana to see a doctor during my vacation. The doctors are better there and we would find answers. I didn’t buy any of the medicine as the fungi medicine is not available in Lome and the ulcer medicine is mega powerful and highly expensive.

As the days passed I was very careful about what I prepared and how I washed my produce. I also began taking 1 Tbsp of vinegar each day. I continued to feel better each day and by the time I left for Ghana I was pain and symptom free. This made it hard to go to the doctor in Ghana, but I did. The clinic I went to was good and they are still in the process of testing me and waiting for the results before they make any conclusions. The doctor did say that she doesn’t think that I have a fungus infection in my stomach as old people and babies get those. We will see what she says when I return to her office for further consultation.

At the clinic it is a little different, even though Ghana is much more developed than Togo. I had to register, stand in line to pay the cashier, wait but shift chairs as the line moved to see the doctor. Then after she ordered the lab work I had to find the lab but then they sent me back to the cashier and then I could go to another area and pick up my own specimen collection tubes and carry them to the designated rooms, but one room had me return to the cashier to pay for an extra specimen collection fee or something. Then after all specimens were collected I carried them back to the lab and waited in line (there were triplet girls in front of me) and then they recorded the time of drop off and told me to return in three days.

We returned to Togo for the weekend and then journeyed back to the hospital on the third day. I checked in and everyone remembered me (it’s not that hard since I was pretty much the only white person in sight and not to mention they all knew I was from Togo). Then I went to the lab and waited in line for my results, which were stapled shut and I was told to give them to the doctor. I then waited in the chair line and moved from chair to chair as the people in front of me were seen by the doctor. Then doctor informed me that there was no indication of fungus in my system but I did have a UTI. She gave me a prescription and asked me to come back in a week or so to test and make sure it was gone for sure.

We went to the pharmacy and bought my meds and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was scared that there was something seriously wrong with me. I’m still not exactly sure why I was so sick but I am guessing that I must have had worms or ameba but since I took both medications it all just worked its way through and I’m ok now. Or maybe it was a virus and it ran it’s course too. I’m thankful that I’m better now and so are my friends.