Well, this morning I have taken the last of the blue and green pills that have brightened my life considerably over the last week! I should probably explain. You may remember that some weeks ago I had that awful bout of vomiting…well after three days on that disgusting oral rehydration salt solution I began to eat again properly…if for no other reason than to stop drinking that revolting stuff! Then I developed a cough, which wasn’t bothering me too much, but wasn’t too conducive to sleep. What bothered me more was that I COMPLETELY lost my voice!!! Even more so than that time before ‘The Gondoliers’ – I actually couldn’t speak at all! The men from York all breathed a sigh of relief…it turns out that I’m much easier to ignore on paper! Actually the one time that I really really wanted to speak was when Granny Margaret phoned from York to find out how I was, and I couldn’t answer the phone! Anyway, I shouldn’t complain – its always been one of my ambitions to lose my voice – and the ambition was certainly achieved – three-fold! Then the cough started to clear up, but I began to feel very tired. Those of you who know me will know that I had that glandular-fever illness this time two years ago…and a couple of weeks ago I started to feel exactly like when I had that…which worried me somewhat. Well, I put it down to post-viral exhaustion and slept a lot…once I’d been up for an hour or two, I was more than ready for another nap – and thankfully there are beds at all the places I have to be – Sonrise has dormitories full of beds, and T-house already has two beds in it, so I was sorted (If mildly frustrated…OK – that was the understatement of the year – who wants to be sleeping in a place like this?!) I should add at this point that everyone has been very supportive of me in my sickness – the York Seven could easily have written me off as a waste of space and yet they were genuinely concerned, and Pam, Nathan and Tracy have mothered, brothered and sistered me fantastically!
Eventually Mamma Pam decided that it was time I went to the Polyclinic in Kigali – this I had managed to object to successfully for two weeks, but as the exhaustion got worse so did my powers of persuasion! When we arrived in Kigali we went to the Hospital to visit a sick girl from the school, and at the suggestion that I see one of the doctor’s there I sat in the toilet seriously contemplating mounting an escape through the window, and disappearing over the nearest hill. But sadly, the window was too small, and I would never have had the energy to climb over a molehill, let alone a mountain! It was soon decided, to my great relief, that we would have to wait much longer to see a doctor in the hospital than if we went to the Polyclinic, so that was our next port-of-call. We were ushered into our own ‘musungu’ waiting room, which felt a bit weird, but was quite a relief as there were a LOT of people in the main one. To cut a long wait short (in fact it probably wasn’t that long, but I was so nervous by this point that it felt like a few weeks…if Pam hadn’t been there holding my hand I probably would have crawled away – I’m such a bad patient – I coped with hospital and clinic with no problem when it was Pam that was ill, but when there for myself…its another story entirely!) I saw the doctor and he said very little! He did send me for a blood test though, which all went without a hitch – and was even done with a sterile needle (and no sign of a catheter being used for a tourniquet!!!)
We went for lunch – and I was amazed at being able to collect the results of the blood test within 45mins! In England when I was ill and trying to get blood tests, it would take at least a week to get an appointment with a doctor, and then probably another week to get a blood test and then at least a week before the results came through…and here I was in the heart of Africa, getting them back in under an hour! The doctor once again was a man of little words, but told me I had a “bacterial infection” – a phrase which out here seems to cover a multitude of illnesses – you’ll remember that was what Pam suffered from some time ago! He prescribed me anti-biotics, some fantastically bright pink pep pills (brufen!) and VALIUM!!!!!!!!! Now this was the biggest surprise, and amused me greatly! The whole day cost us a fortune, but the valium was the cheapest bit of it (The equivalent of £40 later I’m thinking the NHS has got a lot going for it!) What amused me was the fact that I told him I was having absolutely no trouble sleeping – in fact quite the opposite and here he was prescribing me a sedative – and no small amount either. After consultation with my nurse Grandma I discovered that 10mg was the strongest you could be prescribed in England, and usually people are given 2mg or 5mg, and that if I took it, it would probably knock me out…so I decided against it.
However, I have been threatened with it on many occasions since – particularly now I’ve started feeling better – Tracy regularly threatens to administer it to me just to shut me up! I’m thinking I’ll save it in case we need it on the trek…when a lion is charging at me I’ll just throw it with astonishing aim right into its gullet whereupon it will lie down quietly for a sleep in my lap…you know those pink pills…I think they’re having an effect on my imagination – it’s probably a good thing that today I’m coming off them, but I’m a bit concerned about the withdrawal symptoms.
Well, anyway I am well on the way to recovery, and I think that is probably enough about me!!!!! For those of you who know Tracy and are reading this to find out what she’s up to…I’m sorry to disappoint! For the benefit of Tracy’s sister in particular, her considered highlight out of the last three weeks has been “the peace and quiet provided by Emma’s long term illness”. Well, thanks for that Trace!
I promise that the next blog entry will be far more about Rwanda and less about me me me! Though it could have been worse – just be glad that I haven’t filled you in on the workings of my defacatory organs…
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