I'm turning into a pharmacy.

October 9, 2008

I woke up better. Not perfect, but better. We packed up and got down to the Aguas Calienes train station for our 9:30am departure. I tried to sleep on the train. Nate said I slept with one eye open. Creepy.

Ollantaytambo was the same as when we left it. We stopped by the awesome restaurant for some food. I could hardly finish my veggie soup. When my trips to the bathroom became more frequent, I knew that something was wrong.

We caught a colectivo to Cusco, which dropped us off at the doorstep of good ol’ Loki. We check in and, shortly after, we call the doctor. The fever is gone, but everything else is worse. The doctor comes, gives me some new pills (I’m turning into quite the pharmacy) and says that I have some kind of parasite. Giardia, he said. G-love and Special Sauce, Wes said.

Ugh. Gross. For a description of what that is, I suggest wikipedia. And if you don’t want too much information, I suggest that you stop reading now.

I couldn’t eat my soupy dinner. As I tried to sleep it off, my stomach pains got worse and my belly swelled up to gigantic proportions. It could very well have been an alien baby growing inside me. I was in so much pain that I asked a girl in the dormitory to get Nate. We called the doctor again. I was moaning and groaning in bed. The pain was almost unbearable.

The doctor came. I was panicked. He listened to my stomach growth and, after searching for a vein, injected some medicine into my arm. Shortly after, I got up to go to the bathroom where I let out some of the most tremendous sounds that I’ve heard since the last Jim Carrey movie. But before I was finished, I started getting dizzy. Really dizzy. I panicked. I knew I had been losing nutrients. There was nothing of substance in my digestive tract. How was I going to fend off this illness? My head was swimming. Would this be the end? Would I not have enough energy to beat this? Would Peru be my last stop? I honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it.

I could hardly make it back to the room. But when I did, I was so frantic that I must have really scared both Nate and the poor doctor. The room was spinning and I was losing control of my health. The doctor helped me into bed, took my pulse and my blood pressure (twice). He explained that the dizziness was due to the medicine that he just injected and that it would pass. My pulse slowed as I realized that, for the time being, I would be ok. I wasn’t going to die. I would recover. Whew.

That night I drifted in and out of troublesome sleep, faithfully taking my meds.

October 10, 2008

The next morning, I was great. I felt wonderful and even had my appetite back! Nate, however, had developed one of my unpleasant symptoms. We went to see the doctor, who gave Nate some pills and was relieved to see me smiling.

As the day progressed, I didn’t feel quite as awesome. But I kept taking my meds and eating my soups.

October 11, 2008

I am teetering on the edge between well and sick. I’m sticking to my medicinal schedule, which doesn’t let me sleep for more than 6 hours at a time. Both Nate and I are dehydrated, but overall his stomach seems to be handling things better than mine. I don’t really like staying in Cusco this long, but I really want to feel better before we move to Puno.