March 20, 2010
Thursday morning after breakfast, I went to work. As soon as I got to the bank, I felt chill all over my body. Usually it is a sign of a cold or flu. I was frustrated because I have been very careful, washed my hands often, did extra exercise to get my body stronger and ate a big apple everyday (it is the Fuji apple, imported, expensive!)
The symptom got worse by noon, so I decided to go home early. By 7:00pm, ana got home and asked me to help making dinner. Normally I would not feel so tired working in the kitchen for two hours, but by 9:00pm, I felt like I was hit by a train, nearly exhausted! By then, I was certain that I had a flu. My stomach also began to hurt. I went to bed early. After an hour in bed, my stomach began to make a lot of noise. I had to go to the bathroom so badly, not once, not twice but three times and I had the urge to throw up as well.
I took two Tylenols and accepted the fact that I had flu. I was determined that for the next 72 hours, I would do nothing but sleep through this. By midnight, I woke up with a chill, I felt so cold. The precious heater was right next to me, but I still felt so unbelievable cold. I was shivering in spite of many layers of blankets I put on top of myself. Half hour later, I felt so hot. I was burning hot with fever. An hour later, the chill came back, then the heat, back and forth, back and forth, whole night long, in between, I still kept going to the bathroom. By dawn, I developed a bad cramp in my stomach and I was lying in bed completely dehydrated. I wanted someone to help me, to give me some water…..
I waited until 7:30am and called my host sister to give me some tea. I told her I was very ill. Meanwhile, I sent a text message to Peace Corps doctor. After telling him all my symptoms, he told me I had food poisoning and a bad virus in my stomach. He talked to my host sister a few minutes and asked her to prepare everything for me; tea with extra sugar, glass of water with lots of cinnamon, piece of bread or rice soup with nothing was the only food I allowed to have. As for the cramp, tied a piece of cloth around my stomach tightly and put hot water bottle on top of my belly. By now, ana and all my three sisters were in my room. They talked endless about me, gave ideas what to do. I wanted them to leave me alone so I could sleep quietly, I had no energy to protest, just closed my eyes and pretended I was asleep.
Remember a friend told me, the best thing to cure a virus in your stomach is to starve yourself. Eat nothing so the virus will have nothing to eat either. After the virus is starved to death, then you are cured. I tried this method when I was in Nepal, and it worked. The next 24 hours, I ate nothing, just drank tea. By Sunday, I fully recovered except lost a few pounds… I am too skinny right now, just too skinny.
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