Full Circle

Look where we had our most recent Volunteer Advisory Council meeting! I actually love being on this Peace Corps committee because I like being a liaison between staff and volunteers and I like being organized and representing all of our awesome Volunteers here in country to Staff, who I also happen to think are awesome. Also, we get to have our meetings wherever we want in El Salvador, hence the amazing volcano lake. This is Lago Coatepeque in Santa Ana. Asiha and I even took a row boat out on the water the next morning and I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am currently recovering from illness (explained later), but before I forget to post anything, my favorite little Salvadoran ever, Edwin, just turned 14. And Isabel made the cake. When we taught cakes to the women's group I thought it was fun but not really practical, but this little business is working! Isabel has gotten five cake orders in the last week - who knows if everyone's just trying it out and once they see and taste the cakes all of the orders will dry up, but it's an awesome first step. Also, we had a corn festival on Tuesday, and the women's group sold $25 of quesadillas dobladas, their first foray into income generation outside of each putting in a quarter at the meetings. Sometimes I feel like I'm just lazily reading away my days in site, but sometimes everything comes up trumps and I'm so proud of everyone.

On another note, it's been a year, and I've come full circle. There I was, IV in my wrist, spending the night in the hospital for mosquito bites. Last year I had dengue, and now it's chikungunya. The virus, transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits dengue, is sweeping through El Salvador, leaving entire towns bedridden with intense joint pain, nausea, rash and fever. When I started feeling feverish the day before yesterday I asked about cases in my area, and it turns out we've been remarkably lucky. Only two or three cases have been reported nearby. I had my one-year visit from my project manager that same day, and I have to laugh a little because when she asked about my health I said that I have been very healthy - only an ear infection and two days of a stomachache in the entire year I've been here. I guess I should have knocked on wood.

My fever started rising and I lost my appetite, and I already had a rash, so it was time to call the doc. I learned my lesson with dengue, and I wasn't about to wait a week for things to "improve." It turns out that was a good idea, because the next morning low blood pressure found me in a puddle on the floor after a few steps with no idea how I got there. I think I thoroughly freaked out my host family, but they were total champs and helped pick me up and get me to the med car. I love that my house is a little bit out of the way, quiet and solitary, but that walk to get to the road was a really long 15 minutes with my host family all warily waiting for me to collapse again. 

In case you're wondering, whatever this is (mild chikungunya maybe? Is that even possible?) is SIGNIFICANTLY better than dengue (apart from the passing out twice and totally freaking out my host family...though come to think of it, I also totally freaked out my last host family). For a start, I had the foresight to bring a change of clothes and my computer. Almost anything is bearable with the distraction of the internet. Also, although my joints are super inflamed and sore, it doesn't feel like my body is breaking. I have no headache, which they tell me is weird, and then continue to ask every few hours if I have a headache as if by asking they can make it so, so that I will fit their box of symptoms. The fever quickly came down so I actually got a few hours of sleep in between the endless stream of nurses and doctors introducing themselves and telling me just to ring the bell if I need anything. Why must they introduce themselves? They never tell me their names and I don't remember them anyway and it's not like in between shifts I will forget that if I need something I can ring the bell. Mostly it's just annoying because everything happens with half an hour to an hour in between so I'm constantly in the tired semi-conscious state. For example, the IV fluid change at 3 am, the shift change introduction at 4 am, the blood draw at 5 am, the nurse checking my vitals at 5:30 am, the nurse asking my order for breakfast at 6 am (WHO eats breakfast in the hospital at 6 am?!?! Let me sleep!), breakfast at 7 am, the doctor visit at 8:00 (released to the hotel!!! YES!!!), the cleaning guys at 9 am, then sweet release at 9:30. I suppose that this being a very social country with very little sense of privacy, it seems normal to them that a patient would want to be checked on frequently, but for me it's exhausting. I'm looking forward to the anonymous cleanliness of the hotel.

Right now I'm deciding to be productive as penance for enjoying a frappucino and wifi at the Starbucks near the hotel, so look out VRF and grant - I'm putting my chubby, creaky fingers to work!

THIS is why we NEED a bridge in my community.