Clinically Yuck

Polyclinique de Plateau

Blah,

Horrible day. Woke around four in the morning with horrible stomach cramp. Went to the loo, where I evacuated quite decidedly in both directions. Went back to bed to shiver for a while and feel sorry for myself. The exact same thing happened the night of the first earthquake, at 2am. I thought it had just been a one-off and the next day I woke feeling fine. This time I didn't wake feeling fine. Sent a text to Martine to ask if the Polyclinic was open on a Sunday. She said yes, and she'd meet me there.

I eventually got washed and dressed and hooked a moto, but the guy didn't know where he was going and ended up dropping me by BCR bank. I tried to stop a couple of women and ask (tried English, French and Kinya) but they just walked past me. Then I asked a guard by BCR. He didn't know, so asked someone else, who eventually gave me directions. I was in such a state by this point that, when I finally walked to the clinic, I just burst into tears on Martine.

She took me in and we were seen right away and taken into a private room with en suite. It was impressive. It's one of the best clinics in Kigali. VSO are generally really good about medical things.

They took a blood sample, then put me on a drip to rehydrate me and added something for the stomach pain. I felt like I'd swallowed glass. It was an incredibly slow drip. I was there for about six hours and felt terrible. Martine stayed with me the whole time and Paula popped in to see me before her bus left. I slept a little. Martine and I just chatted, so the time didn't go too slow.

Eventually they discharged me with some strong antibiotics and a sick note for tomorrow. They said my white blood count was up and they suspected food poisoning, possibly parasites (nice), so I'll go back Tuesday if I'm still ill. I felt really bad in the taxi back - stomach is really sore and haven't eaten anything much today. Martine brought me some bread and biscuits, but I wasn't hungry. I just don't feel like food yet.

Martine offered a bed at hers, but I recover better in my own home. I wanted to get back to my babies. I accidentally trapped Shu's (Ishuheri's) paw in the door this morning. They're at the age where they want to go out, but they're still too little, so whenever you approach the door they rush it. I was worried I'd really damaged him, but he's absolutely fine and we've all been having big cuddles tonight. They're mental play kittens.

Happy to be home, but still feeling a bit rank. I'll see how I am tomorrow. Either I've picked something up again or it's an infection that never fully went away. See what happens. Last time I started taking my doxy (anti-malarials) again, as they’re antibiotics, and I really think that helped clear it up. Now that I'm on other pills, I won't take my doxy yet. Maybe I didn’t take it for long enough, who knows? Really should make an effort to take them long-term again, though. Everyone who does seems to have really good health as it protects against tummy troubles.

Off to bed in a mo. Could really use some kip, I'm shattered. Will update soon.