Sickness

At 40/40 they gave us a bottle of water and told us to drink 4 of theses a day. Well, at our home stay I think we should have drunk 6 or more of them. It was a very hot weekend. They hottest Steve and I have experienced since being here. We spent most of our time outside. Heather and I (Rita) got urinary track infections. Luckily for us Seth was already on an antibiotic for his cold. So we took his medicine too and just got more on Monday morning from the nurse.

I, Rita, had been having diarrhea since being at the Lake in early September. Side note: I just found out last week that they don't filter their water. So every night at dinner I was drinking unfiltered lake water that we were swimming in. Yuck! So that explains my diarrhea. But after our home stay, the antibiotic must have wiped out the good bacteria along with the bad. By Thursday I felt like I had the flu. Then I started running a fever. It acted like malaria. I would have a fever and then it would be normal. I would be freezing and then sweating. We took a malaria test on Friday night, but it said I was fine. After talking to other missionaries I started on the malaria medicine anyways.

On Saturday afternoon we decided to go to the Doctor. He took a malaria test too, still fine. He asked that I come back on Sunday morning when the lab was opened. On Sunday we were back. The lab took blood and a urine sample. I saw a second Dr. Nothing looked out of normal. Then the diarrhea was mentioned. It had drastically changed on Sat. night. The Dr. wanted to know why I didn't say something to the Doc. on Saturday. Well, I have been having this for over two months and everything I read didn't indicate that anything was wrong. So be come back Monday morning with a stool sample.

I had dysentery. I started the medicine and we drove off to prayer retreat. Dysentery can really wipe a person out. I really didn’t feel like I could stand or do much walking. My legs felt like they would give out on me at any moment.

So now I am better and starting to feel like my old self again. Thank you Lord.