Vacation to the Med Hut

I was really gunning for a full two years of service without ever needing to stay at the Peace Corps medical center in Dakar...but I didn't quite make it. A year and a half though! That's not too shabby.

Last Sunday after the Super Bowl, I woke up up with a terrible burning in my chest and didn't quite know what was going on. I quickly realized that I was an idiot and had taken my anti-malaria pill right before going to bed (exactly like they tell us not to do) and had crazy heartburn. I assumed it was just temporary and although I felt terrible the following morning, went home to Pout and essentially shrugged it off. Instead of going away, the pain became worse and worse each day last week and eventually eating solid foods became impossible and even drinking water made me almost burst into tears. I called our medical office and they told me to take some over the counter medications to soothe whatever was going on in my esophagus, but it didn't help much. The doctor eventually told me that I needed to come to Dakar, and that's where I am now.

Apparently, you don't want to mess around with taking anti-malaria pills incorrectly because they can literally burn the lining of your esophagus, which is what they think happened to me. I'm feeling much better now compared to how I felt last week, but they're going to keep me in the "med hut" for the remainder of this week to make sure I actually heal. I can't exactly complain considering the "med hut" - while conjuring up images of a tiny thatched roof hut with a big red cross on it - is actually an entire wing of our Peace Corps office and is complete with uber comfortable beds, wifi, and hot showers. I can't complain. Although I am incredibly bored. (time to do my taxes! Yaay!)

I'm actually bummed I'm not back in Pout right now because I've been working really hard the last couple weeks to organize a huge one day gender and development summit at the Thies Training Center with Katherine. We are in charge of logistics, and while it has been a nightmare to organize, I was excited to actually see the work pay off. I would also be missing several Junior Achievement classes this week, but lucky for me, one of the biggest Muslim holidays of the year is going on and classes are basically on hiatus. My supervisor even volunteered to water my compost pile every day while I'm gone.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to this weekend which is the much anticipated WAIST - West African Invitational Softball Tournament here in Dakar, i.e. a crazy four day weekend of softball games, parties, and general merriment. Our Dakar team is going to be awesome. Hopefully I'll be well enough by then to join in all of the festivities!