Parasites, theivery, and injury. OH MY!
Hey there everybody! Sorry it has been awhile but as ‘the dude’ would say, “new shit has come to light” and it has taken me some time to compose myself before I wrote the following post. Now, I’ve always been a pretty stand up guy…I treasure my friends, realize there is joy and wonder in every day, do my best for mother earth, and honestly, honestly wonder why we all can’t get along. But the last two weeks have made me wonder just how bad things can really get in life.
My last post showed the fun of the grape harvest out in the village of Nosiri, where Zuriko’s parents live. While it is a beautiful and rustic place, it is not without its dangers. About a week after that great day of helping and laughing and really feeling like a part of the family, I began to feel not so right. “How not-so-right?”, you may ask. Well not right in the way that my stomach felt like it was a punching bag for Rocky Balboa. As for the rest of my GI system, decorum prevents me from revealing any further details….not that anyone would want to here about it anyway. YES, I had critters! The big ‘G’: Girardia.
After 4 days or so of feeling horrible, I began to feel…..WORSE! I called the doctor and was sent to the local pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics which I was assured would have me sound as a pound in 2-3 days. Due to the illness, I was forced to cancel my weekend travel plans which meant that I was entering my 22nd day without contact with a native English speaker. I then took a train into Tbilisi to see our crack team of medical professionals to get my cholesterol checked.
Ahhhh Tbilisi, that’s just what I needed. I could get a Guinness, NO wait, the medication I was on meant no drinking. I could get a great meal, NO wait, I had to fast for my cholesterol test. I could see some Americans, NO wait, it was a Monday so there were no other volunteers at the office. Well, at least I could get an awesome hot shower at the hotel instead of the luke-warm gravity fed dribble I have at home, but alas, there was no water as for some unknown reason, service was interrupted. So there I sat in an empty hotel room, sipping tepid water and reading a two-month-old Newsweek…yeah, Tbilisi was just what I needed.
My parasite had cleared up but a nasty side effect of the cure is that the medication is non-discriminatory in its killing power. This means that while it kills harmful bacteria, it also does a huge amount of collateral damage to the beneficial bugs that keep one’s plumbing humming. Long story short, when you’re sick you can’t stop and when you’re cured, you can’t start. Still, I had the coming weekend to look forward to as my good friends Ellen, Paul, and Erik were going to stay at my house Friday night before we went into Kutaisi for the Breast Cancer Walk we had all volunteered to help out with. However, this violated PC travel policy so they did not come to Senaki. It’s OK, I thought, I’ll hang out with them tomorrow and we will have fun. Fun we had, but that evening as I leaned up against the gate of the guesthouse, the immutable laws of physics took over. The gate was not latched and I fell about a meter (down three stairs) and landed squarely on my lower back. After a restless and painful night of sleep, I awoke at 6:30 AM and decided I would retreat to the relative safety of Senaki (at this point I made Job look like Bill Gates), so I headed down to the bus station where my cell phone was stolen out of my backpack pocket. Oh yeah, on the local bus ride to the station, the bus hit a pothole and bounced my head into the overhead bar that I was holding onto. To bring you up to speed if you are keeping score, my back was killing me, I had a lump on my head from the bus incident, and I had just had my only contact with the world stolen from me. The bus ride was uneventful. When I arrived home I called the PC and reported the theft. My host brother Giga was in Poti so I had to struggle to tell Zuriko and Shorena exactly what had happened. On Monday Giga and I spent two hours at the police station giving a statement, my back screaming at me the entire time. Peace Corps is getting me a new phone but I have to pay 40 lari for the replacement and another 5 lari to get my number reactivated. It is Tuesday as I write this and I am awaiting my new phone. Yes, my back is still in a huge amount of pain.
So, there you have it folks, the last two weeks of my life and I gotta tell ya, I’m about fed up. I have been scouring my brain to try to find some silver linings in this Katrina that has been my existence of late, and there are a few that are just enough to keep me going. My buddy Curtis called me from London during my night of frustration in Tbilisi. Those 40 minutes or so talking with an old friend were huge! I did a good deed on the train; helping some German tourists who spoke no Georgian from an angry bebia (old woman) who was yelling at them for supposedly sitting in her seat. They were very nice and we chatted a bit on the ride into Tbilisi. The following night we met for dinner (post fasting) and had a wonderful time. As for everything else, I just try to think that it could have been worse. Instead of my phone, it could have been my wallet and passport that were stolen. Instead of landing on my back, I could have landed on my head and/or neck and been a veggie. And my parasite, according to all who have had other, more malevolent guests, is one of the milder versions of GI distress. A mere annoyance if you will. Funny, autumn has always been my favorite season.
Til next time, all the best.
John
My last post showed the fun of the grape harvest out in the village of Nosiri, where Zuriko’s parents live. While it is a beautiful and rustic place, it is not without its dangers. About a week after that great day of helping and laughing and really feeling like a part of the family, I began to feel not so right. “How not-so-right?”, you may ask. Well not right in the way that my stomach felt like it was a punching bag for Rocky Balboa. As for the rest of my GI system, decorum prevents me from revealing any further details….not that anyone would want to here about it anyway. YES, I had critters! The big ‘G’: Girardia.
After 4 days or so of feeling horrible, I began to feel…..WORSE! I called the doctor and was sent to the local pharmacy to pick up some antibiotics which I was assured would have me sound as a pound in 2-3 days. Due to the illness, I was forced to cancel my weekend travel plans which meant that I was entering my 22nd day without contact with a native English speaker. I then took a train into Tbilisi to see our crack team of medical professionals to get my cholesterol checked.
Ahhhh Tbilisi, that’s just what I needed. I could get a Guinness, NO wait, the medication I was on meant no drinking. I could get a great meal, NO wait, I had to fast for my cholesterol test. I could see some Americans, NO wait, it was a Monday so there were no other volunteers at the office. Well, at least I could get an awesome hot shower at the hotel instead of the luke-warm gravity fed dribble I have at home, but alas, there was no water as for some unknown reason, service was interrupted. So there I sat in an empty hotel room, sipping tepid water and reading a two-month-old Newsweek…yeah, Tbilisi was just what I needed.
My parasite had cleared up but a nasty side effect of the cure is that the medication is non-discriminatory in its killing power. This means that while it kills harmful bacteria, it also does a huge amount of collateral damage to the beneficial bugs that keep one’s plumbing humming. Long story short, when you’re sick you can’t stop and when you’re cured, you can’t start. Still, I had the coming weekend to look forward to as my good friends Ellen, Paul, and Erik were going to stay at my house Friday night before we went into Kutaisi for the Breast Cancer Walk we had all volunteered to help out with. However, this violated PC travel policy so they did not come to Senaki. It’s OK, I thought, I’ll hang out with them tomorrow and we will have fun. Fun we had, but that evening as I leaned up against the gate of the guesthouse, the immutable laws of physics took over. The gate was not latched and I fell about a meter (down three stairs) and landed squarely on my lower back. After a restless and painful night of sleep, I awoke at 6:30 AM and decided I would retreat to the relative safety of Senaki (at this point I made Job look like Bill Gates), so I headed down to the bus station where my cell phone was stolen out of my backpack pocket. Oh yeah, on the local bus ride to the station, the bus hit a pothole and bounced my head into the overhead bar that I was holding onto. To bring you up to speed if you are keeping score, my back was killing me, I had a lump on my head from the bus incident, and I had just had my only contact with the world stolen from me. The bus ride was uneventful. When I arrived home I called the PC and reported the theft. My host brother Giga was in Poti so I had to struggle to tell Zuriko and Shorena exactly what had happened. On Monday Giga and I spent two hours at the police station giving a statement, my back screaming at me the entire time. Peace Corps is getting me a new phone but I have to pay 40 lari for the replacement and another 5 lari to get my number reactivated. It is Tuesday as I write this and I am awaiting my new phone. Yes, my back is still in a huge amount of pain.
So, there you have it folks, the last two weeks of my life and I gotta tell ya, I’m about fed up. I have been scouring my brain to try to find some silver linings in this Katrina that has been my existence of late, and there are a few that are just enough to keep me going. My buddy Curtis called me from London during my night of frustration in Tbilisi. Those 40 minutes or so talking with an old friend were huge! I did a good deed on the train; helping some German tourists who spoke no Georgian from an angry bebia (old woman) who was yelling at them for supposedly sitting in her seat. They were very nice and we chatted a bit on the ride into Tbilisi. The following night we met for dinner (post fasting) and had a wonderful time. As for everything else, I just try to think that it could have been worse. Instead of my phone, it could have been my wallet and passport that were stolen. Instead of landing on my back, I could have landed on my head and/or neck and been a veggie. And my parasite, according to all who have had other, more malevolent guests, is one of the milder versions of GI distress. A mere annoyance if you will. Funny, autumn has always been my favorite season.
Til next time, all the best.
John
posted by john at 7:20 AM
1 Comments:
Jesus. My pity for you knows no bounds. Hopefully its all over now.
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