Graduations and a trip to the hospital!

To start where I left off…

Thanksgiving weekend was fun here. I was still sad to not be with my family but at least I had Marcos here. I feel really lucky to have a family member close by. I know last year was really hard without my family. This year God gave me the gift to have my Brother Bear 15 minutes away.

Marcos and I were both Godparents for the 3 girls that graduated from the Hogar. He was in La Paz last weekend so he didn’t get to go to the first 2 graduations. I took the 2 girls out to dinner and was with them and their families.

Note about Bolivian graduations; they are extremely long and let me remind you we are all in a room that has no A/C and it’s 200 degrees outside with 100% humidity. It’s safe to say they are not fun. But being that I love the girls and not many people here get to graduate from high-school, I put up with it to see them smile as they walk down the aisle. By the end of it I get so dehydrated from sweating and tired from all the noise, I just want to go home and sleep.

Thanksgiving weekend was Nataly’s graduation. Marcos was able to go. After graduation her and her family decided they wanted to go to Yapacani to have dinner. Yapacani is an hour away from Montero where we were. Let me remind you that nobody here drives, or has a car, so to get from one town to another, we have to rely on a system that consists of pissed off drivers chewing Coca leaves. Needless to say it was 8 when we finally left Montero. Not all the people that were going fit so we had to hire a taxi driver to take us. Which means he charges double for each person. Somewhere in between picking up a random lady who sat motionless in the trunk of the car, and going 25 MPH, we finally arrived 2 hours later to Yapacani.

We had dinner at a chicken place that was more like a truck stop. There the grad, Nataly got into her very fancy graduation dress. She looked like Barbie in the ghetto streets of L.A. Genesse (a former volunteer) and I wanted to head back to Montero after dinner. We were responsible for the other girls that accompanied the grad. After seeing her so pretty and excited we could not let her down. So all of us went out to a “Discoteca/Karaoke.”

We danced all night and I actually had a lot of fun. I must admit the Karaoke was a little too much, but we survived. Between feeling guilty and not wanting to let the girls down, we finally left the place at 2am. Genesse and I were worried about getting back. We were told to just stay the night there. Thankfully Marcos and some other volunteers live there. We stayed the night at their place. We slept for an hour and half then we headed out to Montero at 5am.

The girls and I slept the whole way back. We all got ready for Mass and then came home and slept. I could only sleep an hour. Genesse slept the whole day. We still couldn’t get over the randomness of the previous day.

Monday came and so did all my responsibilities.  My body felt like a Piñata after all the candy has been beaten out of it. I thought it was because I hadn’t slept well all weekend. Not knowing that my body was fighting a war inside of me. A war that would lead me to the hospital the next day. DUN, DUN, DUN!!!

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning with vomiting and Diarrhea. There was nobody to help me or take care of me, so I had to stick it out. Finally at 7am I called Sor Maria and she came. She was upset at me for being sick. She also looked like she didn’t really believe me. She left and I stayed all day by myself in a pool of despair. I could not stay awake for more than 5 minutes. I would just run to the bathroom and fall back asleep. Thankfully my bathroom is so small that I could be on the toilet and puke in the shower at the same time. It came in handy this time. TMI!

I couldn’t eat or drink anything. The old man that lives next to me would occasionally pop in and check up on me. He would yell, “Señorita, todavia caca de pato?” Which means, “Are you still pooping like a duck?” He then brought me some medicine in an unmarked bag and told me to take it. There is no way Japanese people take “no” for an answer. So I swallowed what looked like deer poop. It stopped my duck poop. I slept until Sor finally came at 5pm. She said very sternly that I needed to go to the hospital. I knew, no, would not be accepted but in this case I am glad I went.

I was delirious by the time I got there. My blood pressure was 80/50 and I had a fever of 102. My tongue was white as snow. I was admitted and drugged with more antibiotics than a wounded soldier. I must have looked really bad because all the nurses kept on staring at me and asking me, “Are you ok?” By this time Sor Maria finally believed I wasn’t faking it and changed her attitude towards me. She brought me water and some food.

The next day I was feeling a little better. Thankfully Marcos went to go see me. It was nice to have him there. The day didn’t seem as long. I still had diarrhea and they ran some more tests.  I spent another night there.

The next day was even better. I was able to get up and not feel like fainting. I was able to eat. The doctor told me I had an Amebas, Parasites, and Salmonella. No wonder I was pooping blood. I was released that day.

I am still not feeling too good. My stomach still aches when I eat but I have an appetite. These days were filled with lessons for me to learn.

First: Don’t ever underestimate Parasites.

The hardest lesson for me to learn was that I truly am nothing special. I feel like all my life I have been babied and now it’s time to grow up. But I don’t want to grow up!!! (In a winey voice) I am blessed to have an awesome family that always spoiled  me, but now I am in this other world that I can’t even really call reality. It’s hard for me to not be completely adored and loved. I have been all my life. It was especially hard when I was sick because that is when I would be babied the most.

I remember my parents would always say, “Al enfermo, lo que pida.” I guess I expected that this time. Instead my credibility was questioned and I had to prove my innocence. It was hard but I guess I needed it.

Living with Sor challenges me to grow in many ways. It’s a daily thing battling between my pride and her comments. It’s also hard to live up to her expectations. I’m back at work now and I still don’t feel too good. But please don’t get me wrong, I am very fond of her, and she does have a kind heart. I just have to realize to accept love even when it’s not in the way I give it, or have received in the past.

I feel God put Sor in my life to work on the things I need to improve on. I know I need to grow and mature. I also know I need to realize the world doesn’t revolve around me. (A lesson that I hate learning.) I feel this year will definitely prepare me for what the future holds for me.

Before I end I will leave you with a funny story. OK so I have never spent the night at the hospital before. However I was aware that the robes are put on so your back is showing and you have to strip naked. Well… let’s just say, that’s not the case in Bolivia!!! Here you keep everything on except, you wear the robe like a shirt. The worst part was, that the nurse was inside my room watching me undress, (YES, AGAIN!!!) when I asked her to help me tie the robe from the back. The rest is too humiliating to tell, so I will stop there. Good thing I’m working on my pride!

Please keep all the missionaries from around the world in your prayers. I have already felt so many blessing and graces for just being here, and I know that is because of everyone at home praying for me. I hope to keep you all updated often and enjoy the roller coaster of my year!

Thank you!

Princess Carmen