Almost 6 Months

I remember the times I would secretly giggle to myself whenever other volunteers would be complaining of yet another gastrointestinal ailment. I would thank my mom for her hardly-ever-gastrointestinally-sick genes but at the same time knock on wood because Cambodia is hard as it is without having to use the bathroom every half an hour.

Well, what goes around comes around: I should have knocked harder on that wood–or, you know, maybe not have had those secret giggles at other PCVs’ misfortune–because it’s my turn to be sick, and it’s my turn HARD. I haven’t even made it 6 months into service.

I woke up one unassuming Monday morning with a small bite of some sort in my right pelvic region. I arrogantly that it might be an ingrown hair or something similarly harmless, brushed it off and went along with business as usual.

It’s now Friday, and the “bite” has swollen to five times its normal size, complete with redness, tenderness, and a firmness to the touch. Oh yeah, and my 101 degree fever in the middle of the night along with some of the worst body aches and headaches I’ve ever felt, prompting my host mother to give me an ice bath–probably the worst Cambodian experience I’ve ever had, but I see where she was coming from. If you’re hot with a fever, why shouldn’t you be plunged into a bucket of ice to cool down?

So right now I’m in Phnom Penh, having just seen Medical Officer Navy to figure out if I have dengue or not. No, I thankfully do not have dengue, but I do have a pretty serious all-body bacterial infection that’s most concentrated at the bite area. I was sent off with antibiotics and the feeling like the world was ending.

I’ll be better soon, no doubt.

Also, I knew this was coming. There is never NO repercussion for laughing at others’ expense. Damn you, hubris…damn you to hell.