So I have been getting pretty bad bug bites herenin Punta Gorda, byt Guatemala bugs top this.....I got home from our waterfall hike in the rainforest and noticed that I had a large bubble swelling on the inside of my foot. It felt really deep, and a lot of pressure when I walked on it. I didn't want to complain to much because no one gets these bites like I do, I must be more allergic to them or something.
So the night of the hike I woke up balling my eyes out because this stupid bite on my foot hurt. I cleaned it out some more and put some anti histamine on it. in was awake all night because it hurt so bad. We woke up the next morning and got on our boat back to Punta Gorda. I took my first shower in days which felt amazing. When I got I covered my bites in rubbing alcohol to kill any germs. I tried not to think about them, but that night I tried watching a movie but could not even concentrate on it because my foot hurt so bad. I went to the bathroom to clean it out again with rubbing alcohol.
What I found..
The swollen bump once a bug bite had somehow gotten into my blood stream. It started put on the outside of my right foot, but now a vein was red and swollen in a lone across the bottom of my foot. I completely panicked and started to freak put. I showed Johannah and Haley who immediately told me I was going straight to the hospital.
Miss Elena (my house mom) happened to have here nephew and hose friend over at the house, so before I knew it we were in the car and the way to the hospital. I didn't bring my camera in the rush of things and I'm bummed about this because I feel only a picture can describe this.....
Punta Gorda Hospital
Probably one of the most traumatizing experiences of my life....We pull up and the two guys drop Haley, Johannah, and me off outside this concrete building that looks nothing even remotely like a hospital. A guy comes up to us and tells us to sit on this bench and wait for them to call me in. So we sit there and look around.....old rusted hospital beds and mattresses are behind our bench with a ton of other trash. A man missing teach is the "hospital attendant" sitting next to us.
I finally get called in. A lady takes my temperature with an old school thermometer in my arm pit, wipes it off with a tissue and puts in back in her drawer. She asked me a series of questions including the name of church I go to, then tells me to go back outside and sit down. After a while I get waved in to another room. I sit down in front of my doctor who is wearing old jeans and a blue polo shirt. He asked me what is going on. I explain about my foot and he takes a look. In broken English he tells me the bite got into my vein and that's why it is swollen, which I already knew.
The place looks nothing like a hospital, concrete walls, hand written signs that say things like "don't forget to weigh babies when they come in," and old hospital equipment shoved in corners.
Then a nurse walks in (wearing no gloves) holding a container of brown urine. She tells me that this man for sure has hepatitis(pointing back into another room). Then she sets the pee down on a table next to me. The doctor then asks her to prepare a shot of hydrocortisone for me. Still no gloves, no sink, and no soap. He allows me to have Haley come in and hold my hand. Once I sit back down the nurse wheels over a tall metal thing, and I see her hang an i.v from it. I ask what is going on I thought I was just getting a shot. He tells me I need a few...but not what they are. Haley and I look at each other and keep prying for more information. He tells us one will be for swelling, and one for itching, the I.v for hydration, and one for pain. The nurse used a plastic glove to tie off my arm between my wrist and elbow. I am completely freaking out. My entire body is shaking uncontrollably, and I may have peed my pants because I was soaking wet. Really I was sweating like crazy. My teeth will not stop chattering and I start balling.
She then sticks in the I.v. The first shot she puts into the I.v starts to burn so bad. I'm screaming and asking why it hurts when he then decides to tell me this will be painful. When it is in he will give me another one for pain. When the I.v is done draining, the nurse disconnects the tube from where the needle is entering the top of my thumb. My blood drains all over the floor but they could care less. Sanitation is obviously not a priority here. While all of this is going on the doctor's cell phone rings. He answers it and walks to the door laughing.
After all the shots are in the doctor leads me through another door to lay down on a bed....aka an old ambulance gurney. I lay there completely traumatized and crying. Laying on a bed in the same room is the old man with brown pee who has hepatitis.
I lay there for about fifteen minutes when a man in jeans and a yellow polo I have never seen walks in. He is holding a rubber glove and a needle. He walks up to my bed, and without saying a word starts using the glove to tie off my other arm. ( I still have the I.v needle in my right arm above my right thumb) I start pulling away and asking him what he is doing, but he doesn't answer me and keeps going. I am screaming and crying and telling him to stop. The other doctor must have heard and came through the archway. He says "stop stop stop! Not her...do him" pointing at the old man next to me. So the guy turns around and starts to take the old mans blood. I am crying and shaking and I ask the doctor what just happened. I am still confused if it was a mistake, or if he wanted to take my blood to test it being that my vein was swollen. I guess I will never know, but the doctor told me he won't prick me again.
Worried, I try to explain to him that if he needs to take my blood to test it he can, that I just didn't know what was going on. I didn't know who that guys was and he didn't say a word to me. After a while of laying there some more, the doctor comes in with a silver tube of hydrocortisone. He squeezes half of the tube on my foot and starts rubbing it in. He gives me a tube to take home with me allow with little baggies of pills. Written on them are what they are and when to take them. He said one is strong ibuprofen for the inflammation, and the other is called Priton, and allergy medication.
With this we are gone. Haley walked out to tell Johannah what had been going on because we had been gone for about an hour. By the time I got outside, Jo told me Haley ran home to find us a ride. Miss Elena's nephews come back with Haley in the car, and beers in hand. I am so thankful we don't have far to go. He goes on about how drinking and driving in Belize is legal, and that this is his first drink in five and a half years. This night could just not get any worse.
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