Greetings to you from the inside of my home. I've been spending a lot of time inside
lately, due to my inability to get farther than 10 yards away from a working
toilet. Yup, I've been sick all week,
and I've just about gone stir crazy, but I'm always thinking of you, dear
reader, so this has actually been a productive time for tip writing.
Any self-respecting health professional would normally offer
tips on how to stay healthy during your time in West Africa. That is, after all, a fundamental aspect of
our job. My time here, however, has
turned me into something of a fatalist, and I know that even if I give you all
my best advice, sooner or later, you are going to get sick. So, I offer you here something of far greater
worth: How to be sick in Africa.
1. Let's start with the mundane: drink plenty of fluids, get
lots of rest, and take your medications as prescribed by your doctor. Simple enough, right? Sure, if you are living in climate-controlled,
suburban America. West Africa offers
some additional challenges to this seemingly sound and simple advice. Ok, so
let me break this down for you.
Drink plenty of fluids.
As it is, you spend approximately 92.3% of all your waking hours here trying
to consume enough liquids to survive even on days when you aren't sick. So this increase in demand is going to be
really taxing; add in a little nausea, and you've got yourself an uphill
battle. The idea of jabbing a giant needle
into your arm and letting liquid from a bottle drip right into your circulation
will never sound so appealing. But
before resorting to such extremes, I recommend trying a reward system. "If I drink this huge glass of water, I
can watch another episode of that TV miniseries I've been saving for a rainy
day." Also, I'm not officially
recommending this (I have to have some integrity), but "some would
say" fluid is fluid, and so if an ice-cold Coke sounds good, go for it.
Get lots of rest.
Laying down for a nap here is always complicated. There are the typical distractions--phone
calls at the wrong times, sudden, unexplainable noise increases in the
neighborhood usually in the form of donkeys, and knocks at the door (addressed
below)--but more than anything, boredom and heat become the biggest barriers. Boredom because there is simply a lack of fun
things to do in your house all day long (thus the importance of that saved TV
miniseries). Heat because it makes lying
around on a couch or in a bed during the day immeasurably less comfortable and can
result in being a hot, sweaty mess--and you don't have the fluid reserves to be
sweating! If you have even a whiff of a fever or chills, body thermoregulation
becomes about as difficult as frying the perfect over-easy egg on the heat of a
volcanic eruption. Unless you're one of
those lucky people that can afford to install satellite TV and run the AC 24/7
(we call them diplomats), you are going to need to get creative. Assemble your fan, a sheet, a blanket (or blankets
depending on your chills), a book, a few gallons of water, and settle into your
favorite place in the house. After that,
good luck. That's all I got.
Take your medications as prescribed by your doctor. Yeah...right... As if you didn't just diagnose
yourself with "Where There Is No Doctor" (the Google of yester-year). Now, I'll be the first to admit that "people
who live in glass houses shouldn't..." live in Mali (can you imagine the
window washing that'd be needed?). I
mean, I'm on a team with several awesome doctors (none of whom read this blog,
so that is a wasted compliment right there), and I rarely consult them for
personal illnesses unless, for example, a unknown disease is eating my face off
(true story). Now, some people don't
have an option because they live, literally, "where there is no
doctor" or where the only doctor there would do well to read a few
chapters of said book. I'll just leave
you with a few cautions. Not every
illness can be cured with a malaria treatment and some cipro, though I'm having
trouble coming up with any examples at the moment. Not everything you read on Google is true,
mostly because doctors get on and post lies so you get confused and have to
keep using their services (that's why those on my team don't have time to read
my blog). And not all traditional,
international-worker "wisdom" is all that wise, hence the reason you
are going to have to give up zapping snake-bite victims with a cattle prod, as
fun as it was to have justification to kick someone while they were down. (Sorry guys, no scientific proof of efficacy
for this one... trust me, I looked it up on Google.)
2. So you've got your
rest, fluids, and meds. Now you are
going to have to win the battle of the mind.
Soon you are going to be thinking about all the things that would be SO
comforting...if they were just available here.
Campbell's Chicken soup with saltine crackers? Sorry. Grilled cheese sandwich made with wonder
bread and melty cheddar cheese? Nope. Ginger
Ale? First, does anyone actually drink that except when they are sick...and
second, NO, not here. Popsicles or ice cream? Not unless you made them. Mom? Doesn't seem like she's gonna be able to
catch the flight. A fire in the fireplace? You are sicker than you thought...that's
the fever talking.
The situation can get desperate fast. You are going to have to get ahead of this
thing. My favorite way to accomplish
this is to play a thankfulness game, which becomes infinitely easier if you've
recently been to a remote village. So
after using the facilities, you thank God for running water and soft, 2-ply
toilet paper, all the while imagining what it would be like to drag your sick
self to the outhouse repeatedly. When
you can't get comfortable on your couch, with the fan blowing gently across
you, imagine lying on a thin mat on the floor of a mud brick house in the heat,
and suddenly your day is looking up. And
when you stand before your cupboards which contain none of your desired comfort
foods, compare your choices with your least favorite village meal, and you'll
quickly find something that seems more edible.
3. The last point I
leave you with is on handling visitors.
As a sick American, I mostly prefer not to have visitors. I want to be left alone to wallow in my
self-pity and misery. All I want from
any visitors that do come is that they reinforce my right to self-pity and
misery. They should come in and stay
standing, or if they sit, they shouldn't plan to stay long--I need to get back
to wallowing. The brevity of their visit
will confirm that I'm justified in doing so. I'd like them to keep their distance from me,
not so much to communicate that I'm gross, but rather to confirm that my
illness is serious and I have the RIGHT to feel as terrible as I do. Also, I like my visitors to come over with
something they've made for me, as a way of saying, "I dropped everything
in my busy day to make this and bring it to you because the universe really DOES
revolve around you." I do not think
this is too much to ask from my friends.
National friends here seem to have missed the
"Right-to-Self-Pity" memo.
They come in droves, or call to give you well-wishes at all the wrong
times. When they arrive, they sit down,
often right next to you and lay hands on you to feel the fever. They settle in and plan to stay awhile. Part of the reason that Ebola became such a
serious problem in West Africa is this cultural habit of visiting the sick. They usually don't bring anything with them...but
they don't ask for much either. It is as
if their visit aims to communicate that you are not the center of your own
self-absorbed world, but that you are important to them, and that they value
you enough to be around you when you aren't all that pleasant. But hey, if self-pity is really that much
more comforting to you, you are going to want to figure out how to avoid these
visits.
Well I sincerely hope this will be of enormous help on your
next sick day here in Africa. May God
make it easier. Or as we say around these parts: "Ala ka nogoya ke!"
Prayer requests
1. Praise the Lord, I
really am feeling much better today.
Please pray for continued health throughout the rest of this month. I've got quite a bit on my schedule and
really don't want to miss things because of illness.
2. Pray for all my comings and goings this month. I will be visiting several villages for
outreaches, marriages, etc. throughout this month.
3. Yesterday, we worked on cementing the details for the
hospital outreach to the village of Konina on the 14th of this month. We really feel like things will go smoothly
this time around, but these events have a way of surprising even the most
prepared. Please pray that on that day
we would be effective in communicating health teaching and the Gospel to our
listeners, and that the Lord would be honored.
4. Continue to pray for Chaka and Maimouna mentioned last
week (their physical healing and salvation), and also for my friend's finance,
who does not yet know the Lord.
5. Please continue to
pray for the organization of an outreach to the village of Tiere. Things are coming together, but my illness
this week has put me behind on planning.
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