6th sep

6th Sep

Iv had a brilliant time here in Kenya! This has been an experience and a half. I have done so much –met Obama’s nan, delivered babies, performed circumcisions, felt the breathe of a lion as it lunged at me, had a boat ride on Lake Victoria, been checked out by Kenya women, fed giraffes, petted elephants, sunbathed in the most intense sun, been to a Kenyan church service (never again) breast fed a cockroach, had my guts eaten by worms, actually brought a patient back from the dead, travelled around alone, seriously, I feel Kenyan and an so grateful for this experience, even the bad bits have a place in my experience list. I came here wanting to live like a poor person, and neglect the luxuries of the western world. I think that I have mostly succeeded in my aim. The thing is ya don’t really realise how much youv grown or what ya have been through until you reflect, and now reflecting on the last seven weeks and ive come such a long way. Im not saying that Im gonna come back a majorly changed person, like, i still wanna dance, go out, dress up have fun, but boy am I gonna appreciate life a whole lot more. We just take for granted how priviliaged we are, I think easing back into life will be hard for a few days but essentially ive been in London a whole lot longer than ive been in Kenya but its the appreciation of knowing and experiencing that there is almost a whole continent of people out there who are essentially living in poverty, and not the poverty that we are privy to where people can go places and help can be accessed, but a type of poverty which means if you haven’t got a family, or a shilling to your name well thats it mate. No welfare state. No good Samaritan shelters, or people dropping money into paper cups, or donating unwanted goods to charity. Its a dog eat dog world here in Kenya (and I suppose in many other African countries).
I highlight this point using the example of the lady that I saw last weekend in Kisumu. The apparently mentally disturbed lady who a couple of men offered to beat for me. Well I saw her again on Sunday and it was sad, I was walking to catch the bus, and I noticed a body slumped in a corner. Me being the person who cant help but see whats going on , soon realised that it was our friend the lady from last week. She was in a bad state. Her clothes were just filthy, she was covered in bruises, her gums and lips were bleeding an flies were entering her month and almost feeding of her. She was breathing though and so I nudged her and called out sister sister, wake up. She kinda sighed but didn’t move. This happened about three more times. I was slightly weary about making a scene as I was alone in an unfamiliar part of town, and so just wanted to wake her up enough to leave her a bottle of juice. She wouldn’t move. Passersby were gawping, men laughing. Poor lady. In England shit like that just doesn’t happen, someone will call 999 and he or she would be dealt with. Here, no 999. If ya ill ya make ya own way to the hospital, also if ya do need an ambulance, ya gotta pay up front. Could you imagine mid heart attack, looking for ya purse to get some change. Anyways do you see my point, the lady above will die. Anyone, who allows flies to enter their mouth is at a stage of no return and i saw that, could I have changed anything for her probably not, we change what we can and leave what we can’t and hope for the knowledge to know when to do one or the other. Ah im rambling,

Anyhow, so my experiences took another level today, remember that head ache I complained off two days ago. It reached epic portions last night and this morning. Coupled with a major fever. Im a moron. It didnt occur to me that my fever and headaches was occurring at regular intervals of about 3 hours apart. Guess what, Girls got malaria in Africa.
I’ve just come back from the hospital after managing with very cell in my body working together to get me to the hospital. I had a blood slide taken and it came back positive. The joke is, Ive only been bitten three time here in Kenya and all three were in Nairobi, I know the day, and the time. There is virtually no malaria in Nairobi, but I go against all the odds to get bitten by possibly the only malarious mossy in the whole city. I should have known thou, Ive spend all this time concerned with my poo when I should have figured if im shitting my guts out then duh im not absorbing my pills. Dya know what the bloody joke is , is that i spent 147 pounds on those pills. Malorone, the best my dr says, costly but worth it he says, wont upset your stomach he says. So 147 pounds out of pocket later, not only do I have malaria BUT i hadn’t even absorbed any of the tabs, so it really was money down the gutter (long drop).

Anyways, the headache from malaria is truly something, pure head pain, you feel like ya eyes are gonna pop out of their sockets. Ya feverish, sweating like yav been running the marathon with no training. AND then the fatigue is unbelievable. DO NOT KNOW how I made it to the hospital, although ive got mild uncomplicated malaria and feel like death. Children get this everyday here, poor mites.

So i experienced hospital care in a third world country for a second time in 2 weeks. Lol. Amazing experience. I even allowed one of the medical student to put me on the drip!!. I was initially put on a bed in surgery; pretty sure someone had delivered on it prior to my arrival cos it stunk of labour secretions, a smell that seems to eviscerate all of the female areas in Kenya. Once you have smelt birth fluids, that smell is imprinted in your memory like ya name. I was given a blanket that was wet and had blood stained, that Dr Odongo kindly noted could be years old, but assured me that the blanket was clean. Lol
So i was given star treatment, the nurses fussed over me in Swahili, I nodded and smiled, couldn’t be bothered or had the energy to explain that I didnt understand a word that they were saying. Has my drip was to run for 4 hours I was moved to another ward as the theatres were closing. Guess where I was put in another smelly bed in the early stages of labour ward, in between two women having contractions. Blood joke mate. Then some nurses came and asked me what I wanted to eat, i replied nothing as I was feeling sick, they insisted that they find me some food. Er I recoiled at the word find, after a two months worth of stomach probs, I aint going back to that drama. Ergh its so hard to refuse food here in Kenya without offending someone, but I did as kindly as I could. That nurse never came back to see me. Lol

Im writing this in REAL Time but ul prob only read it next week, anyhow, i have tinnitus one of the side effects of the quinine is ringing in ya ears for a bit. Its shit i am deaf, can’t hear low sounds. Which means I cant hear for insects or COCKRACHES!!!
I asked the medical officer if my hearing would return, he replied, quinine acts on the ears much like gentimycin ( an antibiotic) I was scared gentimycin causes deafness and has to be carefully used. He meant that quinine effects the ears as in the same organ as gentimycin but not in the same way. Er rubbish explaination. Fool.

Right im taking my malrious self to bed im beat.

7th September

Er its 3 am Kenyan time, just woke up and i feel mash up. Dont think I have ever felt this bad before like every cell in my body is fighting for its life. I am ok though. This experience has made me realise how flippant i have been about malaria, every time ive diagnosed it, i have been slightly annoyed that it want something else. This disease is serious, and kills!. Im a fairly fit person and has a mild classification due to it being caught early but I feel shit. People here wait till the last moment before they see a dr, many are undernourished and therefore have anaemia even without malaria, and so must be bloody ill and feel like death when they present at the drs. Its a small miracle that the iron tabs i was taken were absorbed by my body despite my gut illness, as last week my Hb was 16 and boy if it was its usually 10.5 then I could be alot more ill than I am. And dya know what the ironic thing of all is? Its the female mossies that carry malaria. Me, a raging feminist bitten on the back in a non malaious place by a female mossie. Ive only been bitten three times ya know in my whole stay here. Siaya is raging with malarias’ mossies and I get bitten in Nairobi. Lol. Im back in 13 days, dono if anyone wants to lend me their mother, shes gotta be fat (huggable), and a good cook (home made soup) cause im on the hunt there’s only a few times ive pyned to be looked after and now is one of them!!!
The tinnitus has got worse, im virtually deaf! Tinnitus is a rather curious side affect. It isn’t ringing in my ears per se more like a pressure, similar to that ya get when ya about to land or take of in a plane, except this pressure throbs. And so its not like i cant hear anything its more that before sound hits my ear drums it feels as if it needs to go through a wall which in turn dampens the sound before it reaches my ear. So i have to listen harder and i cant hear low frequency sounds at all! Right sleep calls.