My time in the Hospital in Mozambique...

So This week was going just fine until tuesday aftenoon, but before I get into that big old story let me give you a wrap up of the weekends activities...

Saturday-We rented a big car, mom it was like the "30 seconds of sheer terror" Mercedes from last summer's europe trip and we all headed out to this beach that is literally in the middle of no where called Macaneta. We had some hired drivers take us and it was sucha beautiful beach, white sands, no other people there, just us. It was perfect.

Sunday-This week we went to yet another Branch this time in Matola. Also watched conference this weekend since the district here (they don't have a stake yet) hadn't seen the Sunday sessons yet. President and Sister Packard were there along with a member of the Area presidency. We went and said hello and introduced ourselves, and Janae the Packards say hello to you and your fam! They said it's so good to hear your are doing well:) Then in the afternoon we went walking with a boy here from the matola branch into some neighborhoods. He is 18 and getting ready to go on his mission and will be great, he already brings entire families to church with him. We met some super cute kids, took pictures of them which they thought was AMAZING digital cameras are a new thing to them and seeing the picture immediately always made them giggle. I also talked with a girl about my age who had a 4 month year old, and that baby was abosolutely adorable. They were all so kind and warm, and had us take some raw sugar cane home as a treat. We decided that we would go do that more often, it's a great way to start talking about the church because at some point they all ask "why are you here so far from home" and then "serve your fellow man" and all that comes into play...

Okay now for the crazy story...

So Tuesday I woke up fine, but by 11 am I was feeling queasy so I cut my tutoring session short, which by the way that girl is doing amazing, I honestly think she is the reason I came here. Anyway I felt sick so I went home and slept until I woke up with a fever, and then I started throwing up then I got a huge hedache that felt like someone had hit me in the head with a baseball bat. My body ached all over and I could barely get out of bed. I thought this was like maybe a 24 hour flu but it wasn't getting better only worse. I couldn't sleep all night because I either was running a fever or freezing cold.

Wednesday I woke us even worse with a bigger fever, and I hadn't been able to eat or drink anything and get it to stay in my system since tuesday morning, so our study abroad director took me to the Sommerfield Clinic which is basically the outpatient hospital that the embassaries and their families use here in Maputo. I guess I looked pretty bad when I got there because they took me straight to a bed and took my vitals. I was dehydrated and still throwing up with a fever, and a high pluse and other medical stuff that I guess was serious so they gave me an IV of saline and some medicine to stop me from throwing up. A few hours later they decided to send me home with some anti-biotics to take over night and see how I would do with those. Well, I promtly threw that up as soon as the medicine they gave me for nausea wore off and kept throwing everything up all night, I could feel myself becoming more and more dehydrated.

Thursday I woke up to the director telling me he had called a cab and they were taking me back to the hospital, since I was worse and couldn't take my medicine. My roomies later told me when they looked at me when they got up and looked at me sleeping in my bed that I was seriously yellow. Um, not normal. When I got to the hospital they said I would have to get my antibiotics interveinously since I was too sick to take them orally. They put me in a hospital bed, drew lots of blood, gave me my second IV line in 2 days, and for those of you who know how much I hate blood and needles know that this was not fun for me. Thank goodness I was too out of it to really care. My tests came back negative for malaria for the 2nd day in a row and also negative for Dengue and some other crazy deseases which was good news. They knew I had an infection but couldn't figure out what it was. So they kept me on an IV and told me they were going to admit me to a nearby hospital and keep me there for 48 hours while they figured things out and when I looked good enough I would be allowed to go home. I was sad because I am so far away from my family and friends and spending the night in a hospital alone didn't sound like a good time. At the same time I knew that if that's what needed to happen that that's what I would do.

So then I fell asleep...and when I woke up I felt SO much better, my roomie Kaylee who was with me said I looked better and all the nurses and doctors said the same...Anyway 9 hours later they said I was in good enough shape to go home since my vomiting had stopped and my fever had broken and my vitals were normal again! So after an IV bag of atibiotics and a few bags of saline I was back in my "home" in Machava at ADPP. My brazilian friends who I met here (love by the way that no matter where I am I seem to find brazilian friends:) gave me a welcome home present of a hot shower up at their house, those girls are wonderful!

Anyway long long story longer...I am feeling much better now, not 100% but for sure good enough to sit here and write all this up. My rapid recovery I atribute 100% to the blessing I was given when I got sick that promised me that I would be healed promptly, I am so thankful for priesthood blessings and for the power of prayer. I am finally eating again today, some soup and plain white toast which after 3 days without eating tasted amazingly good! I missed work and my students were asking for me, guess they like me after all:) I'll start again on monday hopefully.

BTW-ADPP got our group a computer and internet so I can upload some pics and stuff when I feel up to it. They will be here soon! Okay I Will write more soon, thanks mom and dad for your prayers and support, they help even when they are coming from thousands of miles away, I love you both!