A hospital visit


FIRST:  I’m fine.  No worries.  Health issues are common for Peace Corps trainees and volunteers and I’m not the first or even the second trainee in my group to visit the fine hospital on St. Lucia used by Peace Corps.  We have all gotten better with the aid of the caring staff.  Peace Corps takes good care of the trainees and volunteers/

SECOND: I somehow got an infection under my right eye.  I have been having an overly watery right eye and reminded the Peace Corps Medical Officers (PCMO) (a Peace Corps doctor) about the problem on Monday.  I think rubbing my eye to remove the fluid (I know, I know) caused a block or infection in the tear duct or something.  On Tuesday morning I noticed small swelling just under the eye as the infection got started and again notified PCMO.  By Tuesday evening the infection and swelling had covered my right cheek, moved across my nose and over to my left cheek.  PCMO was updated based on the considerable change in a short time.

 Responding fast, one of the fine Peace Corps doctors took me around for lab, x-rays, and a doctor visit on Wednesday (taking most of the day) and I returned to my homestay late afternoon.  I started a mega dose of an antibiotic course that afternoon.  The good news is that we got x-ray results that ruled out a bone infection.  That would have been very troubling.  So, swollen face or not I got a good night sleep.

I awoke Thursday morning with even more swelling - I emailed another photo.  My “homestay mom” was very concerned and called Peace Corps and they talked to me.  PCMO came out again (a 1 hour drive) to check and take me to the doctor at the hospital.  The homestay call, blood results, and my swelling got me admitted to the hospital that day.

 With several courses of IV antibiotics the infection seems to be resolved.  All the IVs might have even helped with a different condition - long lasting sinus infection which I have learned to live with.

 I was released today.

The following pictures shows sometime before the infection, at the worst of it Thursday morning, and today at the hospital before discharge.

 


 I AM FINE AND DOING WELL!!!!  The infection that was causing the swelling seems gone and the unrelated sinus infection is almost gone.

THIRD:  I wanted to give an update on my health, but also wanted to reflect on my time at the hospital.  However, this will make the post too long and it will have to wait for next week.


Love always,

John

Comments

  1. Dan CassidyJuly 2, 2017 at 6:18 PM

    Keeping you in my prayers John. I just went to Mass & remembered you then. Stay safe my friend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John MeisenbacherJuly 5, 2017 at 3:26 PM

      Thanks. As mentioned - I'm better now. Things happen - but that is life and I'm "all in". Peace Corps medical support is great. Peace Corps gave me extra time to recover and now I'm back to training. Followup

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yam harvesting

Image
Roger and I went to farm to harvest yam on Saturday morning, September 13, 2014.  In Ghana a yam is a root crop that is different from a sweet potato.  We have sweet potatoes here as well. Yam recently harvested Preparing a yam for boiling The yam has a white flesh – softer than a white potato. In this area the yams are planted between April and June.  Harvest continues into December and January depending on the weather and pigs getting into the field. The plant is a vine – which is grown on stakes rather than allowed the spread out.  The plants are placed on a raised bed about 2 feet high.  The beds are surrounded by flat trenches.  This allows the rains to flow around, but not wipe out the yam crop.  Intercropping seems to be common practice with yams planted in the raised bed, soybeans around the edges, and rice in the trenches.  The occasional corn or okra plant is also among the yams – although the bulk of those crop...
Read more

Pito – brewed millet

Image
Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.” There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.) In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk. White and red millet in the field Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is ...
Read more

Ghana Archery and Travel to Tamale

Image
Ghana Archery Roger and I were walking to see a man in the community early last week and he happened across an arrow head. It was a long thin metal piece that would be attached to then end of a shaft. That got Roger talking about archery and got me thinking about another blog post. He explained how the arrow worked while we walked and promised to show me a bow and arrow when we got back to his house. He talked about the old times when they made poison. The process involved collecting plants and such things and placing them in a pot which is buried for a year. The poison was used on animals and people in the ancient times. That got me thinking about the information that has been and is being lost in the community from the older generation. Yesterday, I was sitting talking with some of the older men and they were talking about how the grandfathers could dig up the roots and such to make medicine for a variety of illnesses. They told me that the knowledge and practice of m...
Read more