John's Next Step

View from a large cave on the groups of the monastery. Selfie in front of an arch.  I so need a hair cut I was at the Kristo Buase Benedictine Monastery from the 19 th to the 23 rd .  I spent the entire time on the monastery grounds relaxing and joining in with the prayers when my cough allowed.  It was very pleasant.  One minor disappointment was the limited time to be able to discuss things with the monks.  They hold to silence for most of the time as part of their practice.  I did have a nice chat for about an hour on Saturday with some of the monks and a nice shat on Sunday after mass with the priest. I highly recommend a short stay for those visiting Ghana.  There are also plenty of other sites in the area that come highly recommended.  More information is on their website: http://www.kristobuasemonastery.org/ The monastery was established in 1989 on about 400 acres.  The monastery is surrounded by sandstone outcroppings...

No word as of Wednesday from medical.  Peace Corps doctors said it was OK to go to the monastery for a short visit while I wait for the final test results and word of my diagnosis and planned treatment.  I will return to Accra on Monday or continue on to my site depending on what the doctors want.  I’m eager to get back to site and my work but also eager to get rid of this cough and other nagging though minor health issues. I’m hoping to use the time at the monastery as a spiritual retreat.  So I wrote this short post early and scheduled its posting in case I’m unable to post while at the monastery.  I hope to have pictures and something interesting to say next week.  Another reason to go the monastery is to see if a change in environment helps.  My cough got noticeably better at the COS conference and got a little worse once I spent a few days in Accra.  I hope to have some health answers and how this might impact my future health by my...

View of  part of the resort for the COS conference This week I went to the Close of Service (COS) conference.  The conference was two full days with an evening arrival before for dinner and a morning departure after for breakfast.  The purpose of the conference was to let us know how to successfully complete service and to give suggestions on how to move back into the American lifestyle.  After two years of being in the remote villages the reverse culture shock can be difficult.  The meeting for was very good and informative.  It was also nice to see the whole group again. The conference was at a resort in the Volta region and it was very nice.  The rather modern resort was well maintained and by a river.  The food was good - fish every night.  I got to get in a swimming pool for the first time in Ghana.  All in all it was very different from the normal accommodations for a Peace Corps volunteer. While I was at the resort ...

Additional tests came back on Tuesday (last Monday being a holiday) and the PCMO arrived at an atypical pneumonia diagnosis.  It is also called walking pneumonia because it rarely requires hospitalization or long bed rest.  I don’t have many of the typical symptoms, but the sputum culture came back positive for a bacterial infection.  So I started the antibiotics on Tuesday.  By Thursday the cough was not better and I found out that I did not have an elevated white count.  Also, I did not have a temperature.  So we all realized that diagnosis was shaky at best. The best fit for all the results and my history was an allergic response.  But an allergy that only impacted the lungs and not my sinuses and one that followed me from Upper West to the very different climate in Accra – where I do have allergies – did not make sense.  It was like I was breathing in something held close to my mouth that did not impact my eyes or sinuses. Trying to...

The Peace Corps doctors want me to stay in Accra as this cough is worked out – so I’ve been here the entire week.  So far they have ruled out major things like Tb, pneumonia, and cancer.   The good news is that it got better by mid-week.  The bad news it has gotten worse over the weekend.  Monday is a holiday in Ghana so I’ll see the doctor on Tuesday.  (I will send a status update message today to let them know about the decline.) The cough seems to be some allergic response.  I’ve also taken a dewormer.  I know that some people are not thrilled with the mention of worms, and they can be serious, but living in the tropics it comes with the territory (well environment).  (For those brave souls: you can google roundworm and lung.) Talking about worms and other small parasites is just table talk with Peace Corps volunteers.  The treatment is relatively simply.  No worries. Now that I’ve been in Accra for a week I am actually...

I’m back in Accra as the cough treatment given after All-Vol did not do the trick.  The PC doctor did a good initial reevaluation on Friday and ran a number of tests.  He also set up a Monday appointment with a specialist – the earliest available.  My cough was bad enough that near the end of the evaluation he asked how many cigarettes I smoke in a day.  (For the record I smoked “zero in a day, zero in a week, zero in my lifetime.”) I should have updated information and hope to be truly on the mend by my blog post next week. Success in the Peace Corps I’m getting close to less than 100 days left in Ghana.  It is time to reflect a little.  I’ve had successes, failures, and made plenty of mistakes.  There have been ups and downs.  This cough for a month that has interfered with my sleep has not been fun but is one of those things that I can take in stride.  A lot of other people have it a lot worse. During the All Volunteer meeting I...

Traveling south last week gave me a view of the difference between the climate and vegetation in the southern and northern regions of Ghana during the northern dry season. The northern regions get one rainy and one long dry season.  The southern regions get a second smaller rainy season that supports more plant growth.  The difference can be seen out the window of a bus as one drives through the south and the north. View out the bus window in the Eastern Region in Ghana. So much green View with a smudge on the window out the bus window in the Upper West Region 3 days later. So much brown. I was struck by the difference, this being one of the few times that I travelled south during the day, rather than on the overnight.  I spend a good bit of time searching and scrounging the bush for grass and such for the rabbits to eat.  In the south this would be much easier.  So even in a country like Ghana there are drastic differences between regions that im...