The Kelsey Disease

Dear God, my little boat and I
are on your open sea.
Please guide us safely through the waves
my little boat and me.

Starting Tuesday, I was feeling odd. I lost my appetite and had a slight headache all day while teaching. Wednesday was the same. Thursday I decided to sleep it off and called in sick while another SM taught my classes. I felt better that night, and even made lesson plans for the next day. But that night I developed a fever that wouldn't go away until Monday. I slept horribly, woke up and felt worse. My fever got up to 103.5 F that night and my head was on fire. I hadn't eaten much, and could only handle graham crackers or saltine crackers. So, Saturday morning our SM Coordinator, Joy, took me to Genesis hospital (right next to Pohnpei State Hospital). It's a huge pink hospital that is semi-clean with air conditioning and nice rooms. The medical care, in comparison to the states, leaves muuuuchhh to be desired :) The doctor examined me, took a blood test and UA and decided I had a Kidney Infection. She gave me cotrimoxazole antibiotic and sent me home.

Well, on Friday night when I was up around 3am talking to my brother on Skype my roommate Kelsey Hebard came out of her bedroom telling me her body ached and she had the chills. Oh no. What is going on!? I took my antibiotics and fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up I wanted to die. The left side of my back (assuming my left kidney) was so sore I couldn't move. My fever was hovering around 103 F the whole time, and I was throwing up everything. Even a small sip of water sent me to the toilet. I couldn't keep any of my medication down and I was in terrible pain. I knew I was in trouble. I was dehydrated, with barely any food in me for the past four days, with a kidney infection. That was when I was checked into the hospital. The first day was miserable, my fever spiking and the pain increasing. They put me on IV fluids, and pain medication but didn't put me on IV antibiotics immediately. I got worse. The only nice thing was that my big pink room had a tiny TV that was playing The Fugitive when I walked in - one of my favorite sunday "watch with dad" movies. Silly, I know, but it made me feel closer to home. People came in and checked on me and stayed with me, including Maureen - the Principal's wife. She slept next to me in the bench and when my fever spiked and my body was flailing around from severe chills she rubbed me down with cold towels (including her daughters dress) trying to help me stop. She held my hair back as I threw up more water, and made sure the nurses were paying attention to me. Finally they put me on IV antibiotics, and I think that's when I started to feel better. Carley came to visit and brought her laptop full of Friends episodes.. She laid next to me as we watched five episodes. I don't really remember this, but I'm so glad she was there.

Just as I woke up, Johnson, the school's accountant, walked in to tell us that Kelsey Hebard was downstairs getting admitted. She also had a Kidney infection and was dehydrated/couldn't keep her medication down. We were both moved into a big room so we could suffer then next two days together. What an experience we had in that funny pink room.

The first night, both of our fevers slowly went down. We were so out of it, we didn't say a word to each other. I just remember nurses coming in and fixing us up, taking our temp, "102...101....100....99" finally our fever was 99 F and we both slept through the night...mostly.

The next day I woke up with a hand swollen up two times its normal size, thanks to bad IV management. They poked several more holes trying to find a good vein. It was so sketchy.



But we were starting to feel better. Drinking so much water, going to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Cold towels all over our head and neck. Making sure the nurses were helping us, checking on us, trying to keep our family informed even though we had no internet, no phone, and sometimes no way of getting a message home,



People like Carley, Joy, Maureen, Stacey, all helped us during our stay. Slept the night with us, helped us wobble around, got things from the nurses, filled our water bottles. Held our hand as they poked us many, many times!


My view. I wish she'd never gotten sick of course but It was so funny and comforting having someone else going through the same hurts and worries.

The second day there we had so many funny moments throughout the painful ones. Wheeling our IV hangers around, hers was awful and she basically had to carry it everywhere. Watching our IV's fill with blood, complaining about our nurses and complimenting the ones we liked. Making jokes about how much we had to pee, or agonizing over annoying wet towels or changing our shirts with the IV. Our heads hurt, we were so hot, so worried about what we actually had and whether or not it would get worse. But we worried and laughed together :)

Sometimes the nurses didn't do anything, sometimes they were very good. Sometimes I had to fill up our waters, take Kelsey's temperature, and put cold towels on her head, when they wouldn't do anything for us. Haha, but most of the time we had lovely helpers!

Marcus came by and gave me an origami Tie-Fighter!! As you notice, we had to supply our own sheet/towels/blankets,etc. I used all my sheets up during the stay, so I had to use Carley's extra sheets, and that's not even my blanket - that's Lisa's! Haha.

The second day we felt better, but the Doctor was still concerned and we needed to make sure the antibiotics were actually working and our fevers would stay down. Also, we needed to make sure our nausea/vomiting was better otherwise we wouldn't be able to keep any medication down and would just have to be re-admitted.

Tuesday I was discharged in the morning with a temp of 99.4 F, but Kelsey had a temp of 100 F, so she had to stay until 3pm haha. I just stayed with her and we watched Sherlock Holmes on my laptop. It was a funny. The Doctor finally said we could both go, and we were picked up by Mr. V in the yellow dump truck. At home these past couple days my head has been burning, and I have absolutely no energy. That first night Kelsey and I just slept and slept like logs. I think our Kidney infection is getting better, and everything else has gotten better. I had more energy today, as did Kelsey. It's just scary, not really knowing what we had. Leptospirosis has been going around, and that's what many think we had. (Get it from water next to pig farms, which is basically every water area here in Pohnpei). I'm not sure, it's possible. We are both on Penicillin and today my lip swelled up - I'm hoping it's just a funky reaction and not a bad allergy. Oh gosh it never ends does it!

I just pray with my whole heart that no one else gets sick like that, and we don't have to go back to the hospital. It was just too stressful for everyone here, for us, and especially our families back home. It's when you're shaking, scared, and sick in a strange hospital that you realize..."what have I gotten myself into?!" But God was with us the whole time, and He'll help us out even if we need to go back. But please- I'm DONE being sick!!!

Please pray for us. For continued -whole body- healing.

Gen sent me this shirt. When I got back from the hospital I had literally gone through every single shirt I have except this new one in her package. Thanks for the shirt Gen :) Even though I get completely destroyed with teasing when I put it on.

Also. To Louisa, Nana Joan, Auntie Jean and Uncle Ken, and letters from Drea and Julie and Kayla and everyone else - oh my! I got so much mail this past week at the absolute most perfect time. Julie and Kindra, I got your letter from another teacher when I was laying in my hospital bed and read it with such joy. You all sent exactly perfect things. I am incredibly grateful and I feels like I don't need to go grocery shopping until I get back from Hawaii - haha. You are a blessing! I am SO blessed! To have so many people loving and supporting me all around the world. Know you are needed, and loved so much by this girl.