Yesterday we had a trip planned to the ICDDR,B which stands for the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research of Bangladesh. This center is the best hospital in the world to deal with diarrhea problems. Now, the title of this blog is tied directly to this hospital, as I had received a wonderful bout of diarrhea the night before our trip. After a 2 hours bus ride in stand still traffic (should have taken 45 minutes) the exhaust fumes had gotten to me and made me feel quite sick. After a quick introduction from the hospital's leaders in their conference room, we then were lead on a tour of the hospital. Now, if one is suffering from diarrhea, walking through a room full of diarrhea illnesses and breathing in the wonderful aromas really doesn't help. After a few minutes in the wards I needed to QUICKLY use the bathroom. Now, this is interesting in another way because I was also forced to use an eastern style bathroom. Which is basically a hole in the ground. I'll spare you from the details, but I did a very good job, if I do say so myself. As I caught back up with the group, we had to walk back through the ward. After about 2.5 seconds I realized that I was probably going to throw up, so me and our masters level teachers assistant went outside so I could get some air and sit down. The chief nurse (who was leading the tour) brought me some rice water to drink. Rice water is basically the savior for anyone with severe diarrhea. I am not sure how they make rice water, but I'm pretty sure they just boil rice in a ton of water until it becomes a liquid. So essentially it's liquefied rice. Not the best of tastes.
After a glass of rice water and sitting down for 20 minutes, I felt ready to make it back up to the conference room for lunch. I had a tiny bit of lunch while watching everyone else eat, and then we made our way down to get a tour of another part of the hospital. But of course, we had to walk through the wards. After a few seconds I knew that I was immediately going to lose what little lunch I had just eaten. I told the chief nurse and he threw me into this room (apparently the ICU), sat me down, and instantly gave me a bowl to... "use." Now this bowl was perfect, until it was full. Then they removed this bowl from the top of the bucket that it was covering. This bucket was under a bed in the ICU. These beds have holes in the middle with sleeve things that lead down into buckets. Holes, sleeves, and buckets for diarrhea. I was now throwing up into a bucket with diarrhea in the bottom. You tell me if you would start throwing up more. I finally got a new bucket, as well as a shot of an anti emetic (prevents vomiting) and then was rushed off to some special observation room that was empty. At this point, everyone else went on the rest of the tour and I laid in bed with a fresh cup of rice water and 6 people looking after me. I am pretty sure that because I was American, everyone was trying to give me the best care possible. After an hour or so, when everyone was done with the second tour, a doctor came in to see me and said I would be fine but that he wanted me to stay a few hours for observation. If I stayed, the group would have gone home and my instructor would have stayed with me until I was good to go. Knowing that we had a ton of nursing supplies in our house, and that all I was to do was sleep... I decided to leave the hospital AMA and go home with everyone else. Don't you worry though, I am feeling much better now. How lucky for me though, that my first experience with traveler's diarrhea would be while I was at the world's best diarrhea treatment hospital. The staff at the hospital was so accommodating and it was just wonderful.
After we got back to the house we had dinner (I had white rice) and then we had our evening class going over the day and some readings we had done. Today we spent the morning at a local orphanage called Families for Children, a Canadian group. It was so nice to go, get a tour of the facilities, and hang out with such cute kids for a few hours. Now, this is my first orphanage that I've been to, but I was told that this was a nice one. The kids all seemed happy, and cared for. They also have the only program for abandoned children with special needs. It was nice to see the orphanage, play and sing with the kids, and hopefully brighten their days.
This afternoon we all got lunch an then did a bit of shopping. I decided that I would like a three-piece suit, as I don't have one. So we stopped into a tailor, I got measured, I picked out my suit and fabric, and that was it! All for 8000taka. Or about $120. For a three piece suit. Crazy. It will be ready in 7 days and I can't wait. Anyway, just got in to do some "internet-ing" and then it's back over to our house to have our evening class and then dinner. Things are going so well and I am loving it!
Hope all is well at home!
Miss and love you all!
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