Mr. yuck-face

I finally started taking my medicine today, as it was locked in my room all weekend, which I was locked out of. The door here is a bit picky at times and my key only works when the lock is facing a certain direction, which is not usually a problem because my key won't even exit the lock unless it is that direction. But there are two other girls who live up here and the other girl's key is a bit more functional. When she left this weekend she shut the door all the way and guess what, the lock was facing the wrong way.  It's okay folks, there was another bed in the infirmary, which is really a little room inside of the library. So I got to browse different books which was nice. It also shared a wall with the outside, right next to the "highway" down which cars drive with constant pressure on the horn at around 4 in the morning: not so nice. 

Every morning Sor. Pati asks me how I feel. "Better?" she says with such hope in her voice. "No" I always answer with this sort of half smile that (hopefully) says "I'm sorry, I wish it weren't true." Hopefully now that I'm taking the medicine things will start to improve.  I think the sisters are getting a little tired of my being sick, but who can blame them, all I do is eat their food and sleep all day. Getting up and walking down to the kitchen to get something to eat pretty much wipes me out. After a couple more hours of sleep I might have enough energy to sit up and read a book or something really strenuous like that. I've never had mono, but I imagine it would feel sort of like this.

Sor. told me that they're gonna take me to the doctor again this afternoon...not really sure why, the medicine won't have had any time to do anything, but we'll see I guess. 

Warning: at this point I am going to describe my symptoms and I will be using the word "diarrhea." If that disturbs you, read no further. If on the other hand you are a medical type person (aunt cathy, mom, uncle mark?), I would love to hear your thoughts on all of this so that I have some idea what kind of recovery time I'm looking at and why exactly I don't have any energy. 

I think the general idea is that I am dehydrated because of the diarrhea, but to be honest I only have that about twice a day and I'm drinking about a liter and a half to two liters a day of water and eating normal meals. Yesterday for lunch I had two bowls of chicken soup (with a lot of vegetables), two rolls with fake maple syrup, and two tostadas with peanut butter and more fms. Nothing to sneeze at right? I also drink a glass of Ensure and this re-hydration stuff made for people who get diarrhea in the tropics every day. I can see dehydration being related to the dizziness when I walk, but the complete lack of energy? Is that the bacteria doing some kind of gut voodoo? I've had the anemia since college so I am disinclined to give it too much credit for any of this. I don't know what kind of bacteria I have or what kind of amoebas, but, like I said before (I think) it's not really a problem as long as I'm laying down. I just sleep. A lot.

Being sick does seem to have helped my image with the girls, there are only a couple of hold-outs who are still very much forcing their smiles. One of the girls has been telling me I'm a sinner because of some gossip she heard that I said a bad word. It might be true as I don't know what words are bad in Spanish.  [In fact, if someone would like to send me a list of bad words in Spanish and their meanings, I would be much obliged.] If you know me, you know I'm not much of a swearer, so the whole thing is a little comical to me. I wonder if she thinks I'm being punished by God right now. : p  

Okay, that's enough for now. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the energy crisis. Don't fret, God is totally taking care of me right now! I love you all heaps and oodles and you are in my thoughts and prayers!

Love,

Mary