Not a Bad Joke

Let me say at the outset that Richard deserves several gold stars for putting up with me and taking such good care of me.  Now we may proceed.

So a Kenyan, a Chinese and an American drove to the doctor's office yesterday.  I was the American, and we were going because I have been sick since Friday with fever and "other things."  I won't bring you into that part of my life, dear reader.  Anyway, the Surgery, as it's called is clear on the opposite side of Nairobi in a quaint place called Karen, about a bumpy hour away.  My doctor is dutch and very nice and knowledgeable and nearly bowled me out of my chair when she said, "Worst-case-scenario: Typhoid.  We can all get it."  Yum.

She sent me to get blood work down the hall and a shot for nausea so I could have some liquids. The head nurse is Kenyan, and she was in a Bible study with our village director for a long time, so we kind of chatted about that while I pretended she wasn't sticking a needle in my arm to suck my blood out.  The problem was, by the time she got to the nausea shot, we had used up our small talk.  She told me about five times that, "The shot is going to sting a little, well, a lot, I mean it really will hurt."  Lovely.  So jokingly I asked her to sing something in Kiswahili to take my mind off of it and I was surprised when she obliged.  How many nurses have done that for you?  And she didn't lie.  It did hurt a lot.

My two friends went to get my antibiotic from the Chemists (we don't have pharmacies) and left me at the Surgery to recover.  While I was in the waiting room, two British ladies were waiting for their friend, and a third lady walked in.  Put on your best high-British accent and read the following out loud:

LOVE-ly CAR-di, dear.

DO you Like it? (Hop around like a little crow and show off your sweater.)

VER-y DASH-ing.  Where-EVER did you GET it?

Anyway, their conversation warmed me up a lot and made me feel better.

Yesterday we called back to get the results of the blood work.  Thankfully, I do NOT have Typhoid.  Yay!  Unfortunately, I do have a bacterial infection of the abdomen.  Boo. So now I'm at home, day two of three of antibiotics and praying I'll be able to teach tomorrow.  We don't have substitutes, so all the other teachers are giving up their planning to cover my classes.  And Class 5 started a new novel today and I really wanted to be there.  I know, I'm a sick puppy.