My Bowels Tried to Kill Me, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

Thursday, Jan. 2, 11:10AM Mahendranagar

This week has been completely uneventful, except when My Bowels Tried to Kill Me. Jamey and I have basically been living in this hotel room, waiting for Cara and Bonnie to return from Kathmandu with their replacement passports. With all the holidays this week -- Nepali, American, and Indian -- getting all requisite Visas is taking a few more days. We've been stuck in Mahendranagar now for 9 days and counting, with 3 to go (hopefully, no more please!) before we're on our merry way to India. It's not my style to to sit around dormant and waiting, but besides taking a bike ride around town there's not much to do here. We've taken to watching many movies, so today I watched Ghandi (3 hours) and a 3-part (3 hour) CBS documentary about Silicon Valley. Not really being too Nepali, but honestly, at this point, I'm eager to move on. Now I'm so freakin' Sick of eating dal bhat, you have NO idea (yet!) We looked high and low for Nepali New Years happenings, but their New Year is in May, and it's the year 2068. Bummer.

Two nights ago we ordered Dal Bhat here at the hotel, and I didn't enjoy it at all. Something seemed off -- perhaps the overwhelming spice that I could barely palette. I slept for 12 hours. Next day I barely had any appetite (esp. for Nepali food.) I ate just a banana and samosa all day. I did my laundry, watched a movie, cleaned my bike and found a broken link on my chain, and went out to do a couple errands before the sun set. Fixed the chain at a bike shop, got some $ from the town ATM (which was closed for 2 days), then hit-up the internet cafe for a quickie. Within 5 minutes I was feeling kind of dizzy, and I remember realizing that I was supporting myself on the computer table and was too close to the monitor, so the flicker of the screen's refresh was making me nauseous, and I started to get really sweaty. I staggered to the bathroom, feeling very faint, then came back around to the front of the cafe and sat on the sidewalk. I wanted so bad to lay down, right ther eon the sidewalk, but didn't want to make a scene, so I rested my head between my knees. I was drenched, sweating through all my clothes, and I couldn't get up to go inside and tell Jamey. With my eyes wide open I Couldn't See Anything for a least a few minutes, and some people asked me if I was ok and I couldn't see them or answer. One of the guys on the street went in and found Jamey, after a few minutes I came to and we started home.

We walked at first, but I wanted to bike and get home. I was freezing (being all wet) and shivering. I don't really remember the rest of the night so well, but it involved a LOT of stomach pains, nausea, sitting on the toilet, sweating, shivering, vomiting, and I was so weak that I fainted too many times to count. It was really bad when I was doing both pooing and vomiting simultaneously. (TMI? That's the money shot tho!) This probably went on non-stop for 8 hours. Sometime after 2AM my body finally calmed down a bit, I took one of my antibiotics (apparently the wrong one) and slept for a few hours. Jamey fed me water and took care as best he could. The next morning I felt relatively better, just very weak, sore, and a bit banged-up (from the fainting). We called the Embassy to get the phone number of an English doctor, and got some advice: since there was blood in my stool, I was to go to a hospital in Kathmandu, get a lab test, and I'd have to go on an IV... not good news. I could get there in 3 ways: take a 20 hour bus ride, hire a jeep to drive me all the way (for roughly $333), or charter a flight from an airport 40km away. The hotel owner offered to take me to the medical clinic nearby, a welcome alternative, where I could get a lab test, and if needed I could go to a nearer-by hospital. I got my first Nepali motorcycle ride as a helmet-less passenger, (side note: second helmet's DON'T exist in Nepal -- when in Rome... la la) and I saw a doctor within minutes. He recommended the same meds the Doctor in Kat. did, and said the IV would only necessary be if I was severely dehydrated. Jamey did an award-winning job of making me drink at least 4 Liters of water the night before, with electrolyte pills, to avoid just that scenario. Doc said if I'm not better in a few days to seek further medical attention.

Now it's 5 days later, and I'm completely recovered. In fact, I was back to normal in 24 hours. I'll take that as a good sign for my fighting chances in trials to come. (You can hang up the phone with your doctor now, Dad!) I heard it was inevitable, and also that the first time would be the worst. I friggin' hope so! Bowels be strong! And with my new Mantra I bid you good day! (Avoid the chutney.)