While driving my motorbike, both of my hands started falling asleep and my vision was blurring... I had to finally pull over and just lie down. Motorbikes were zipping past me as I was on the side of the street next to my bike, still with my helmet on. A lady walking by stopped and asked if I was ok... and helped me to get a bottle of water.
I got on my bike again... just trying to make it back to my place. (I had to pull over once more to lie down... and a crowd of about 10 or 12 people were surrounding me, peering down at the Western girl, sick or hungover, lying on the side of the street.)
Finally making it back to my place, just barely... I fell into bed and slept for about 16 hours. Waking up and not feeling much better, I Skyped with my parents and then took a taxi to the doctor's office. I was told that I would have to wait about 20 or 30 minutes until a doctor was free... sitting in the waiting room, I was having trouble sitting up. Since I was the only one in there, I ended up lying down on the floor... it was all I could really do and the most I could do for myself at that point was just lie with my eyes shut.
After a few minutes the ladies from the counter realized I had disappeared and found me on the floor! ...Well, that quickly got me a bed in the emergency room. I talked with a doctor... there were some communication problems but overall, my entire experience in the emergency room was good (considering the circumstances) - I've always felt comfortable at Family Medical in District 1.
I had a high temperature and they said they were going to take some blood... but I ended up being left alone for about and hour and a half or so... which was fine with me - I wasn't exactly up for doing anything else that day other than sleeping anyway.
Finally - they took the blood sample and I received my first ever IV. I did NOT enjoy that. The doctor had told me it would take about 30 seconds for the needle... which was true, but I was so sick, I wasn't thinking that the IV would take a lot longer. When the nurse told me I would have the IV in my arm for 2 to 3 hours, I broke down and started crying. That's when I called friends for support.
Anyway - turns out that I had a parasite AND a bacterial infection. I had saline with electrolytes and the first round of meds for the infection dripped into me through the IV. I spent about 6 hours at the doctor's and then was send home for a few days of rest with a ton of meds.
NOT liking the IV... but thankful to be feeling a bit better and having good friends there with me... was able to muster up a thumbs-up!
Bottles #2 of each, ready to go in...
Bottle #1...
Home finally... with lots of meds... and hot tea.
I feel incredibly thankful for and lucky to have amazing friends in Vietnam.
As soon as I called Vince (sobbing while they put the IV into my arm), him, Elizabeth, and Donna came to the emergency room straightaway and spent the next few hours with me, while lots of liquids and meds slooowly drip-dropped into me.
The next day, while sleeping and resting at home, I had this gorgeous flower delivery! Jen and Nick sent them to me... so sweet.
