Me Siento Enfermo

The first thing people told me before going to Peru is not to drink the water and be careful what you eat. Me, being the cautionary and worrisome person I am, have drank only bottled water and was careful with what I ate. However, even being careful, I still ended up getting sick and spent two nights in the hospital due to contracting a parasite.

It started two days ago, the official celebration of the Festival of the Sun here in Cusco. Ben and I checked out of our hostal and walked around to find breakfast. Even at 10 o’clock in the morning, there were hundreds of people filling the streets of Cusco, eating and drinking in celebration. I even got to hold an adorable baby alpaca!

It seemed like the start to a great day, until we sat down for breakfast and like an intense wave I felt fatigued and cold. The minute my breakfast came out, I had lost my appetite, only eating a piece of toast and some scrambled eggs. I had a chill inside me that not even my coca tea could warm. Thinking it was the effects of the high altitude hitting me extra hard after a night of drinking, I drank as much water as I could. Ben booked our next AirBnB and promised he wouldn’t be upset if I took an hour or two to lay down and feel better.

Once we got to the room (Ben would probably like me to mention that he carried both of our backpacks to our AirBnB because he’s just the sweetest) I climbed right into bed and covered myself with blankets. We were even lucky enough to have a space heater put in the room. I took a two-hour nap, hoping I would wake up refreshed and ready to get started with our day. Unfortunately, I woke up to feeling worse and colder than ever.

Now, it’s very rare for me to have a fever, so when I have one I know. Ben ran to the pharmacy and asked for Tylenol, or something similar, and brought it back for me. Hoping it was just a simple sickness that a pain reliever and fever reducer could heal, I popped the pills and went back to sleep. Not wanting to ruin Ben’s day, I told him to go to the festival and enjoy Cusco; I would call him if I needed anything.

Later that night I woke up and felt worse than ever. Still shivering with an intense chill, even though Ben claims our room was the hottest room he had ever been in, I knew something was wrong. After taking my temperature and finding out it was a whopping 102 degrees, Ben called a doctor for me.

In Peru, the doctor will come right to you. In just 40 minutes, a physician came up to our room and did a physical examination in which he then concluded that I should be taken to the hospital. They already had the ambulance outside and ready, I just had to pack a bag and come down. It was all very impressive the swiftness of events that took place that night. From climbing into the ambulance to being rolled through a hospital in a wheelchair to a room already prepared for me, to being hooked up to an IV and put on oxygen, to diagnosing me with a parasite and an ear infection just a few hours after I arrived, I was impressed. In just an hour of being in the hospital, Ben claims I looked 100% better.

A special thank you to Ben for discretely taking pictures

This was my first time ever being in a hospital, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t scared at all. Having Ben by my side and such friendly nurses who spoke English very well, I was glad to be there. Throughout the night nurses came and went checking on me and replacing fluids and antibiotics. The room itself was amazing. It was private with a hospital bed for me and a queen sized bed for Ben. We had our own bathroom as well as a TV with access to Netflix. Something that could have been a very scary experience, turned out to be easy and comfortable.

After spending two nights in the hospital under watchful care I was ready to get out of there. Mostly, I was ready to get the IV out of my arm. Not being one for needles, knowing that one was inside my arm freaked me out. It will take a few days to finally feel completely normal. With a strict diet of which I can eat bread and pasta (yay!) for the next three days, hopefully we will be able to make our trek to Machu Picchu soon and head back to Lima where we can breathe again.