CRAMPS! i woke up, struggled to reach my water, drank, let the cramps subside, and fell back to sleep. The next morning i woke with a raging fever and pulsating headache just behind my eyes. The smell of the local medicine (bruised bone maybe? i had Srue (shroo-ay), a long time church member, make me something for it) wrapped onto my wrist stung my nose adding to my already slight nausea. i drug myself out of bed, half crawled to the couch to where my clean clothes
lay in a crumpled heap, hunched a clean(?) shirt over my shoulders, and stumbled out of the door to our truck. After going one for three on students i landed in bed in a sweaty, infant like pile where i laid, stubbornly medicationless, until noon.
Two days of sweating, shivering, loss of water, and voluntary starvation passed before i succumbed to my mother's pleas to grab my man card and head to the hospital. Before leaving, my body had one hurrah of liquid excretion (both varieties) to bid me farewell and good luck. At the hospital i registered a fever of 39.5°C (103.1°F) and a blood pressure that anyone over the age of 60 would envy. After an hour and a half wait i saw the outpatient doctor, a very well educated middle aged kosraen woman, who immediately admitted me and began testing for dengue fever and infection.
As i lay dying on the cot, staring at the once intricate cob webs now hanging mangled yet still inhabited above my head, the nurse did her best to find anything hollow and blood carrying worth pricking in my arm. With each new prick-n-wiggle i studied a different spider; lucky for us there were only four. With the life juice flowing, i made my way out of the AirCon oasis needle room and across the hallway to my stall where three empty beds lay waiting. There i stayed, for the next four hours in my lightweight sleep pants, size too small, bright blue, cotton engineering t-shirt, and brand new blue and green running shoes, in the fetal position, shivering. The doo-dee-doo doo-dee of the half operational blood pressure machine would occasionaly interrupt my thoughts of "i don't want to be here. i don't want to die. God, please help get better. Where are my friends? i'm so cold". Dehydrated due to nausea, too tired and weak to drink, sleepless from constant shivering, exhausted from 3 days of high fever; i'd hit rock bottom both mentally and physically.
In a brief window between shivering a sweating, God sent my redemption; the push at the top of the hill. Pastor walked in my doorway carrying a bright red flower print pillow and bed sheets. What followed was one of the greatest acts of selflessness i've experienced. Pastor stripped my shoes off of my sweaty, sticky feet and began a deep massage to get my blood flowing. Meanwhile his wife furiously sponged me down to lower my fever and BeeWee called his brother to come stay with me for the night. Minutes after them leaving the boys walked in, took on whiff, and began complaining of my stench. Though my body was decaying, attracting flys and mosquittos, my mind was at peace. i was surrounded by friends, jokes, laughter, and love.
In typical fashion, through the night my fever disappeared and i again awoke feeling better; not fixed, but better. Within 20 minutes of my eyes being open, the fever onslaught began for the third time; burning, sweating, freezing, shivering, repeat. As Jason, the pastor's son who so graciously stayed with me the entire night, helped fan and sponge me down, i did my best to prepare mentally for another day of misery. When Lawrence, Carmen, Andrew, and Tina walked through my surgial tubing framed passage into my sty, the changes began. Through much commotion, phone calls, conversations with doctors, and waiting, i was released and flying down the road towards the airport for a medivac flight to Guam. The circumstances surrounding my evacuation were without a doubt God sent, and unfortunately, the list of reasons is too long to write here.
As i write this, i sit in the SDA clinic on Guam, freezing, but this time not from fever. Three days of IV treatment behind me, more testing, hydration, and rest ahead. i'm still battling the virus, dealing with symptoms, and recovering from severe dehydration, but i'm on a path that isn't dengue, secondary infection, or more dehydration that was sure to plague me in the hospital on Kosrae.
Updates: by the numbers: lowest heart rate: 35 highest heart rate: 96 lowest blood pressure: 94/39 lowest temperature: 97.4 highest temperature: 103.7 needle pricks: 10 days on IV: 4 doctors seen: 6 meals since Friday: 5 pounds lost: 0. There are no sinks in the hospital bathroom on Kosrae. The staff is great, but doesn't have the resources to function like they really need (you can help!!). How to help: contact me with your desired level of help you can offer and i will coordinate with the hospital to help them best use you to their advantage. i have a flight back to Kosrae on Monday, the challenge is, can i be better by then? Lots of prayers have been said for me, keep them coming, i'm still not done yet with this crazy ordeal. A big thanks to the Robinson and Kasperbauer family for organizing, paying, and hosting me while here on Guam.
i'm alive,
Tyler
