February 6 Mapusa, feeling better, sort of.

They kept me for the night and although I am still dry and going the loo frequently, I am feeling better. Feels like the fever is gone. I have lost count of how many bottle of 500ml IV fluids I’ve had plus lots of IV antibiotics, an anti-pyretic injection intramuscularly (in my hip, not my butt), cough syrups, medicated steam inhalations, and pills.
1000 The IV in my left hand infiltrated so they had to move it. They missed another stick but finally got one in my right hand. I’m on D5W now and they fed me tea and toast and are letting me drink water now. The fever is gone and I am feeling better. I didn’t sleep well last night but that is no surprise.
I am upset that I am missing out on the team activities. They visited a YMCA and a temple yesterday and today they are going to a wildlife preserve to go bird-watching. I was really looking forward to that. They are keeping me until at least this evening or until the diarrhea stops. I can tell the medication is definitely working though.
They had to change the “plaster” covering the IV site due to severe itching.
I came to India to learn about the EMS systems and visit hospitals and clinics but I sure didn’t plan to get this close a look at them! I told Bernie that when they do the GSE presentation tonight they can say that Misty couldn’t make it because she is studying a hospital from the inside!
1010 I asked the nurse as she was changing the IV bottle and she said she was hanging the 12th 500ml bottle. Wow! I must have been really dehydrated!
1150 They took me down for an abdominal ultrasound which came out fine. Getting there by wheelchair was interesting. The lift (elevator) wasn’t working so we slid down the steep ramps for two floors, laughing the whole way!
The payment lady came and said she can’t get through to the Global Travel Insurance company because the time zones are different and the hours of business don’t coincide. She said the bill will be about 30,000…rupees that is! I heard 30,000 and I almost died! When I converted it to dollars it came to about $800. That’s not so bad.
1830 Jennifer is going to go online for me and try to get a billing address for my insurance.
They went for the elephant rides and bird watching. Apparently there were no birds but the elephants were fun.
2025 Oh the trials and tribulations of being in a foreign hospital! The man from the “canteen” came for payment for the bill for the food I’d consumed and the bill was Rs 105 ($2.69). It doesn’t sound like much but it’s the principle of the whole thing bothered me. I was billed for a fruit salad that was delivered to me with bananas in it after I told them I was allergic to bananas. I couldn’t explain to the man that I didn’t feel I should pay for it. He finally went and got the nurse who explained it to him and he took the fruit salad off the bill and added the tea and toast I had in the morning. Then the bill was Rs 81 ($2.08). That bill I paid him for. I tried to explain to him that I never got the cheese sandwiches that I was supposed to get (and did not get billed for) but he didn’t understand so I will have to survive on some kind of vegetable soup for the night, although I’m not sure how vegetarian it was. I asked if it was “veg” and they confirmed it but I found a bone-like item in the last spoonful and the soup had a strange flavor to it, some chicken broth, I suspect. L
2035 I give up…a nurse just came in and asked if I got my sandwiches. They had better taste pretty good when they get here!
Being an inpatient is a weird experience. I have never been admitted to a hospital that I can remember. They are very attentive to me and if I ring the bell, they usually come within seconds, which is a good thing when I need the IV disconnected so I can go to the loo. They did cap off the IV around 2000 which is making life easier. Communication is very basic with most of the staff but the doctors seem to understand English pretty well. Communication between the staff isn’t the greatest, or maybe it’s my communication. One nurse told me I’d had 12 of the 500 ml bottles then later another told me I’d had 6 bottles. I’ll have to ask the doctor.
2045 Aha the sandwich came. It was thin with cucumbers, half-green tomatoes, cabbage, ketchup, mayonnaise, on white bread. It looked nasty but once I picked the cukes off, it actually tasted pretty good.
I have decided that the next time I get dehydrated, I will make sure to be in America. The IVs here hurt like crazy! I’ve donated blood many times and had IVs before but they never hurt like this. The IV antibiotics burn all the way up my arm too. I know one is a metronidazole drip and I think that is one I had a slight reaction to in the past but it seems to be okay now, other than burning. The catheter in my vein hurts even when it’s capped off. I don’t know what gauge it is but it didn’t look too big. They do have an interesting thing I don’t remember seeing in America. When they blew the vein on the first IV attempt yesterday, the blood pooled under the skin and they spread an anticoagulant gel with (heparin in the ingredients) on the skin. Unfortunately, when I told them the IV site was “paining” me, they spread the same gel on the area…of course it did nothing for the pain. They did put the gel on my hand and arm when it infiltrated too.
By now you’ve probably figured out that I’m spending another night here. I am bored to death. Thank goodness for the TV and laptop! My team, hosts and a variety of Rotarians have been to visit. I was pleasantly surprised and that Radhika and Ajay (in charge of GSE team) came by.