Mystery Illness Returns

“Laughter is the best medicine…

except for treating diarrhea.”

Last week I had to go down to Lome to recover from a mysterious stomach illness. I’ve had this about three times now since I’ve been in Togo. Basically, I was up all night for two nights in a row with diarrhea and vomiting. It gets so bad that an hour into it you have to pretty much stay on the toilet to vomit or you’ll poop your pants. I know, TMI, right? You pretty much lose complete control of that end of your body and it’s not pretty. It lasted about 8 hours the first night and then about 6 hours the next, and that’s when the medical unit decided I should go down to their office in Lome. 

Once I got there, I took a pill that calmed my stomach and I was able to keep down water and gradually work food back into my diet. It really astonished me that nothing came up on my lab work. Hopefully, this is the last time I have to deal with that particular mystery illness. 

On my way back to Kpalime I took some pictures of the drive. My little neighbors were very happy to see me again. We played all weekend together with my jump rope and soccer ball. I think their favorite thing to play is model. They love to pose for pictures and then rush to my side to look at the picture I just took. This little group of kids is going to be really hard to say goodbye to. I will never forget them, and I hope that they'll remember me years from now.