When last you left your plucky traveler, she was sitting in a wheelchair, wearing one of those paper hospital gowns with no back, suffering from the trots and the pukes and unable to speak the language particularly well.
So what more could go wrong? apparently plenty. I was dehydrated after several days of being unable to keep food or water down so inserting an I.V. needle about the size of a #12 ground wire was rather difficult. First trying my left crook of the arm-usually the sweet spot for blood draws and I.V. cannulas-nun nurse found no joy there.... then the crook of the right arm, the right fore arm, the right hand, the left fore arm, the left hand and finally a central line. Finally. I was so happy to be done with all the pokes that I cried. I do admit I wasn't very happy, that I was running a fever and that I was sort of afraid of what this was going to cost me. And I'd never had a central line put in before either so that was sort of scary. This all took place in the E.R. aka sala de urgencias prior to being taken to a room.
I held my computer, my purse and wet clothing in my lap as I was trundled down a corridor and into the elevator, up several floors and into a ward of women and what looked like nuns but who I discovered later were nursing nuns for the most part.
I was given a bed and a pitcher of water, a nausea suppository, a pat on the head and left alone.
Eventually I fell asleep.
That evening Dr Jesus came by to check me out. I was still running a pretty high fever but since they told me what it was in liters or kilometers or something, I'm not sure how high it was. But I had a headache and generally felt rocky. However, I hadn't pooped or puked for several hours and I looked on that as a good sign.
Dinner came but I wasn't hungry. Besides I was still nauseated and didn't want to make things worse. They kept changing bags of whatever they were running into me though and I sure had to pee. I asked the man who delivered the dinner trays "el bano?" and he gestured to a door down the ward several beds. However there wasn't an I.V. pole with wheels nearby so I lifted the bag and, holding my gown together in the rear, shuffled down the aisle, smiling gamely at the other women who were chowing down on dinner and gossiping to each other.
I had just made it to the john when one of the nun nurses rushed up to me and tried to guide be back to my bed. "NO! El Bano. EL BANO" I loudly said.
'
"No No" she said. "Si, Si el bano por favor" I replied with emphasis, jerking my arm out of her gasp. It was either el bano or peeing on the floor at that point.
She let me go in and I rushed into a cubicle, after noticing the urinals on the opposite wall. Oh. I was in the mens bano. Oh well, the door closed and I peed, finished and peeked out. The room was still empty and I scuttled from the mens room into the arms of Nurse Nun Ratchett who grimly pointed me to the senoras bano. Why there was a mens bano on a woman's ward I haven't a clue, and why I couldn't use it when there were no men around, I haven't a clue either however apparently I had made a grave error.
The darkness fell and meds were brought around to some of the other women, Mine were on my table side, so I turned on my lamp and tried to translate the directions, having forgotten what Dr Jesus told me that morning. I figured another Cipro wouldn't do any harm and maybe would do some good..being of the 'more is better' viewpoint when it comes to drugs (a hold over from the 1960s I do admit).
I got out my computer and looked for a wireless connection-silly girl-or a plug in connection-silly girl- put it away and hauled out my book having decided to read. All around me voices were chattering in spanish, the nun nurses were taking temps and BP's and testing for blood glucose. Eventually it was my time for a blood draw, BP test ()very high I assume) and a BG test also for some reason. They also wanted a urine sample but had to leave the cup for that. We got along with gestures and smiles..it wasn't too bad.
Eventually I fell asleep with the light on. And woke up to another BP/blood draw/glucose test and request for urine about midnight. And at 3AM. And at 6 AM. And at 9AM.
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