Dengue Hospital

, originally uploaded by ladyhedda.

That first night in the hospital was hell. I was still alternating between sweating and shivering under the blankets and was suffering from a major headache as well as pain throughout my body. I was woken at 4:30am. My room was about 50 feet from the hospital mosque so, five times daily I had to endure listening to the call to prayer. Aaarrrggghhhhh!!! Once the sun came up I had my first good look at the room I was in. On the positive side of things, my bed wasn't bad and the sheets seemed relatively clean. That's about it on the positive side. On the other side of things...... A/C was not working no matter how many people came in and fidgeted with the remote control for it. No fan either. The temperature hung right around 90 degrees Fahrenheit day and night. My room was in the corner of the building with two sets of windows so I had plenty of natural light. Now I know you might think this is a good thing but unfortunately because there were so many curious Indonesians constantly poking their head's into my room to stare at the sick foreigner it wasn't. The walls were absolutely filthy. On my left side the wall had fingerprints of blood sliding down it along with some sprays and splatters of blood that had never been cleaned up. Unbelievable!!! The toilet was a typical squat situation which I nearly fell into that first morning and was filled with mosquitoes. There was a TV with Indonesian language channels but at that moment I couldn't move let alone try to read or watch TV. Dr Leo drifted in at some time during the day to tell me his first diagnosis of Malaria was incorrect. I actually had Typhoid. Loads of anti-biotics and other pills were given to me. I later discovered the nurses were mistakenly giving me sleeping pills during the daytime. Huh??? Who knows what else I took... Some involuntary moaning slipped out as I lay there drifting in and out of sleep/consciousness, hallucinating about tall dark figures striding towards me whenever I closed my eyes.