Today we woke up pretty early again and had all day to hang out at the house. We were really excited because our first skype dates were scheduled for the afternoon! Sarah did some laundry and I showered before we made yummy breakfasts. We made the type of eggs where you cut a circle out of the center of a piece of bread on the pan and then crack the egg into the hole. It was really good!
We caught a bus to Arcades, a shopping center that hosts a big African-style market on Sundays. It’s kind of a money trap for Muzungu tourists, but if you bargain well you can find great deals. I got my gifts for my brother and parents! We had a lot of fun looking at all the cool artwork and artisanship. They have really neat sculptures, masks, and carvings here that would take me an entire lifetime to finish. At lunchtime, Sarah and I got sandwiches from Subway (BIG mistake—stay tuned, readers). Subways here are very different and have extremely limited options. We were totally ready to order huge yummy subs with tons of fixings but they had nothinggg, it was such a disappointment. After getting out pitiful subs we sat with Ivy in the shade of an outdoor restaurant. I sampled a really good banana chocolate milkshake there, and I don’t feel guilty about it at all because I haven’t had ice cream in foreeeever.
We passed the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the market until it was time for skype. We were so happy to talk to friends and family from home. The internet connection was strong at the café and it wasn’t too expensive (less than $4 for two hours of internet each), so we’ll probably go back there.
…And that’s about when things really fell apart for us. We said goodbye to everyone and started to pack up our stuff as Sarah told me she was feeling nauseous. We agreed to do our grocery shopping quickly and go home a.s.a.p. We called Lazzy, our usual cab driver, and he said he’d pick us up in twenty minutes. By the time I’d finished the grocery shopping, Sarah was so ill she couldn’t stand. I was so scared because she said she couldn’t feel her hands, feet, and was feeling really nauseous and shivery. Her face was so gray and she looked really weak. To make matters worse, Ivy said the headache she’d been feeling for a couple of days was starting to get really bad and her forehead felt very hot to me. She was afraid she’d caught malaria and wanted to go the clinic. Clearly, there was a very urgent need to get home and of course, Lazzy was an hour late. It gets really chilly here at night, so once the sun disappeared behind the buildings, we just had to wait in the cold even though Sarah and Ivy were getting worse quickly. Eventually, Lazzy showed up and felt so bad he didn’t charge us for the ride home.
We got back and Ivy immediately called Mwape to say she needed a ride to the clinic. Shortly afterward, it became clear that Sarah had food poisoning. She was definitely a trooper and very tough despite how sick she was feeling. When Mwape showed up, he insisted that Sarah come with him and Ivy to the clinic so they could double check that she was malaria negative. We were confident that she only had food poisoning, but it wasn’t worth the risk so we eventually decided to go.
The clinic we went to is owned by Britain and supposed to be the best medical facility in the city. We were very unhappy with how things went there. The nurse took Sarah’s blood pressure and temperature (it was in Celsius, and when we asked her whether the number was in a serious range she just kind of muttered and didn’t answer us, so we didn’t know how bad her temperature was). Then the doctor showed up and was quite unprofessional in asking Sarah about her symptoms. He looked in her mouth and said, “You’re dehydrated.” Well no kidding Doctor, she just told you that she had been throwing up but you barely listened to her. He told her he was going to take a malaria test with a finger prick and we tried to explain to him that Sarah has vasovagal syncope (it just means she faints when a needle breaks the surface of her skin; it doesn’t mean she can’t get injections or finger pricks, the doctor just needs to be aware that her body will react that way). Of course, he had absolutely no idea what we were talking about and that just added to the frustration because any doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, dentist, etc. in the States would absolutely have known was vasovagal syncope is.
At any rate, he pricks her finger and she immediately can’t hear anything, vision goes white, etc. and he just walks away. He didn’t ask her if she was okay or if she needed anything. He just left and the nurse was m.i.a. so I got her a cold cloth and a bucket in case she was sick. The doctor came back and was like “You’re malaria negative. I’m going to give you two injections.” And Sarah and I were both like “No, what injections are you talking about? Why does she need them?” He wouldn’t give us a straight answer at all and finally Sarah was like, “Why do I need injections?” and he responds with, “Because you’re sick”. Really, doctor? So we both tell him she’s not getting any injections and he was like, “Then why did you come?” and was getting all impatient with us. So Sarah told him she only came to check for malaria and she wanted to leave now and I agreed. At this point, the stress from the situation was only making her feel worse and it was triggering a migraine (of course her migraine medicine was back at the house—this trip to the clinic was turning into a complete disaster). The doctor walked away without another word and then came back almost immediately and was like, “But you have to come back between 9 and 11 tomorrow morning to run more tests. We need a blood, urine, and stool sample”. We asked him why she needed more tests and what they were for and he just wouldn’t answer. I finally followed him back to his desk and insisted that he tell me what the tests were for and he said, “Red blood cell count”. I was like, “Umm you need to take a blood, urine, and stool samples just to check her red blood cells? And why do you want to do that in the first place?” Again, he avoided the question. If the “Because you’re sick” comment wasn’t enough, that was definitely the last straw and we were both ready to get out of there and never go back. He clearly just wanted to make money off of Sarah by giving her medicine she didn’t need and when that didn’t work, he tried to get her to come back for more tests. It was clear she had food poisoning and for the time being, these mystery tests and injections were very unwarranted. When Sarah started to throw up again the nurse just asked me what was wrong with her, and when I said she was sick from eating something she just walked away. She didn’t get Sarah a new bowl or even a cold wet cloth, she just stared at her and then left. Great service huh.
Sarah stayed on the bed and rested while I went to check up on Ivy, who had just been diagnosed with an ear infection by the same doctor. We all went back home with Mwape and Sarah went to sleep almost immediately. Ivy lent us a WHO (World Health Organization) packet with oral rehydration therapy formula, which we used to help replenish the water she’d lost. She didn’t end up getting sick again after the visit to the clinic, so it was obvious she just needed rest and recovery time. Ivy was still in a lot of pain, so our host, Mubanga, stayed up with her until 3 in the morning.
It was a super long and stressful evening, that’s for sure. It certainly highlighted the difference in medical resources between high- and low-income countries. We are so used to being within ten minutes of one of the best medical facilities in the entire world, and in Zambia there just isn’t an option like that. It makes us wonder what middle and low standard clinics must be like here. There are no ambulances, no 24-hour pharmacies…there are so many things we take for granted in the States that are so critical. The clinic we went to was supposed to be the best available, and we were really appalled at the way Sarah was treated. It’s very lucky that we’ve been here almost a month and this is the very first time either of us has gotten even mildly sick. If it was a weekly event, we might have a really big problem on our hands. Hopefully, that will be the first and last time either of us get sick. It will certainly be the last time we eat at Subway.
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