Sidelined by illness

What a weird week!

I felt tired and dizzy on Thursday last week so I took a little nap on my classroom floor during my non teaching block. I was tired Friday, but made it through the day - I think the energy created by meeting new teachers kept me going.  Saturday morning, I felt really tired but thought if I kept my gym appointment with my trainer.  I told him to take it easy on me because I didn't feel well.  When I stopped my bicep curls at 10, he looked at me shocked and said "too heavy?"  it was a third of what I usually lift.  We decided I should go home.  I made it home and took my first of FIVE naps that day.  I couldn't stay awake longer than 2-3 hours.  Sunday was far worse.  Couldn't stay awake more than an hour.  Speaking exhausted me and made me gasp for air.  I was concerned - I hadn't felt that badly since I was bedridden and drugged up when I was sick with Lupus.  I texted the doctor (such a convenient thing we can do in India!!) and made an appointment for him to come to my apartment the next day.  I nodded off 6 times in the 15 minutes he was in my apartment.  He was alarmed at my lethargy.  He said I had to get someone to stay with me or go to the hospital.  Spending the night in an Indian hospital did not sound like fun!! He called a chemist to bring electrolite packs and a med tech to come and take my blood since there is no way I could leave my house.  The guy came and took a urine sample and a bunch of vials of blood.  He did a pretty good job - left only a small bruise.  I often get huge ones because my veins are so hard to get due to my health problems.  They generally stick the needly in then wiggle it around in there trying to stab a vein.  It is not for the weak!!  I have to look away.  Within two hours they texted me a code to get the results online and I gave access to my doctor. It looked pretty good.  some blood counts were low normal so he thought that fit with his idea that it was a viral infection.  It was so weird - I had no fever - no outward signs of illness except that I couldn't move or stay awake.  The electrolites worked and I started staying up 2-3 hours again.

I have a good support system here.  I called the secretary to tell her that I'd be out Tuesday and Wednesday too.  She contacted the school nurse and she called to check on me and gave me the phone number of the school doctor in case I had to go the hospital.  My principal called and arranged for Evelyn to spend the night.  I was having horrible chest pain so I had to get Mr. Ducky out - He went with me to the doctor's office lots of times when I was sick.  Squeezing him makes my chest feel better.

 
Evelyn sang for me - she was singing for a teacher band at our school - Blues No Bar.  My teaching partner, Jordan is the drummer for the band.  They have been working for months covering a Jimmy Hendrix album and they were performing at a club - The Blue Frog - in Mumbai.  I was going to go even though it was at 10:30 on a Tuesday, but because I was sick I couldn't.  On Wednesday my friend Gretchen came over with Mexican food and my principal Fiona brought chocolate chip cookies.

My Visa was running out so I had an appointment with the Foreign Registration office.  Always a crazy experience in Indian chaos.  I thought if I made it through that ok, I could teach on Friday.  I went to school for a meeting at 7:45 and planned on getting my class started 8:30 to 9:0 and then leave for FRRO.  10 minutes into the meeting I knew I couldn't go to school Friday!!!  I was so tired and dizzy.  My kids were happy to see me, if only for a short time - my advisory made me get well cards.

By the time we got back from FRRO, I felt awful!!  My principal had her driver take me home so I could sit in an actual car, not a rickshaw.  I came home and slept off and on for another three days.

I am going back on Monday and I am excited!!!!  I love my job and I miss my kids!!!  They have been emailing me and telling me how much they miss me!!  So glad I get to go back.

Spring Break - Chiang Mai

I did not do much on Thursday.  I got up took a 90 minute walk, did some work, went to lunch with Zach then we met Nancy and went to the airport to Chiang Mai.  We landed and got to our Guesthouse around 9pm.  It was called Awana house and was near the city wall.  It was about $15 a night and was clean, had hot water, and free wifi.  My room was small, quiet, and had a tiny balcony. It also had AC that didn’t work to well but did have an awesome fan so I was comfy. Seriously.  Can’t ask for more than that!! 

We got up Friday and had breakfast at the hotel then went to Tiger Kingdom.  I know some people have issues with animals on display and how they are treated etc. I would never intentionally hurt or exploit an animal, but I am not a huge animal rights activist either.  I rode elephants in India and they were mean to the elephants – whipping them and yelling at them.  I wouldn’t go back to that place.  But this place seemed ok.  Of course I don’t know what happens when tourists aren’t around.  The staff knew all the tigers names and approximate ages.  I didn’t see them be cruel to the animals or anything.  They played with them etc.  You can pay to go to one tiger cage and pick the size you want – the smaller the tiger, the more expensive it is.  Or you can get a package and two 2 or 3 cages.  Nancy and Zach did smallest, medium, and large.  I did small (about 5-7 months) and large (about 2 years).  I also paid for a photographer to take pictures and got a CD with about 50 pics from each cage.  The cages were big and there were multiple tigers in each cage.  In the big cage the had me sit with a tiger playing in the shade, I petted the only female tiger who was playing in the water, and I got to play with 2 other big tigers.  About 6 other people were in the cage at the same time.  The smaller tigers were a little trickier, they were more impatient and didn’t want to sit while we laid on them etc.  They said not to touch their heads but if I touched past halfway up their back, they would jump and look at me and sometimes growl a little!  They weren’t going to hurt me but they only wanted me at the back!  They didn’t care about their tail – you could do whatever you wanted with it.  Some people got great pictures where they were laying all the way along the tiger’s body.  I am at the tail end every picture because they would get all weird if I went higher.  Maybe they could tell I was a little uncomfortable laying on an animal that could kill me!!  Zach was loving it.  When I told him my chances of getting married would be even less if I was missing an arm – he disagreed and said having my arm ripped off by a tiger would make me cool J  Zach and Nancy went in the cage with the babies and they were so cute!!  You could touch their heads and paws and get great pictures!  If I ever go back I will just play with the babies! 

Afterwards we got back in our red truck (kind of like one of the military ones in MASH – they had benches on the side) and the guy took us to Doi Suthep – one of the most famous temples here.  We hiked up the stairs and walked around.  Zach and I went in the actual temple – Nancy couldn’t because she had shorts on.  We had to take our shoes off and even though we were “in” the temple, it was still outside and the cement and tile were HOT.  Zach and I were trying to walk fast enough to keep our feet from burning, but not be disrespectful by running.  J

We got fresh passion fruit juice and a cup of strawberries.  I seriously love the fruit and juices here!  And I love eating street food without the fear of getting sick.

We had our driver take us to a handicraft market where they make the fancy umbrellas.  It was near bo sang – which is where we wanted to go, but ended up somewhere else.  Nancy was looking at stuff for their wedding this summer.  I can’t go because I will be in Ireland L

Friday night we went to a restaurant called 3 Little Pigs – it is owned by a man from Alabama and it served all kinds of southern food!  Chicken and waffles, Jambalya, biscuits and gravy, fried green tomatoes, hush puppies, etc,  Oh my gosh – Nancy isn’t familiar with southern food, but Zach and I dived it!!

I had to fly back to Bangkok Saturday night so I just walked around Chiang Mai in the morning while Nancy and Zach went to a nearby town to look for furniture.

I saw the temple Wat Chiang Mun – the oldest temple.

I flew into Bangkok and had to get my luggage and check in as an international passenger.  Vacations are nice, but anxiety starts on the way back to Mumbai.  There are always lots of Indians on the plane and that involves pushing, shoving, rudeness etc.  There were 23 people in line and 19 big TVs.  Apparently you are allowed to buy two TVs and bring them back so it looked like a group of people flew to Bangkok to buy two tvs each and fly back to Mumbai.  A western woman started freaking out when an Indian crawled under about three rows of lines and stood in front of her!!  There is just no way to describe the pushing and shoving on an airplane – you wouldn’t understand unless you saw it yourself.  It is beyond comprehension!!

I barely scratched the surface of Bangkok and Thailand.  Will definitely come back.  I love that it is very clean and quiet.  It is fairly cheap to get around.  There is lots of stuff to see and EAT J I wasn’t too keen on the motorcycle taxis but mostly because I was the third person on there and it was a little uncomfortable keeping my feet up because there was nowhere to put them unless I put them on Nancy’s feet.  But I still felt safer being the third person on the back of a motorcycle with no helmet driving in Bangkok than I do sitting in a rickshaw in Mumbai.  By far!! 

It was a fun, relaxing spring break and I so enjoyed seeing Nancy and Zach J