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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Repenting of Jet-Lag-Righteousness

A certain person in our family coined the phrase:  "I don't do jet lag".

Of course he didn't do sleep either, at least not as much as other kids.  And yet his general jump-in ignore-sleepiness and just-go attitude does seem to help him adjust quickly, and he goes back and forth between continents pretty regularly.

When we flew to CT a couple weeks ago, and then back to Kenya, I felt like I was embracing his mantra.  I stayed awake in the daylight and slept hard at night.  I did wake up early in America, and I was a bit tired back in Kenya, but the combination of call nights prior to departure and then delayed flights on the way back made me tired enough to just jump into the new rhythm.  I thought I was doing great.  I felt a little sorry for Scott who was waking up in the night.  I felt a little righteous about being able to travel so well.

Then Friday I felt a little tinge of indigestion, and thought, that's odd, but I guess I ate too much pizza and this is how people feel who can't deal with pizza.  Hope that isn't becoming me.  It is my admin day so after a 7 am meeting I came home and had coffee, but I wasn't too hungry.  I was feeling more and more draggy but forced myself to take the dogs for a jog because I'd had no exercise all week (it is so hard to fit in!).  The jog slowed to a walk, I threw up twice, and then got goosebumps.  This is not normal.  I barely stumbled home in time to shower and fall into bed.

Shaking chills, aching bones, semi-conscious, unable to eat or drink or think, I laid there all day long.  Scott came home and took a blood test from me for malaria since we went to Uganda recently.  Negative.  Before I got sick I had been communicating with our Bundi team, which is perhaps why when my temp topped 40 (102) I morphed our mosquito net hanging above my head into an angel who then turned into Lucy W (sweet little girl on that team) who was showing me a large glazed donut and admonishing me never to waste money on such pastries because they had holes in them.  It was some fever.  About 10 pm it broke, and I ate a bit to stomach some ibuprofen and then sleep again all night.

I feel WAY better today, and am thankful for Mardi taking my rounds and call.

No idea what that mystery fever was, but I suspect that a time-change turn-around of a week, work, call, school activities, and the emotional drain of goodbyes, all played a part in giving me zero margin.

I think next time I'll do a little jet lag instead.

1 comment:

Congdons in S. Sudan said...

Wow. I am impressed with the sage advice from Lucy regarding donuts... advice you received during those hours of feverish delerium. In a somewhat similar vein, didn't the Beattles sing her praises, as well?!? Stay well. Maybe that was your P. malariae coming out for a brief foray into your bloodstream, just to keep you on your toes - or off of them, more accurately.