A dark angel perhaps?
Trip Start
Feb 04, 2011
1
57
58
Trip End
Aug 07, 2011
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Friday, July 29, 2011
I thought, its ok, its been a month detoxing, a bit of caffine won't hurt. And 4 drinks later I have to admit my kidneys were already hurting.
We, me and Bira, the guy I'm seeing, then headed to Arambepe. We had decided it was close and a lovely place to spend the weekend. It's a small beachside community with lovely rockpools that form waterfalls with incoming tides. It also has a hippy village that has hosted the likes of janis joplin and jimmy hendrix and natural beauty beyond compare. It was half an hour away from where we were visiting... a likely easy ride and we didn't need an advance reservation as Bira had done it many times before and it was a sleepy ol' town.
We waited ages for a bus, then decided it was late we must get a taxi, the taxi ripped us off. Then when we arrived at Arampebe, it just happened to be the innaguration of the square. Usually a search for a pousada gives you a multitude of options. Not this time!
Finally, we found a place, at this hour (now midnight) it seemed reasonable. We went for the room with ventolation, open windows, the others seemed stuffy.
Then, at around 2am, they arrived"the other couple". Noisy, laden with booze, and perhaps other substances, they commenced a noisy rendition of a pagode (local type of pop song) she says ooh, he says ahh, ooh, ahh, ooh, ahh.... I'm sure you know that song.
Bira and I started laughing. Trying to keep quiet. It was like they were in the bed next to us.... singing this lovely song....
Then we got worried when the lyrics changed.
She kept 'singing'...
"Doy, Doy, Doy"... it hurts - more and more incessantly
Then finally
"Eu vou chorar, para, viu" .... "I'm going to cry stop, get it"....
It was a heavy night..., I'm in a different country, women's rights are different here. Really honestly I didn't know what to do. So I got up and flushed our toilet. I mean seriously there was NO sound proofing between our rooms - and they realised we could hear their 'singing' and he stopped.
We slept. Only to be attacked by mosquites throughout the night. Finally as we found sleep our lovely neighbours commenced again. This time singing more quietly, but yeah no soundproofing is no soundproofing.
We got sleep between 10am and 12 noon checkout, after the other couple left. When we awoke we saw what a crusty horrible room we got, stained sheets, really crusty stained horrible bed... I don't want to go on about it, it was disgusting! Anyways.
We also had no water in the room and did not get our first drink of water till after 12 noon.
Thankfully the day improved from there and had loads of lovely water, and food, and swims in rockpools and cuddles and laughs and the night before was forgotten, all but a funny story... but I suggest that 24 hour period of limited water, unsanitary conditions and caffine, broke me.
When we got home I roasted a chicken, feeling that I needed flesh to bring some strength back into my body. Being tired I mixed up the roasting times, and also turned the oven off at one point, thinking it was only for a bit, it was for a while.... As I ate, I noted it didn't taste right, but I had no energy to recook and it was too late to eat out, so I ate.... Bira only ate the flesh once, but I ate it 3 times in various forms of leftovers and soup. Duh! I also started craving coffee and had a few cups. Bira noted that I seemed worse after coffee. I stopped the coffee mid week.
By mid week it felt like someone was stabbing me in the kidneys, occasionally. I was rushing to the toilet only to find there was nothing there, occasionally. We both had a little bit of the, you know, tropical belly, but nothing serious.
I am of the belief that my fitness and health routine and regular exercise saved me, as with accupuncture.
In hindsight I started sweating from that day in Arambepe till now and I couldn't get enough water into me. I would be drinking Bira's juice from his side of the table and then apologising, my body was unconsciously stealing liquid, trying to get liquid into me. Thankfully he is a humourous lovely man and instead of being offended, ordered more juice, made a joke of it, and also ordered more juice for me. Juice here is loads of water, bit of sugar and fruit in a blender... Its awesome!
By Sunday my body wasn't coping ( a week to the day) I also lost my apetite and started swelling up. I had also skipped a regular accupuncture session and I think that is were the crash came. When Bira came over I was feeling dizzy and it felt like someone was turning a knife in my kidneys. There were no 24 hour clinics near us and I was too weak to go in a taxi across town. I was not bad enough to need a hospital, but we both agreed I needed care. So we went to the local pharmacy, who have always helped me out. They passed antibiotics insisting it was time.
Bira and I called people for advice, and finally we realised the antibiotics were the only course. Kidney infection is serious. Kidneys don't regenerate.
After the first pill my head exploded, my kidneys turned to razors and the fever started (thankfully)...Bira nursed me all night and the next day poured me into the taxi for the chinese doctor. He looked me over, said he wanted to be sure I didn't have kidney stones, gave me a 2.5 hour treatment (for the same price as normal) and then sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound.
The ultrasound was fine, but both the receptionist and the ultrasonographer scolded me for more than half an hour about not going first to a doctor, and how I would have to wait for a test to see what bacteria it was and then how blah blah blah blah blah... Let me just say that half an hour of scolding cost double of the accupuncture and welded no actual care or treatment. We did however get the very expensive ultrasound. They insisted on doctors appointment, but would not accept card the appointment. They made us walk across the other side of the barrio, to get money out. I was feverish and in pain...The autobank was closed. We came back and they refused care without cash in hand.... They insisted Bira run home and get cash (by the way they did accept card for the ultrasound, but would not accept we would pay by card for the doctors appointment or pay by card today, and then bring cash tomorrow). At that stage I told them where they could shove their cash.
I compare that to the treatment of my chinese doctor who massaged the pain, treated it immediately, cleared his schedule, spent 2 hours treating me and making recommendations to Bira so he could stay well whilst looking after me... and yeah, anyone really getting why I don't like the medical system generally... Care factor zero. Being scolded on my money, rip off. Being scolded helpful to getting well... NOT. Of course I know there are exceptions and I'm happy to have them as my healthcare providers (both in Brasil and Australia) but yeah not into alopathic medicine!
Bira was still worried that night so the next morning he made me pee into a jar and he took it to the local clinic, so we could see that all the treatment was fine.
I get this call 20 mins later. "babe can you drink some more water, and do you think you can pee again".
He had been so worried he arrived at the clinic in a flap, before they closed at 10am, and one of us had not secured the lid properly. Likely me.
He opened the plastic bag and gave them the jar only to find it completly empty!
They, thoughtfully disposed of that lovely plastic bag (now full) and sent him back for sample number 2. I actually was laughing by this stage, as he told me the story on arrival, so collection proved... interesting.
Bira is a sweetie. Picture the lead character from that lovely italian movie, life is beautiful. A clown, a gentleman, helpful, loving, always finding the way to make things funny or fun. Even tough things.
In a cute moment, he told me the pee story was "a test of our love" as "he was not
grossed out at all when the pee spilled". His only thoughts were "he
wanted me to be better and he must get more pee, so another test can be
done". I'm laughing as I write this.
Renee has been seeing into my health the last few days and popping in to say hi and check up on me. Also sweet.
Yesterday, I had the energy to go across the road to the bakery for litres of juice ( my body wants juice, water seems to dehydrate me more) and I met two of her friends. Lovely ladies. I was feeling better so I told them the story, and we hooted with laughter at the story. Laughter is, as they say, the best medicine.
One of the ladies, Fatima, responded "and kids thats how I knew I knew this man was going to be your daddy".
We sighed and the girls insisted I write this story down, as its a good one.
The pilates girls have been giving me small exercises to get my stomach and kidneys moving again. I'm keeping up with the 70 year olds. Only one session this week, just to relieve my back from the resting. I was up and about today cleaning the house. I baked. I also got super hungry, which is a great sign. I'm feeling better but still sweating loads.
Been reading loads of articles on Kidney energy, Kidney meridians and there is a big link in chinese medicine between CF/ ME and FIbromyalgia, allergies, asthema, hormones, chronic pain and kidneys (and in some cases in alopathic medicine too).
So I'm going to start progressing more down this line of treatment. Of course the liver cleanse always helps but it seems the other filtering mechanism is the one that will bring me right my beloved kidneys...
This last week or so of pain etc, has been a dark angel perhaps? one with a heavy message, that actually becomes a message of light. Let us see.
(ps. Bira gets credit for the song "ooh ahh oooh ahh" analogy - he had me laughing for half an hour with his version of the story)
