I'm going to bring everything up to date with a list, and maybe some pictures.
WARNING: Some graphic pictures, not for the faint of heart...
Came back from Central America in March (yeah!).
Brought home cellular parasites (boo!), Cutaneous Leishmaniasis. See Ethan's post for his take on the whole thing.
Spent 5 days in the hospital to treat our tasty parasites, had a severe allergic reaction, tongue swelled up real big.
If they aren't treated there is a 5% chance it will reoccur in my mucus membranes in 2-20 years (don't even google mucosal leishmaniasis unless you're trying to make yourself ill).
Plan B: 20 day IV drug (Pentostam) with a Picc Line, Heart monitor and lots of tests.
In the past month I've had over 10 EKG's, an echo cardiogram, 3 chest x-rays, enough blood work to feed an entire family of vampire monkeys, a small camera stuck down my nose to look at my throat, 3 Ultrasounds, a 24 hour heart monitor for all 20 days of treatment, a few hearty panic attacks complete with difficult breathing and skipped heart beats, and more time in the hospital than I ever cared to spend.
The parasites live in my skin, deep in the tissue, which are going to be some killer scars once they've healed.
This whole thing was started by tiny-no-see-ums, or sand flies that feasted on my little legs for months in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.
I finished treatment last week with a big fat giant sigh of relief. I'm on my way to being a normal person again.
Ethan and I had tickets to Madagascar to do some more volunteer work for two months this summer.
I had to cancel my ticket, since I'm being munched on by cell-sized monsters. I really wanted Ethan to go over still and do some good work, so he's now 34 hours of travel time away from where I'm sitting right now. When I go to sleep at night, he's waking up to his day. What a crazy world this is.
And now for some disgusting pictures!
First Heart Monitor
Left leg, 2nd day in hospital.
Before 2nd treatment of Pentostam.
Close up of the fabulous open sores...
As I type this my legs are starting to heal wonderfully. They basically scar overnight, which is such a relief after having what you see above for months. I can finally take a shower without pain, walk around without swollen legs, and one day I'll be able to swim and wear skirts and act like a normal person again!
Thanks to everyone at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for being wicked friggen' awesome, even though you were pumping heavy metals into my liver, heart and pancreas...
And thanks to my whole family and fabulous friends for calling me, cooking for me and driving me around to my hundreds of appointments and panics.
And love to Ethan and the whole team all the way across the world!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Has it been so long?
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Days of Sweating Sugar
Every morning we wake up to a big bowl of fruit, or a banana leaf steamed with corn meal and chicken. Often there are glasses full of colored juices so sweet they stick like syrup to my tongue. The amount of sugar in ever spoonful of food and drink has formed a neat little pillow around my belly, despite sweating at every moment of the day. Some how we find ourselves at the only embarrassingly touristy cafe in the whole town with free wifi for hours and hours. It's also the only vaguely comfortable place to sit for a time without being covered in our own sweat. The streets are quiet this week during the day and then they erupt in processions and drunkenness in the evening to celebrate Semana Santa. Somehow, even in the heat of the sun, men lay passed out on the sidewalk completely oblivious to people walking over them or taxis screaming by.
The week of Spanish school was well overdue and it's absloutely absurd they we waited until our final week to do it. But that's just how things turned out and it actually excites me to do it all over again. Maybe next year.
I keep thinking of being back in Boston; the delicious sandwiches i will eat, and my shiny red bike that is locked away in our storage unit.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Click to Play
Hello Nicaragua!
We're officially out of Panama, now stretching our legs and eating some fruit after a long bus ride to Granada, Nicaragua. I put together a little video of some more panama footage. The middle part is our trip to Boquete which is in the mountains of Panama. Lots of vine covered trees and coffee farms. Also a cool breeze which was such a relief after months on the Caribbean coast. Then we went to Panama city which was not my favorite city in the world. Their public transportation is mostly school buses from the states that have been airbrushed and decked out, complete with strobe lights inside and plush dashboards. So you can imagine the noise and exhaust that just permeates every nook of the city. It was tiring after a while, and we were trying not to spend any money which is nearly impossible in any city.
Looking for a sailboat from either side of the canal proved more difficult than we anticipated. Had we an entirely open schedule (ie not needing to get home by April) and were willing to stay in the city for more than a week, we would have no doubt found a boat. But as it was, we only found a chap going to Tahiti. There was also some passport shenanigans that would have been entirely avoided had we not stayed in an awful hostel our first couple nights. Don't stay at the Voyager International Hostel in Panama city. If it comes to staying there or sleeping on the street, choose the street. We haven't stayed in a hostel mostly this whole entire experience and we thought it would be a good cheap way to stay in the city. But after two nights of bed bugs and real asshole management I have zero guilt about publicly trashing this hostel on the internet.
That said, with incredible relief we find ourselves in Granada which is hot and beautiful. And old Spanish colonial city, the giant doors along the high walled facades open into huge courtyards. Some are shady and green, others are stocked with Jesus and Mary and some old lady in a rocking chair. Yesterday afternoon we arrived and after the essential internet and food (always internet first) I fell into a deep sleep. Having not slept on the bus ride up from panama city, i think it was more than 24 hours, it was that confused hazy sort of sleep. So a few hours later I woke up and Ethan was leaping out of bed running down to the street and i just said "I'll meet you down there!" not really aware of what was happening. I rushed down the ladder form the weird loft we're staying in and as i got onto the street there was a band playing this mesmerizing, slow music. Almost circus like, but more serious. And there was jesus on top of a big platform carrying the cross. And underneath him were men walking and swaying making it looking like jesus was bearing the cross on top of a small wave of men. So that was my introduction to Nicaragua.
Headed home March 26th, or to New York rather. Hopefully we can borrow some warm cloth when we get there...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Where everyone is free to roam
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Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.
Where everyone gets to enjoy the beach, even giant pigs.
Desayuno
Click to Play
Friday, February 01, 2008
Up In the Hill, Bastimentos
This is our little casita overlooking the ocean. To the right is where we're helping to build a kitchen and bathroom addition. We're both doing a lot of child watching, hammering, dishes and playing with dogs at the moment. I've decided to not have children for another 20 years or so...
I would like to be putting more video up, but it's difficult getting enough power to edit a video. So for the moment a picture will have to do! Bastimentos is a roadless island only 15 minutes from Bocas town. Everything from groceries to building materials has to make it up a muddy path to where the casa/casita are, which can make for a sweaty, sweaty day. At night leaf cutting ants come out and you can find them by the millions carry leaves in a neat little line. sometimes there are so many ants, they sort of cut a path through the jungle 4 inches wide just from walking back and forth from different trees.
I can't believe it's February.
Friday, January 18, 2008
the work that doesn't end
Click to Play
Well, after much work and trials we decided to move on from the Shepard's Island project. This video is a little taste of the people and constant work going on daily which we decided wasn't fitting our idea of fun. Besides, we feel like we can put our energy and skills towards something that is more in line with our hearts.
For the next few weeks we will be in the Bocas area still, helping some other friends with an addition to their house (more to come on that). Then our plans are wide open. We might stay in the area depending on our continuing opportunities or we might head north in pursuit of some spanish schools in Guatemala, and maybe eventually travel our way to northern Mexcio and do some Ranch work.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Working hard down here in Panama. Maya Point is the name of the property we're working at, on Shepard's Island. Many people speak English on this coast with a very thick Caribbean accent, so my Spanish is creeping along slower than I hoped! Chicita Banana company is huge down here and anywhere you travel outside of the islands there are fields and fields full of banana trees and pesticide laden bags hanging from the fruit (yum!) There are many types of banana at Maya Point and we're learning how to eat them up fast before they get too mushy! Also learning how to make coconut rice, fry the hell out of a chicken and upon waking in the morning we shake our cloths out extra hard to get rid of scorpians! yeeehaw!
Check out some more of my pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashleyhodson
and Ethan posted a great video here:
http://www.vagrantart.com/2007/12/28/maya-point/
