So last night I woke up at around 2am to something large crawling on my face. I totally freaked out, grabbed it, threw it off of me, and jumped out of bed. I turned on the light and I was so afraid to see a tarantula in front of me, but there was nothing. I got out my headlamp and started looking under the bed and under the sheets, through all my clothes. Not an expedition I was excited about. At one point, one of my earplugs fell out from under a sheet and I jumped out of my skin. Finally I found it in my bed. Not a tarantula but a giant cockroach. It was on my face!!!!! YUCK!!!! Although if you are going to have something crawling on your face, I would choose a cockroach over a tarantula. Usually I sleep with the sheet over my head, but it was so hot I couldn't stand it and I was on top of the sheets. After that I had the sheet over my head and there was not even a tiny hole for a gnat to get through. I had to read a physical therapy journal article to get sleepy enough to fall back asleep. It is kind of funny because when I saw Brian this morning he said he slept terrible and then he says, "look at my forehead!" He has a giant bug bite the size of a silver dollar. Something was crawling on his face too.
This morning I woke up to a crazy thunder storm. It poured rain all morning and we were told that when it is raining, the patients don't usually show up. Oh, but not my patients. They are hard core and all of them showed up so it was another busy day in the clinic. I have become the wound care expert. Not that I am an expert by any means but Brian is not doing wound care and he is the only other therapist that I am working with. Therefore, by default I have become the expert. Brian on the other hand has lots of patients that have had strokes so I consider him the stroke expert in the clinic. He had a patient today that had a very severe stroke and he is only 24 years old. So sad.
The patients have been improving a lot in our short stay here. It is nice to have seen somebody who couldn't walk or had to use crutches or a walker last week and now be able to walk by themselves. Seeing the patients receive their prosthesis for the first time and start walking is also and amazing experience. Some of the patients have been waiting 5 years to get their prosthesis.
Thanks for emailing and sending me messages from home. Work is hard and your support means a lot.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteFor me, being in Haiti and helping people is the easy part. The creepy crawlers would put me over the edge!!! I got emotional reading your blog, what you're doing is amazing! You're a rock!
Love,
Holly
Well Kathy, you said you were not being a vegan while in Haiti.... tomorrow night catch some of those cockroaches & spiders and fry 'em up to see what they taste like!?! I've tried Mexican grasshoppers & Zambian caterpillars; Haitian roaches & spiders are probably even more spicy! Seriously, keep 'mummying up' every night and don't forget to shake out your shoes in the mornings. So proud of you K Dub!
ReplyDeleteJean Nate
I should have sent you with my super duper mosquito net. Nothing on your face at night. I once had the same experience with a cockroach but I thought it was a rat it was so big. I don't think tarantulas and cockroaches would taste good. Too much exoskeleton. Like eating a crab shell. Ew.
ReplyDeleteWhile you are helping people and dealing with large spiders, I went whale watching this weekend and saw -- get this -- BLUE whales in courtship!! It mostly looked like splashing, there was a lot of water displacement. Craziness.