Tears, hallucinations and Jabs

Ok, so the title refers to my last week in Ikom and with my host family. It was literally the craziest week of my life.....so hectic, so emotional, so sick, so tired, so sad etc etc. First of all, we had so much work to be done so we had to finalise everything in two communities and make sure all work was completed and everyone was paid and happy. This proved to be a nightmare! it was just so tough to get this moving fast in the communities. Everyone from the team was so tired from walking their socks off and it seemed this last week really pushed our mental and physical strengths to the limit. What an amazing team by the way! i don't know many other people who would of fought through!

Team education! amazing people!

So during my last week in Ikom, I was ill but i didn't really pay much attention to it because i just thought i was fatigued and i didn't really have enough time to be ill haha! My first illness which i had 2 weeks prior to leaving was peptic ulcer disease which meant i could barely swallow! it felt like daggers were in my throat every time i gulped or had water or food! it was severe pain and Ive never experienced it before! So i couldn't really eat much or drink much because the pain was unbearable. My second illness was bacterial infection in my blood and the third was malaria. I think all three developed into one big illness to take down my body. I didn't go to the doctors until 4 days before leaving because i still refused to believe i was ill. I think the first signs of malaria came during a night when i woke up petrified on my mattress thinking i was flying through the air on it, so i held on so tight, sweating away till i realised i was hallucinating. I then got up to go to the toilet and i had the same thing again! imagining i was on a flying toilet! i was shitting myself! so it was a good job that i was on the toilet! the next day i was about to go out and i said hold on a second i forgot my wallet, so i went back in the room to get it and walked back out again and my friend said have you got your wallet, i said no....so i went back in and couldn't remember again what i was looking for and i think that's when i realised i needed to go to the doctors.

I had my blood tested and i had Malaria. So i was given lots of medicine and told it should be ok. The next couple of days i was waking up sometimes freezing, sometimes boiling. I felt so sick and my stomach felt like it was about to explode! i had no energy whatsoever. The last two days were absolute hell and i cant think if Ive ever felt that ill before! it was quite crazy! I was being sick violently everywhere and i hadn't had any food for 2 days! so on the last day where i had to pack and say my goodbyes i couldn't do it because i didn't have the strength! (I literally had to try so hard just to stand up). I was taken to hospital and as soon as i got there i felt like i was going to faint i was sick several times in the doctors office and he insisted i got jabs and on a drip asap (after i was better, he told me he was really scared). So i was on a drip to give me energy and some calories. My whole team came and visited me and it was so nice to see that everyone was looking out for me! during the night i think i had 8 injections (4 in my legs, 4 in my bum). The next day i was feeling a little better so i had to travel.

I came back from the hospital, and had to say goodbye to my host family. We had a taxi waiting with two others from my team who were also sick. I started to say goodbye and my heart literally split in two. I did'nt think it would be that hard but it literally killed me. The kids were all in a huddle crying with each other and i could barely look at them it was so painful. I said goodbye to the parents and all the older kids, then i went up to the young ones said something along the lines of, you have no idea what you guys mean to me, i love you so much and ill never forget you, we had a massive hug and i got in the car (I'm getting pretty emotional writing this). The car started and pulled away, i saw them crying and i literally burst out into hysterics! i don't think Ive ever cried that much and i cant even describe how painful it felt and still feels. To know how important some people are in your life and then be suddenly gone instantly, its almost as if someone died. I still think of them everyday and I seriously fell in love with them! I will never in a million years forget them.

Not the best picture but the only picture i have of all of s together. from the left: Erica, Etima, Me, Agim, Divine, Osman and Agbor.

So, i left Ikom to go to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State. I spent my last night with the team there before i was flown to Abuja to get treatment and then back home. Me and two other team mates who were sick, Tash and Stevie were flown to Abuja. As soon as we got there, they were both admitted for having malaria and i was free because i was somewhat better from this point on. The day i flew was my birthday so it was one which i will never forget! as they were both on drips, i spent the day being their personal assistants, getting them food and drink. The hospital was so funny and we found alot of laughter in each others pain haha! One nurse was hilarious and she kept of coming in and telling us to get our bums out to jab us! by this time i think i was on jab 15 over the period of three days, so i lost my phobia of jabs!

The lovely nurse!

We spent the next couple of days there till everyone was free to go! although on our way, 3 more of the team came to the hospital looking weary with malaria! so on Dec 22nd I flew back to London, said an emotional goodbye to Nigeria and went home for Christmas.