Getting clinical

From inside the Linda Blair Memorial Ward

So TMFKATB has never been one to understate a situation but he may have done so with the first line of this week's letter. He had titled his email 'weird week' which was a bit of a hint. "So this week was rather strange" was the first sentence. He then began to explain why it was strange and weird. Thanks to a resurgent bout of chikungunya, he spiked a nasty fever and was racked with pain. He wound up at a 'clinic' for two days, being pumped full of, well, who knows what. It apparently worked because he went on to detail how he was feeling better and looking forward to a full week of work and as he put it, 'miracles' this week.

So, suffice to say, this week's letter was a little unsettling for us. As you can see from the picture he sent, some one really needs to talk to the folks that painted the interior of the clinic. Apparently they took their inspiration from Linda Blair's pea soup cavalcade of vomit from "The Exorcist." There's nothing soothing about those walls. I'm still trying to figure out what the big tank is next to his bed. Helium? Oxygen? Salsa? I don't even know and maybe it's best to not know. I'm just grateful that whatever the doctors did, it seemed to do the trick. He's better.

I will never lament medical care in the US again. Ever. Last year when my gall bladder decided that it no longer wanted to reside within me in the angriest ways possible, I spent two days at a teaching hospital. Some of our friends acted as if I'd gone to JoJo's Casa Of Chicken, Oil Changes and General Surgery when they learned that's where I'd opted to have my surgery. It may not have been the fanciest of hospitals but I had outstanding care from the 600 residents that paraded through my room every 42 seconds. I look at that picture my boy sent and I'm just grateful for the doctors and nurses who did their best caring for him with what the limited resources that they had. To say that we have it so well medically in this country is a massive understatement, in spite of what Fox News says.

The good news is that he was positive throughout his letter and his sense of humor is fervently in place. That made us feel a lot better. He assured us that he's feeling a whole lot better. He had to be if he was able to wax poetic about this meal:

tacos bistec y guacamole

He's gained a wicked appreciation for the hand-made foods of southern Mexico. Seems to me that a meal like that could cure of you pretty much anything. Seriously, is there nothing a taco can't solve?

A little plague. A little robbery. All in a week's work.

A rare two-fer post day here in the Den. First, a birthday post and then the latest from TMFKATB.

When you get an email directed solely to you from your missionary son serving in Mexico and it includes the words 'dying,' 'plague,' and 'stress,' you tend to perk up a little. OK, A LOT. That's how things played out today with TMFKATB's first email to me, not his mother. I'm sure he figured it was more important I relate to his mother about his current state than he just surprise her in his family letter. This is how he laid it out:

I ate some tiburon (shark) and gorditas that were delicious. I'm dying right now of a disease called chikungunya. It's a plague here in Mexico and it has let me to a lot of stress.

Before his family letter arrived, I told the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML. We quickly Google'd it and found out that chikungunya is, in fact, a thing. You can read here what the CDC has to say about it. His weekly letter did bring us a bit more comfort, once we read it a couple of times. Although it's been a stressful week, he seems like he's actually doing pretty well and his concern is more with the other missionaries in the district he is leading who have been affected with it than himself. So as we read about how he was handling what sounds like a pretty painful malady, he tossed in the following:

At the beginning of the week, I got robbed by like seven little six year old girls. They jumped all over me and stole my pass along cards (cards with images of Christ and information about services). It was super funny. One threatened to pull my pants down. It was hilarious.

Sheesh. First, a bunch of six year old cholas jump him for his Church cards and then a mosquito or two or three brings the pain of viral disease that sounds like something found during a colonoscopy. That's quite a week he's had. Again, I am in awe of how his sense of humor shone through in the letter and also at his concern for his fellow man. He's maturing in amazing ways.

I'm also humbled by the sense of peace that enveloped the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I as we read of this week's events. Sure, it may have gotten our hearts racing a little more than usual but as we read his letter over again and saw his sense of humor and his strength, we were a bit more at ease. 

That said, for any of you medical professionals who stop by the Den, feel free to weigh in on your thoughts on chikingunya. We'll be glad to listen. 

At a taqueria, downing Fantas. I'm surprised that foul stuff didn't give him what he's got now.