After leaving SAFI, we stayed in Lilongwe at Korea Garden Lodge as always. We didn't do much, just chilled. Then it was a quick trip to the airport. The trouble was trying to exchange our money. None of the banks at the airport were able to help us out to even exchange it into South African Rand since that's where our next stop was and maybe we could convert from there. No deal. So I ended up getting some more gifts for family and friends. I didn't have too much kwacha left. The two flights to New York weren't too bad! I had to climb over a nice lady when she was sleeping so that I could walk around and such. Thank goodness I never woke her up!
Then we got to New York! Everything was so big and crazy! My first time in a subway! It was so cool! Pretty dark, but cool. I was going to try to take a picture, but then everyone was waiting for me to move on, and I figured I didn't want to get yelled at in New York my first time there, so I continued moving on into the subway. We stopped at Emily's hostel since she is staying for a couple of days. But then we got to go see Carolyn!!! YAY!!! It was so fun to see her! Oh man I've missed her and how upbeat she is and I can totally be myself around her and we just know each other so well! We walked around and saw Time Square. It was crazy! We got bagels and cream cheese and then I had some gelato. We ended up bike riding around central park. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes. It's a lot bigger than I realized! There sure were lots of hills too. Bike riding around made me realize how much I miss having a bike and just riding around. We got pretty sweaty especially since it's so humid there. It was an overcast day too though. We returned our bikes and got some pizza. Yum!
Then Renee and I had to take the subway back to the airport to make sure we made our flight to Utah. We didn't even get lost! Score!
As we were waiting for our flight, the time for boarding was growing closer and closer and I was starting to feel sicker and sicker. My stomach was having a lot of issues. Then I got that sensation where you start salivating more and you know you're going to throw up. So I bee-lined it to the bathroom. I finally boarded after another problem and I got gatorade hoping it would help me out. I searched for a bag in the little pouch in front of me. Nope. Asked the flight attendant for one, and he delivered rather quickly but seemed not to think anything of it. The people next to me seemed to grown whether verbally or in their mannerisms, I don't remember, I just remember they seemed to not want to sit by me anymore (not they really did anyway, I guess). Thus, my issues continued on even before taking off. I had to get another bag and after sitting down was offered gum by the kind folks next to me. I laughed and said thank you and grabbed some of my Altoids for their sake even though I knew there would still be problems and it was pointless...but I was hoping the opposite. I told them I had eaten something bad and that I'm not a wimpy nervous person who hates flying and that I was really sorry. Then I heard the woman ask her husband if he wanted to switch seats so he was farther away. Nope, he wanted to stay tough. By the middle of the flight I had a system down and it was working pretty well since Renee was knocked out asleep the whole time. I was obviously feeling weak, and couldn't hold down liquids either. No good. I was starting to have other issues if you know what I mean, so I would have to go to the bathroom often anyway for that. So by the end of the flight I was exhausted, but kind of a pro at the whole thing. At the end of the flight I still had enough strength to walk, but I felt myself slouching over not holding myself upright. I heard the couple next to me talking about me and saying that they were impressed I made it and said, "she's tough, did you hear her going, 'Come on, you can do this. Suck it up. People have thrown up on planes before.'" That sort of made me smile. I really did lose count as to how many times I threw up and went to the bathroom in general, but let's just go with a lot.
We landed and I was so grateful! I could be with Lindsay! We would have access to good doctors and medicine to heal me. I could eat saltines, drink more gatorade and sprite through a straw and curl up on my side to ease my stomach. When I saw Lindsay, she had a big sign for me! She could tell I was out of it and weak. I seriously wanted to cry. To cry from joy because it was so good to see someone who I love and trust to help me get better. We went to wait for my bags and then Carson and Morgan and Calvin showed up out of nowhere! That made me feel even more at home that there were more of my family to welcome me. They realized I wasn't feeling well and got to helping me. We went to the vending machine for some Sprite and then I saw my parents come out from who knows where and towards me! I was shocked! They flew in from TN! They saw how I was weak and couldn't really stand up straight, so they started helping me out too. I went from having one person to help me out, to six! Thank goodness!
The rest was just sort of suffering through the pain. I had a fever and then we ended up going to the ER because it wouldn't stop. I got some morphine and fluids in me since I was so dehydrated. They released me with some medicine and the diagnosis of traveller's diarrhea. Yuck. So I have been slowly improving and saw a regular physician recently and if I don't keep getting better, they're going to need a sample. Yup, a sample.
Pictures of New York to come!
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