Day 12: Off to Ethiopia

At 6 am the next morning, Kimmie and I awoke for an early start to the hospital. I was feeling FANTASTIC -- no pain, no soreness, no exhaustion -- but I knew that it was thanks to some REALLY good drugs. Because we didn’t know if we’d have time to pack after we returned from the hospital, we packed all our bags and carried them to Bosco’s van. Our flight to Ethiopia was leaving at 5 pm, but Kristoff’s was leaving at 4, so we needed to be at the airport by 2, and we needed to leave Kampala by 1:15. Since we knew how time in Africa works, we aimed to be finished with the doctor by 11.

The Kampala hospital took us straight back to see the doctor, who, as expected, sent us to the lab for blood work. I suppose I was still quite dehydrated because my veins rolled and dodged the needles like nobody’s business until the tech was forced to pull blood from my wrist. I’m now sporting a lovely 4 inch bruise. I swear, with all the pricks in my arms, I look like a drug addict.

The blood test showed that my WBC was down to 8.5 -- within the normal range, but still a bit high. The doctor still wanted an ultrasound, but I had to go to a lab outside of the hospital to get that. Because it was already 8:30 and we didn’t know if I’d have time to come back to see the doctor, we asked for antibiotics and promised to get the ultrasound. He complied and we made our next stop.

The ultrasound showed some interesting results. What I thought was appendix pain turned out to be a mass on my bladder. The doctor said the mass was 3 cm by 4 cm and appeared to be mixed -- cystic and vascular with water pockets. The mass was blocking part of my ureter and inhibiting my ability to urinate completely -- thus causing the infection. Because I was on antibiotics and pain medication, I wouldn’t have any problems, but as soon as I got off of them, the infection and pain would come back. So, the final decision was to cut the trip short and get me to a hospital in the states. The doctor said I may need surgery.

We were out of the office by 11 as we hoped, had time to make it back to the hotel for one last lunch with Kristoff, and just enough time to get Kristoff to the airport before they closed the gate.

The trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was relatively uneventful. After being shuffled through what seemed like ten thousand security checkpoints, we had to wait in a room for yet ANOTHER security stop... We landed in Addis at 9 pm and checked into our super-swank hotel room at the Sheraton Addis. Perhaps the nicest hotel room I’ve EVER stayed in. The hotel even provided BATH SALTS for us!

We were famished once we got to the room, so we ordered room service (my first EVER!!). I ordered Ethiopian -- unsure of what I would get, but feeling a bit adventurous. I LOVED it! They use a spice called berbere that is spicy but not scalding hot... YUM!