The Jackson Clinics

6/16-17

When I laid down to rest last night, I immediately felt like something was wrong. Unfortunately, I was right and I was up all night long, the sickest I have ever felt. I had no energy or desire to move in the morning and I sent Lili to teach without me. I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water, so I spent the morning either in my bed or the bathroom. By noon, I had run out of water and none of it had stayed down. I really thought I might die if I tried to stay all afternoon in that apartment by myself, without water. I found strength somewhere and managed to dress myself and get out the front door. The driver took me to the hospital where I almost crawled into the department. Tigist found me within minutes and was very kind to run out and purchase a bottle of water for me.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the classroom participating in the presentations. I was very proud of the residents because they were clearly getting it at this point. They could correctly identify the impairments in the correct order of priority, and most of their colleagues were thinking critically with them to resolve challenges. However, it is still very apparent to me that they lack knowledge and understanding of proper stretching, the difference between strengthening and stretching, and proper exercise progression.

After class, Michel and Lili went to the pharmacy for me and bought an electrolyte substance and little shots of liquid glucose that I was to drink every 6 hours. We drove home after class and I slept the rest of the afternoon and night. I took the glucose, which was obviously very sweet and I felt more energy almost immediately. The electrolyte substance was gross, but I needed it.

On Friday, I woke with a little more energy and was determined to make it to class. Lili and I carefully planned three sets of exercise progressions for scapular stability, rotator cuff strengthening and a glute strengthening progression. As we took the residents through each exercise, they seemed to really enjoy the exercises, but also got very fatigued. It was interesting to observe the residents attempts because many of them lacked the strength to perform the moderate to challenging exercises.

At the end of the day, we said our goodbyes and took final pictures. The residents were so kind and purchased Lili and I each a scarf to remember them by. Mine was of course, pink =)

Ted picked me up from the hospital and we went back to the apartment to collect my things. We spent the rest of the afternoon at a coffee place where I ate one more croissant as we talked and watched the sun go down.

He dropped me off at the airport and I almost immediately started to feel more sick as I entered the first security gate. I stood in the ticket counter line and really thought I was going to pass out from dehydration. Somehow I made it through and then had to go stand in another line for customs. When I finally got through, I went up the escalator where I thought I would be able to find a seat and just relax before my flight in two hours. To my surprise, there were very few seats and it reeked of Ethiopian spices, EVERYWHERE. This smell made me feel so ill that I almost started panicking, as I couldn’t find a place to sit. I finally settled in the far corner on the floor where I stayed until the benches opened up in front of me. I was relieved when they called my flight to go through the final security screen about 45 minutes later because I knew I was finally on my way home.