Hot doctors.

Nairobi Hospital has some of the cutest, nicest doctors I've ever seen! How did I find this out? By going to the hospital today, of course!

Don't worry. It's nothing serious. For the past two weeks I've been having, on and off, extreme stomach pain. Sometimes, but not always, there would be what Kenyans call a "running stomach." (The Swahili verb for this is the same as to drive/to ride or kuendelesha.) You can imagine what I'm talking about. Anyway, it went away for a few days so I didn't worry. But this week it is back and it is really bad. So the stomach combined with the fleas (?) combined with the swollen scorpion bite means hospital.

This morning I embarked for the hospital at about 8:30. We arrived, and I had to pay about $12 just to be seen. A nurse asked me questions, then I waited again. Then I got called back, where a (cute) doctor talked to me about more specific symptoms, and ordered a stool sample. Crapping on demand is impossible, so I went to a coffee shop to down some espresso in hopes of helping things along. Sample obtained, I headed the long trek back to the hospital to drop off the sample. And wait. Another hour and a half and I was called back, to give the sample to the doctors. Wait again. Finally the doctor called me back, and explained the results. I have a version of salmonella, a cousin of typhoid but nothing terrible. He gave me a strong antibiotic and something for the stomach pain.

As for the fleas - who knows. The first doctor said they were fleas, but the second doctor told me it was a food allergy, probably from eating too much meat. Interestingly, my host family refuses to believe it is fleas. I guess we'll see; if in a week after cutting down my meat consumption I'm still the itchy mess I am today, I'll try to get all my clothes and bedding washed, which will be a labor-intensive job.

The scorpion bite is all swollen and red, but apparently that's normal.

Impressions on the Nairobi Hospital: Well, first of all, this is a private hospital. The public hospitals here are a mess. But none the less, the whole thing cost me about $80. By Kenyan standards, that's ridiculously expensive and thus, only affordable to the richest people here (many of them foreigners). By American standards though, it's a steal. The doctors were patient and very friendly, and I met a total of three. Hopefully I won't have to be going again anytime soon, but if I do, I won't be afraid!