October 3, 2011
I saw Dr. Dawn today. She gave me a TB test and took blood to run some tests. I will need to give a urine sample and stool sample. That’s always fun!! Especially since I’m not an everyday pooper. They will check liver function, kidney function, red and white blood cells, check for shistos (worms), worms (worms), giardia, aomebas, and other such parasites that after this prolonged period of time I probably have. I got on a scale and have lost 44 pounds since I’ve been here. They are not too happy about that but are glad to know that it’s been over the whole period of time that I’ve been here and it didn’t happen suddenly because I was sick. I told her that if I lost all this weight because I have some kind of worms then she should leave them there. I’d rather have worms then gain all that weight back. And I am afraid of gaining it back to. It is too easy to overeat in the states. There is so much food and cheaper than eating here comparitively speaking. I had my blood pressure checked, hearing, vision. I got a voucher so I can have my teeth checked and cleaned when I get home. And was told that with everything going on and the fact that I have to go to the bank and close out my account I would be leaving Wednesday...there is only midnight ish (between midnight and 2am) flights out of Bamako. OK Wednesday. Again it’s going so fast it’s making me nervous, but may as well get it over with.
October 4, 2011
Went back to the bureau. Met with the guy to take me to the bank and closed out my account and met back with Dr. Dawn. My blood test results are in and most is good except for I am anemic. Which makes sense. It is hard to eat properly in a small village. There is no fruits and vegetables available every day. And I won’t cook meat myself. So my diet has been lax of the vitamins and minerals one needs to stay really healthy. I got another voucher. Dr. Dawn said to go home, eat well for a couple of weeks and then have my tests repeated in the states at PC expense.
Then in the middle of our discussion Dr. Dawn said, “you do know you’re leaving tonight, right?” UMMM....NOOOOO. I heard more than once from more than one person that I was leaving Wednesday around midnight. Now I’m freaking out again. But again, better to just get it over with. I now have my ticket on me and will be on a 2am flight out of Bamako, through Casablanca, JFK and into San Diego by 10pm Wednesday CA time. So I will be in one state of travel or another (flights, layovers, etc) for 26 hours. Now I have to really say goodbye to everyone. I won’t cry, I won’t cry...it’s the right move for me at the right time. But I have made a few friends along the way. I will miss them.
11:30pm
The PC car just came to pick me off. I’m off to the airport. The first leg of my trip is only a 3 ½ hour flight. Then a 7 hour layover in Casablanca. Unfortunately there is nothing close enough to make it worth trying to venture out.
I am in Casablanca. It was so foggy when we landed I didn’t even know we were close to the ground when we hit. As you can imagine that gave me quite a scare. When you don’t see the ground underneath you and then you hit you know about it. Scared the crap out of me. The airport is filled with duty free shops with cool stuff. I wish I would have skipped shopping yesterday in Bamako so I could buy more cool stuff here. That’s OK, I got a couple of cool tokens and I will wait for my flight. Only 3 more hours.
I just got charged $6 for a small bottle of water and a small bag of potato chips. And I paid it. Not like I can run out to 7-11.
I’m off to JFK.
This flight was 8 hours. That’s a lot of time to be sitting and doing nothing. Thankfully the plane was only half full so there was plenty of room to stretch out and at least be comfortable. About 6 out of the 8 hours was choppy and bumpy with a couple of really rough spots. Thank goodness for Dramamine and Sea-Bands for motion sickness. The landing...OMG...I’m convinced now that it wasn’t turbulance but the pilot doesn’t know how to drive. The landing was awful and the plane was wavering back and forth. There was no signs of any great winds outside. The lady one row up and across the isle threw up. I don’t blame her. My palms were getting sweaty and was feeling a little peaked myself.
I have to wonder about the folks that put together the reservations. I had a 3 hour and 20 minute flight to Casablanca from Bamako. Then a 7 hour layover. Then an 8 hour flight to New York with 1 hour and 20 minutes to catch my flight to San Diego. In the 1+ hour I had to go through customs, go through security, claim my baggage, recheck it on the other side then run outside and over 2 terminals to catch my flight. The customs line was probably 2 hours long. Thankfully because my flights were so close together I got a quick connect...like a quick pass at Disneyland. So I got through in about 20 minutes. Then I got to security and there was about a 20 minute wait. I told the lead person there that my flight was in 25 minutes and I still needed to get my luggage and recheck it. So they let me go through again. I got my luggage, ran over to the counter to recheck it. The guy said they had already started boarding that I needed to RUN!! So I ran outside, up the hill and over two terminals. I had to go through another security. But they let me go through as well. Just as I was running up to the counter at the boarding gate the guy had the phone in his hand to page me. I made it on the plane. I was concerned about my luggage. If the guy at the counter said I needed to run to make my plane, what was the chances that someone at the airport outside would run to make sure my luggage got on said plane.
Sure enough, although another uneventful flight, my luggage did not arrive with me. Delta SAYS it will be here in the morning and someone will deliver it to my home. Thankfully I have clothes in my carry on.
My friends daughter picked me up at the airport. The plane was actually 30 minutes early. Good head winds I guess. We headed home for the first of 2 big surprises. My friend stood there with her mouth open after I jumped out of the dark at her. It took her a good 20-30 seconds to realize what was going home. She was beside herself. Then her husband came around the corner. He was just as excited. It was a fun surprise. Can’t wait to see the boys in the morning. Still not sure how I’m going to surprise them. I’m just hoping it will come to me.
Surprise, surprise, surprise...
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