Fun With Food Poisoning (Part Two)

 At the clinic they got some fluids in me and put me in a room for observation overnight. I woke up at about 5 o'clock and called for a nurse or doctor because I thought I might throw up and needed a waste bin. Then I was convinced it was going the other direction and I needed a toilet. But I ended up vomiting into the toilet bowl instead, in front of all the doctors in nurses and all over my hair.

At the hospital

After that they moved me to the acute care room and did some more blood tests. They gave me some antibiotics (I think, I couldn't really understand what they were saying) and kept me on the IV. The hospital was kind of a trip--no elevator, equipment straight out of the 70s, and nurses that wore those weird little white hats. They took good care of me, but it was like I'd stepped into another decade. (It was not a crazy as the hospital I visited a few weeks later--but more on that in an upcoming post).

The doctors were Cambodian, but all spoke English. However, I had some trouble understanding some of the long, technical words they were saying. Every time they rounded on me they tried to explain what was going on, but I kept thinking they were saying I had a "battery" in my stomach. What?!? I eventually figured out they were saying "bacteria." Ah, so it was food poisoning.

This was a relief since I desperately didn't want to be diagnosed with Dengue Fever. It would've really sucked to spend one of my two final months in Cambodia being sick. Instead I only spent 3 days in the hospital and was sent home with two different kinds of antibiotics (I ended up taking only one after I got a second opinion).

Can I just stress the importance of having travel insurance that covers all medical care? My hospital bill was much cheaper than what it would have been in the US, but it was still over $500. Thankfully it was covered, otherwise I would have been in trouble. You are not invincible, and there's a really good chance you're going to get sick while your overseas. Travel insurance is totally worth it.

Anyway, that was my big ordeal. HUGE shout out to Sofia who drove me to the hospital and fended off the moto and tuk tuk drivers. I am so sorry I puked on you. I owe you big time!