To
start off, I have a quick announcement. Next week we will have our P-day
on Tuesday. November 2nd is Día de los Muertos here, so we'll be working
that day.
This
week was very different. We did almost no missionary work. What
happened is that an elder from each companionship in Valle Nuevo got sick, at
the same time! My companion, Elder Maldonado, woke up last Tuesday
feeling super sick, and the symptoms he described sounded just like
dengue. The mission nurse approved a day of rest, and we stayed
home. We were supposed to meet up with the district leader and Elder Le
May for a baptism interview. They showed up at our house an hour before
we were supposed to meet with them, because Elder Le May was feeling super sick
too. So I went to the interview with the district leader, and worked with
him the rest of the night.
The
next day we were still home sick. Around lunchtime Elder Le May called
and told me that they would be coming to my house after lunch, because he
didn't think that he could make it home, and my house is closer to where we
have lunch. When they came over, Elder Le May looked even worse than on Tuesday. He and Elder Maldonado spent the whole day in bed, trying not to
throw up. Around this point the symptoms of the two sick elders started
to differentiate. Elder Le May had a fever all that day, but in the late
afternoon it shot up to 103.8ºF, with the maximum dosage of Tylenol in his system.
We got his temperature back down to less dangerous levels (around 102ºF) with
the help of ice packs and every fan in the house. His temperature was
stabilized by bedtime, but he was feeling too sick to try to go home, so he and
his comp spent the night in my house. The two sick elders took the beds,
Elder Castro (Le May's companion) took the spare mattress, and I slept on the
floor. Fun, I know.
Around
1:30 Thursday morning I was awakened by Elder Le May. He said that he
couldn't sleep and felt like the fever was worse again. The thermometer
said 104. Once again, the Tylenol did nothing for the fever, and we had
to use ice packs to get his temperature back down. I didn't sleep much
the rest of that night.
Thursday the nurse sent us for a blood exam. Elder Le May's exam showed 149,000
blood platelets per mm cubed. That's low, and is a positive test for
dengue. We were told to stay home, manage the fever, and take another
blood exam on Saturday. My companion did not come back positive for dengue,
but another exam showed that he has parasites, hence the dengue-like symptoms
without a fever.
We
spent the rest of Thursday, and all of Friday, in the house. Saturday we
had a double baptism, for an investigator from our area and an investigator from
the other area. After the baptism we got sent to the hospital. My
companion had thrown up blood, and Elder Le May's new blood exam showed a
decreased number of platelets. The doc said that my comp just had a bad
reaction to the anti-parasite meds, and gave him new meds, and sent us home
that night. Elder Le May is still in the hospital recovering.
I'm
out of time for this week... Have a good week!
Elder Colton West
El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission
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| Baptism of Ruby! |
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