So there I sat, miserable on the toilet for the umpteenth time in country while I rounded up the usual suspects in my head. What did it this time?...The fish goulash? Perhaps my beer glass wasn’t cleaned enough?.... Whatever, most Peace Corps volunteers by now know better than to try to identify a culprit. One way or another, there I was, stuck in a hotel in Addis unable to travel due to this sudden and all too familiar condition.
On the orders of our Peace Corps doctor, Jessie ran to the pharmacy to procure some rehydration salts, which are actually quite amazing at keeping you hydrated when you are indisposed in this manor. She explained to the pharmacist what the problem was and what she needed, “rehydration salts for gastric issues.” Thinking nothing of it, I simply consumed them without looking at the package.
Later that night, following a day of zero progress towards recovery, my condition grew markedly worse. I had been in and out of thee bathroom three times within 20 minutes even having had nothing to eat and very little to drink other than the “rehydration salts.” Now, I believe I mentioned earlier that I was sitting miserably on the toilet. It was about this time that the following conversation took place through the bathroom door:
Me: Jessie, can you please mix me up some more rehydration salts? I think I am going to really need them after this.
Jessie: Sure.
30 seconds later…
Jessie: no… NO!!!! (the way she said this had me afraid for a second that she had gotten a message that someone had died)
Me: What? Are we out?
Jessie: You’ve been drinking a saline laxative!
Me: …What?
Jessie: Yeah, the package says “Epsom Salts.”
It was a very long night.
-Donovan
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