Today I write to you from.....not Albania. Yes, you heard me correctly. My group flew out of JFK in NY without me on Saturday morning while I went to the Philadelphia airport to try to get a plane home. Key word here is TRY. So, let me back-track a bit.
On Wednesday last I got to Philly okay and met up with the group of folks who will be traveling with me to Albania. There are 55 in all. It was a great start, beginning with my roommate at the hotel, a woman I have been digitally writing and conversing with prior to our meeting in Philly. Sue is a lovely person and I'm lucky to have met her. We made the rounds in the hotel during PC registration and got to know a lot of really great people. (Our group has a great dynamic and I'm super excited to serve with them). But I digress here.
Anyway, on the plane over I had a pain in my ribs. Not screaming pain, but a discomfort I can only associate with severe bruising. When I got to my room I looked at my ribs expecting to see a bruise but found nothing. I shrugged it off, and subsequently the pain got worse. The follow day during training, I was in the girls room inspecting my ribs and spotted a rash just as another trainee came in and asked if I had Shingles. I told her I shouldn't because I had been vaccinated twice in my lifetime for Chickenpox, the last time being in 2010 when I got a booster of the Varicella vaccine to go into the PC the first time. Later that night Sue suggested that I go see a doctor because her friend had a similar case and said that the earlier Shingles is caught the better. Following her brilliant suggestion I contacted my PC rep at the hotel and over the next few hours we went to the emergency room and a 24 hour pharmacy. I got into bed at 1 AM, exhausted and fearful that I wouldn't be able to leave for Albania with my group...which is exactly what happened. Because of this diagnosis of Shingles, I am now on medical hold and should be able to return to my group once it's cleared up...hopefully within a few weeks.
Side note: The doctor in the ER turned out the be a RPCV...Albania group 9! (Insert Twilight Zone music here, please).
So, getting back to the comment on my TRYing to get a flight home on Saturday. PC booked me a $700 flight to Providence...yes, you did hear that correctly. Last minute flights do cost lots and lots of money. Before I checked out of the hotel, my PC advocate told me he got a text from the airline saying the flight was delayed by 2 hours. No problem. I had to check out anyway and everyone had left for Albania 2 hours previously (that was hard for me) so I figured I would go the airport, have a nice lunch, and then catch my plane home.
That's not what happened.
After waiting for about 3 hours, my flight was cancelled and there wouldn't be another one until the next morning. Well, if you have ever known the pain of Shingles, you'd probably be like me and start crying then and there because all you want to do is to go home and go to bed in familiar surroundings. But alas, this was not going to happen so I stood in line with the rest of the passengers and booked a new one. At the same time I was on the phone with PC who set about trying to find me a place to sleep for the night. Seeing that it was a Saturday night it seems they had quite a tough time trying to find me a hotel room.
Of course, I had no way to get at my luggage either so this meant I had nothing but the clothes on my back and no toothbrush. However, I DID have my laptop, some money and my pills so what the hell...I was so tired and in so much pain at this point I didn't care. US Air gave me a little toiletry kit for my troubles down in baggage claim, and this is where I sat for the next hour or so waiting for confirmation that I would indeed be able to sleep in a bed and not on the floor of the airport.
One thing I knew for sure, and remembered from the last time I served, Peace Corps always has your back and this time was no different. They booked me into a beautiful hotel room in the airport Hampton Inn and I slept well for the first time in 3 nights.
Yesterday morning I arrived home without incident and in good time from Philly. Mom picked me up, Miss Mouse greeted me at the door, and I am now living in a sort of limbo. Today I will go to the doctor to have her assess my situation. There is nothing to do now but wait.
One last thing: To all my loyal readers...does this scenario seem familiar to you? Do you remember my other "life-changing" gig in Romania? If not, or if you are perhaps a new follower, please let me redirect you to a blog post from the Paper Girls Studio blog.
http://papergirlsstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-my-dirty-hospital-johnny.html
Enough said for now.
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