Jackie has been quite sick all weekend, and she has become very sensitive to smells (with the burning trash pile nearby that certainly is not a good thing). She has been throwing up rather regularly for the past few days and hasn’t been keeping much water down, let alone any food. Her mother has been calling—she’s quite worried.
We took her to “The Surgery,” a medical center that is supposedly endorsed by the U.S. Embassy. Since Brenda was at work today at the South African Embassy, Fredrik had to drive us around in Kampala. I was actually quite impressed with his driving. When we had to make a major right turn (like a left turn for all of you who drive on the right side of the road) he just busted right through two lanes of cars. Oh yes, they backed off. They were probably thinking, uh oh, a Muzungu driving…better get out of the way!
We waited an hour or so at The Surgery. I spent most of the time playing with my camera and observing the very green and unclean fish tank.
Jackie kept herself busy by reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat…
…and Fredrik played games on his SmartPhone.
At this point I was thinking…we totally need House.
Eventually Jackie was called in by a doctor who looked like “Willy Wonka on steroids.” He gave her a few pills and then asked for a stool sample—which, eh, must have been difficult since she hadn’t had much to eat. The Doc gets a sample, and we make our way out the door thinking that we’ll get a call with the results later that day. No, not even two minutes had passed and the doctor was rushing out to tell us that Jackie had “ornery food poisoning.”
That was fast.
And in the meantime he managed to research Johnorable and confirm that, yes, he was one of the few uncorrupted and genuine Ugandan politicians. Wow. Seriously on steroids, or speed, or whatever, buddy.
Anyway, we left and headed back to InterConnection, but all the while Jackie was just getting sicker and sicker. She called her mother to tell her the results, but her mother is already talking about bringing her home. Jackie has been trying to take Cipro over the weekend and she’s now switched to the new medicine she received from the doctor. However, because of her regular vomiting the medicine is just not being absorbed by her system. At this point she might need intravenous antibiotics.
Now her mother is insisting that Jackie take the next flight out of Entebbe tonight.
We drove back to The Surgery to get a confirmation from the doctor that she has ornery food poisoning so that she can fly home under the travel insurance that her parents bought for her. However, the Doc just kept insisting that she stay at the surgery and get intravenous antibiotics. Jackie just got the heck out of that place.
Jackie’s mother calls back to tell us that she has reserved a ticket with Brussels for Jackie to fly back home. So we headed back to Johnorable’s house, got Jackie’s things together and headed off to Entebbe airport.
Hit the pedal to the metal…
…not so fast!
Usually it takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport from Kampala, but tonight there was exceptionally terrible traffic in Kampala. It took us nearly one and a half hours before we could get onto Entebbe road. Now, the road to Entebbe airport is bad enough in the daylight with all the construction that’s going on in preparation for the Queen’s visit in November, but driving through it at night is just terrible. Luckily we arrived at the airport in time for Jackie to pick up her ticket. It was sad to see her leave so early, but I hope that she will want to come back in the future. Perhaps her travel insurance will allow her to fly back here soon.