Don't you bacteria understand that I have work to do?

August 18

Strange, urgent flutterings outside my window, seeming to signal some impending event.  Just termites out, after a long day of rainy weather, their wings reflecting the light from my room through the screen.  Some flower outside is putting forth a heavenly sweet scent.  Frogs and crickets going crazy.

Sitting here in bed, with my dinner, feeling tired and hot and mellow.  Struck down by a bacterial infection, with fever, aches in my joints and muscles, and intense headache.  Went to the hospital this morning, with Z helping me get checked in before she went to work with E.  I fainted after they took a blood sample – I think it must have been from me already not feeling well, because it was a tiny amount of blood. 

Murmurings bubbled  through my brain.  I had the sense of being home in Poway, in the shaded sitting room by Mama’s desk, talking with someone about how nice it was to be back.  My eyes opened, to bright fluorescent lights and nurses with worried faces. In an instant, I realized – with a fair degree of bemusement – that I was in a wheelchair, being lifted onto a bed, still at the hospital in Taytay.  I'd just taken a little vacation from reality.

(BTW, total cost of the hospital trip: $4)

Came back to Casa Rosa, weak, feverish, hurting all over.  Tottered up the steep stairs.  Spent the afternoon sleeping, beads of sweat pouring out, eclectic semi-thoughts darting through my brain. 

My main concern was missing work, but Z and E did 22 interviews today – they are amazing, and at this point I'm confident that they are conducting the interviews correctly.  I do like to be there to scout out key informants and ask follow-up questions, but the priority for this month is rapid coverage with these short interviews...so, good.

Two of the Casa Rosa ladies stopped by my cottage to check on me and to let me know they could bring food to my room – very sweet.  One also fashioned a neat contraption to trap the termites who flushed into my room – a plastic bag below my light.  It worked – most of them are now contained in a blue plastic jail.  Pretty cool.