Blogging in Sickness and in Health

Ok, I know some of your are going to say "I told you so". Say
away...I've been sick. Not just a little nauseaus sick. I'm talking
fever, chills, weakness, etc. I kept thinking I was getting better
(despite it seeming to be a monumental effort to stand up), but
eventually there was no denying it. My friend Nil had suggested calling
a doctor which I rejected for a while, but I finally asked him to do so.

Nil came to the apartment to lead me out to a van and driver which
carried me to see a doctor at one of the most prestigous heart hospitals
in Asia. Luckily they treat gastroenteritis as well. I was in to see a
doctor within about 10 minutes of walking up the steps. Can you believe
that? He was very nice and quite thorough. Told me the problem, that I
would get better with antibiotics and that he thought I should stay
overnight in the hospital. Not required, of course, it will just help
you be better sooner because we can re-hydrate you. Ok...I don't want
to stay like this for long, that's for sure. (Can you believe they were
WILLING to have me stay overnight for a relatively minor problem?)

Sure enough I was quickly feeling a lot better. The hospital stay was
no more nor less pleasant than any I have had (let's see, that would be
1 other time when I had my tonsils out at 11. Actually maybe the food
was worse here. I seem to remember ice cream for the tonsilectomy).
The doctor showed up in the morning, asked about how I felt, poked and
prodded and told me I could stay another day or 2 if I wanted to but I
could also leave at noon. I'll leave, I said. My friends checked with
the payment folks. No, they won't take my insurance card directly. Ok,
I figured I'd pay them with a credit card and fight with the HMO when I
get home. How much is it? Answer, about $100. And you wonder why they
have actual US and European patients coming to India specifically for
some sort of surgery. Wow! Maybe I won't fight with the HMO.

So I am just about 100% now and I can sit back and philosophize. The
first paragraph refers to some of my friends who, last year, seemed (to
me) overly anxious about personal sanitation issues here. My philosophy
both then and now has been "careful but not paranoid". Obviously I was
insufficiently paranoid this time.

Here are the issues: The ground water is fairly contaminated and the
public water supply is not to be drunk directly since it contains
microorganisms (a not uncommon situation in the world, sadly). Local
people don't generally drink it either. OTOH, bottled water is readily
available and many apartments, including mine, has a water purifier
using filters, UV light, etc. On top of that I boil my purified water.
That ought to do it. Yeah, but that's the easy part. There is water on
lots of things. The general guideline is no raw vegetables, fruits,
greens, etc unless it is something you can thoroughly and completely
peel. Ok, so how far do I take this with, say, a banana? It is
difficult to peel a banana without touching the fruit inside. But I
just touched the peel so my hands are contaminated! Use hand sanitizer.
But then I need to touch the peel again. Etc.

Well, I'll surely be a lot more careful of what I choose to eat. I
don't think I'll go into total sterility mode, though. I have some
suspicions of where my problem originated, so I'll try to avoid that
particular place, but you can never tell for sure. I guess I'll just try
small portions of novelty at a time, and back off if things start getting out of
hand.