Being Sick in Paradise

Generally, we try to write about positive things in this blog. Pam and I are both glass-half-full kind of people. We see the bright side in almost every situation. But not every day in paradise is a great day. So, in full disclosure of the good, the bad and the ugly, I want to share what’s it’s been like to be sick in Costa Rica.

I don’t get sick often. That’s a blessing, for sure. But this past week I have been sick.

I started feeling “off” Sunday afternoon. By Monday morning I knew something was going on. But true to form, I thought I could blow past it by swimming laps. I’m not sure where I picked that up. But for many years I’ve tried to swim my way out of illness. It didn’t work. I felt worse by the time I got out of the pool. And I kept feeling worse through the day.

By nightfall, I was pretty sure I had a bug. So, I pounded down some NyQuil and went to bed. But I woke up at 1:15 AM with the most raw sore throat I can remember. Honestly, it felt like someone was welding by tonsils to the wall of my throat with a blow-torch. It was getting worse by the minute. So, I put on my sweat pants and headed to the ER.

Fortunately, there is no traffic where we live in the middle of the night. I arrived five minutes later. There were no other patients, so I saw the doctor within two minutes. He spent a few seconds with me, looked down my throat and said, “Yep, you have tonsilitis.” Five minutes later, I was checking out of the pharmacy a handful of antibiotics.

Once back home, I downed the first horse-pill of Augmentin. Why do they make Augmentin pills so large? Yuck! To get them down, I have devised a system where I crush the pill between two spoons and plaster the crumbs with jelly and swallow a few pieces at a time. Call me a wimp if you like. But it’s the only way I can down horse-pills.

Tuesday and Wednesday my throat was still on fire…like a raging forest fire. Very, very ouchy. I canceled my meetings and stayed at home. Pam has been Florence Nightingale.

By Thursday I started to feel a bit better. But not nearly 100%. At this point, I still plan to preach on Sunday. I hope people are not alarmed by the new FM-tone in my voice. Please pray for me.

Being sick in paradise is no paradise.