So last night I spent the night in the hospital, and then this morning I got a ride back to the hotel we are staying at in an Ambulance. This trip also involved a lot of codeine and time on the telephone with the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) in Tana and will soon involve an emergency flight to Tana.

But wait don't freak out, I am perfectly fine, it is my poor friend Claudette who is once again getting Medavaced (Medically evacuated) to Tana. I am just along for the ride and for the unique opportunity to explore the Medical system. Claudette has had the worst luck in this country, always getting sick and worst of all with things the PCMOs have a hard time figuring out how to deal with.

A couple of months ago Claudette was at site minding her own business when she decided she was bored so she wanted a trip to Tana. She passed out at site, which immediately earned her a trip to Tana where she proceeded to become delusional so the Docs decided it was time for her to head over to South Africa where they send us when we get really sick and they don't have the facilities to deal with it here. Claudette was off to Pretoria a private jet after a couple of days in hospital she was released, they still aren't sure what exactly happened to her but she was doing fine. And she got to go to a Mall and a Movie theater and stay in a really fancy bed and breakfast in Pretoria so she wasn't complaining. Well until a couple of days ago that was.

We are here in Tamatave doing AIDS education prior to the bike race; this involves a lot of walking around and getting lost and standing around in the sun. Not a day after she got here her foot started to hurt, so we told her to suck it up and walk faster we were late after all. Well it turns out that she really is hurt she called the PCMO last night and he sent us to Espace Medical (the same place I had to go with Jeanette when she got really sick during installation) we saw the doctor there last night and when after making her take her pants off and then try and walk around with a bum leg he couldn't figure out what was wrong we got to spend the night in the hospital.

Now a Gasy hospital is not like an American hospital, there were beds, but that is about all there was. I had to come back to the hotel and get bedding and then I had to go and find something to eat, as the hospital also didn't have any food. After talking to some of the health volunteers I discovered that we were actually at a very high quality hospital, at least there was only one roach and we were the only two people in our room. Sounds like most Gasy hospitals are just like the rest of Madagascar -smelly, dirty, disorganized and unregulated. So we spent the night in the hospital, it was great fun for me at least, and Claudette was having a good time as well until the drugs started wearing off.

This morning at about 5am she woke up in extreme pain again and after taking some more codeine we called the PCMO again and he said he wanted her to come to Tana so for the rest of today I will be running Claudette's errands for her and then putting her on the 5pm flight to Tana. I am pretty sure she will be fine, she is a tough girl and always comes out on top, but getting sick all the time is a pain in the butt and each time you have a medical emergency they get closer and closer to sending you home. So here's hoping that Claudette gets better and that I get a full nights sleep.