I Am the Dog

Staff Captain Korney warned us during our preport briefing for India, “Don’t be the dog.”  Eating the wrong thing or drinking the water here will surely result in a case of “Delhi belly.”

I was cautious on my first day in India to avoid the dreaded GI issue.  The second and third days I was confined to the ship as part of my job responsibilities of being on-call so I assumed I’d be fine.  Thursday, my first day of duty, went pretty well.  The ship was very quiet and I got to spend some relaxing time in the pool and then catch up on some work for back home.  It was a nice easy-going day.

Thursday night disaster struck.  I went to bed feeling queasy, something I chalked up to the Doxycycline medication I am taking for malaria prevention.  Soon I realized it was something much worse.  The panicked decision of which to address first, the concerns of the top half of your body or lower half of your body, is not a pleasant midnight experience.  The rest of the night was filled with trips to the bathroom and cursing of this nasty virus that is floating around the ship.

Since then I’ve been on the slow path to recovery.  Friday I was only able to eat small amounts of bread and crackers.  At dinner Friday night Archbishop Tutu suggested my choice of a PB&J and a creamy pudding desert wasn’t a wise choice for an upset “tum-tum.”  So I followed his advice and went with Saltines.  As poorly crappy as it was to be sick for a few hours, it was an uplifting dinner with Arch and I doubt many others can say that they were consoled about an upset stomach by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.