You know when you don't feel good and all you want to do is snuggle up on your couch at your own home and let your mom take care of you?
That's kind how the last few weeks have been.
I know I am getting older and I should be able to take care of myself when I'm sick, but nothing heals a child like their mother's heart. And I'm pretty sure that is how I will feel until the day I die.
As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been sick for a while. It all started about 2 weeks before we went on our vacation. I think I just had a head flu, along with most of the other girls. However, like usual, everyone else got over it and I didn't. Mine just got worse. When we went on our vacation I came down with a fever and was battling it the whole 12 days of traveling. I should have just slept it off, but we were doing things that people literally dream of doing and I wasn't even about to let a sickness get me down. So I pushed through it for the whole 12 days.
In the midst of those 12 days I got a dose of my worst nightmare...it literally makes me want to throw up when I think about it, but one of our hostels had bed bugs. And no, not the cute little cartoon bed bugs you think of when your parents used to say, "Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite." These are the real, creepy, nasty ones that make you want to just curl up and die. They bit me 70 (yes SEVENTY) times. All over my legs. I didn't notice until two days later when my legs just started itching uncountably. I took of my pants to find tons of red bumps from my knees down. I thought they were mosquito bites on steroids. They were awful. So I had to deal with those the whole trip as well.
When you are sick, it is easy to be grumpy and cranky and I feel so bad for the 6 girls who had to travel with me. I tried my hardest to be a good sport though! But every once in a while I would break and complain...they were so kind! I couldn't have asked to be put with a better group of girls. I love them!
Now I have been back from the vacation for almost 2 weeks, and although my fever and sore throat went away after I got some good rest, my awful bites didn't. I went through and deep cleaned my room, and the living room just to make sure there wasn't any bed bugs creepin around our apartment. I never did find any so I just assumed the new red itchy spots on my body were mosquito bites.
Then came the worst night of my life.
My room and the living room don't have AC, so my dear friend Maddie offered to let me sleep in her room where there is AC. I fell asleep and all was well, until I woke up an hour later. I was having a hard time breathing. There was so much pressure on my chest, it was pretty painful. And then I noticed my tongue was swollen and how itchy I was. I felt my neck and I had little bumps everywhere. I got up and looked in the mirror and from my stomach up was just a big mess of redness. I ran to the shower where I washed myself in soapy water for almost 30 minutes until I just started sobbing, like a baby. Everything just caught up to me and I lost it. After 6 weeks of being sick I just couldn't handle it any more....I was officially as homesick as I have ever been.
I wrapped my towel around me and just sat on the couch and cried some more. I felt so alone and so helpless. Then I prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more. And let me tell you Heavenly Father does answer prayers :]
I never did go back to bed that night. I couldn't sleep. So for 7 hours I just sat there. Then I skyped my mom for a very long time and she made me feel better, cause that's what she does best.
The next day my Chinese teacher insisted that I go to the hospital. I was a little weary seeing as I've only been to a hospital 3 times in my entire life, but I went and I'm so glad I did.
After three shots in my bum, and a bag full of pills to take home, I finally had my peace of mind back. The new redness on my skin was not bed bugs. THANK GOODNESS. It's was just some sort of allergic reaction to something. So I went home and slept for the rest of the day, into the night, and it felt amazing.
After reading this your probably thinking, "And how are you having so much fun in China?" or your thinking, "Kambrie is the most over dramatic baby and needs to suck it up..." which would be slightly frustrating but whatever.
The thing is, I feel like this is all part of the experience. China is making me see life in a whole new way that I've never seen before. I feel like all of these experiences are just slowly making me a stronger person. And if anything I've learned that even when you feel like crap, it IS possible to push it aside and see the bright side of things.
I'm living in China.
I'm not dead.
I am surrounded by lovely people.
I survive off of apples and peanut butter, one of my favorite snacks.
I get to wake up and play with the cutest little children, EVERYDAY!
I get to go to church every Sunday.
I can talk to Heavenly Father and he can hear me.
I am making friendships that will last me forever.
I am finding myself more and more every single day.
I have a fan that keeps me sane at night.
I can buy a whole loaf of bread for less than 1 American dollar.
I am so Happy.
:]
-Kambrie
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