My 4 Days in the Capital

Over the past few months I have been suffering from occasional dizzy spells, fainting on three of those occasions. The first time I fainted, I went into the capital for a consultation and blood work. Nothing was found, so we assumed I was probably just suffering from a virus or a bit of exhaustion. After fainting twice more, the Peace Corps Medical Office (PCMO) set up an appointment for me to see a neurologist. The neurologist recommended three tests, all of which I had done last Thursday.

The first test involved electrodes being hooked up on my chest and all over my head to monitor my brain function. I was told to lie down in a dimly lit room and close my eyes. After about 15 minutes, as I was falling asleep, a strobe light was turned on. I wonder if the technician, reading my brainwaves on the computer, could tell how much I wanted to take the strobe light and bash it against the wall.

The second test was a CAT scan. All that involved was me lying on a table that then moved so that my head was inside of the machine. 5 minutes into that, I was injected with something (I assume some sort of dye that shows up in the images) and 5 minutes later, I was done.

My third test was by far the weirdest. This time, I entered a room with two computers manned by a doctor and his assistant who had an inappropriately short skirt and equally inappropriately high heels. Still recovering from the dress code in this office, I was instructed to take off my shirt and shoes and lie down on the table. Again electrodes were connected to my head and chest. I was told to close my eyes, and the doctor began reading off numbers to his assistant. Then, with my eyes still closed, I was strapped into the table with two large velcro straps, one across my chest and the other across my legs. I'm definitely not a paranoid person, but I began to wonder why it was necessary to strap me in. Were they going to shock me so hard I would jump? Was I going to have a seizure? With my eyes still closed, I felt and heard the table begin to move, until it was perpendicular to the floor--eseentially standing me upright. More numbers being read, more data recorded, a few more tests, and I was done for the day. The doctor was out of the country, so I won't get the results until I meet with him sometime later this week.

Because I had a Peace Corps meeting Saturday, I stayed in the capital all day Friday. The capital is great for a day, but gets really boring really quickly. Don't get me wrong, I love having my Quizno's sub every chance I get (for lunch and dinner Thursday, and yes, the employees recognized I had come in twice that day), but San Salvador gets really old really quickly.

When there for medical or offical reasons, Peace Corps puts us up in one of two hotels. This means there are always other volunteers at these hotels. I have yet to meet a mean volunteer, but they definitely range from people I really enjoy hanging out with, to people who bore me a bit, to people who annoy the hell out of me. The fact that we have Peace Corps in common makes it difficult not to be social. So often, I am forced to have conversations with people I'm not very interested in for a lot longer than I would like.

My meeting Saturday went well, and my boss had us over for delicious lasagna, salad, and garlic bread Saturday night. 5 beers and I was done for the night. By Sunday morning I was exhausted and very happy to travel back to my site. Here I am, and life is good. Love to all.