I’m usually battling some minor health issue — IBS, a pulled muscle, eczema, etc. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m so worried about something going wrong that I manifest its reality.
Unfortunately, my current digestive issues were inevitable. My body is built for a delicate diet of fish, rice, and lightly cooked vegetables. Most of my meals in Chile consist of pastries, bread, cheese, and wine.
It’s all very delicious, and I’m a big eater, so I’m not letting my bloat slow me down. (Or the fact that I only go #2 a few times a week.)
Prunes have helped move things along internally, so I have hope. But they don’t solve my other issue: most mealtime conversations are spoken in Spanish, and without being able to talk, I end up drinking a lot of wine. Which led to my other ailment — I had a few glasses of rosé at lunch one day, then a few more at dinner. By the time I got in the shower that night I was feeling a little tipsy. I slipped and fell hard on the bath tub wall.
It really hurt, but I was able to stand up and felt ok. A few days later, my back swelled up, and I felt sharp pain every time I laughed or got out of bed. The pain moved from my back to my ribs. I started icing it with a bag of frozen peas, but another week passed and it hadn’t healed much at all. Even my sister, a nurse practitioner with very little patience for my hypochondriac tendencies, was surprised.
I googled my symptoms and it turns out I may have cracked a rib. (Equally possible that it’s something much less serious, but I like to escalate.) On the bright side, treatment is just ice and ibuprofen, which is perfect for me because I packed plenty of meds for my trip.
So we’re on the up and up, as long as I don’t laugh too hard!
(…Shouldn’t be too hard, I only have two people to talk to.)