May 21, 2012

Unable to sleep due to the constant itch from my numerous bedbug bites, I got up at 3:30am and had my coffee. I uploaded the photos from both Hillary and Angel’s birthday celebrations and caught up on paperwork while waiting to skype with my sister later on in the morning. Our connection kept breaking up and it was impossible to keep the thread going. We both decided to try again tomorrow. I had gotten a really sweet message from my niece Estefania telling me how much she misses me and urging me to come home as soon as possible.

I tried calling Zoir twice to find out how he was faring and to make sure he was at the PedInst this morning so I could deliver the CD with the photos taken during my visit to his village, but he didn’t pick up. Daroush called to say he was done with his final exams and making the rounds among his friend in preparation for his departure for India. I told him I planned to be home all day Tuesday so he could drop by then. Ryan called to say he had come home exhausted last night after getting sunburned at the resort. He promised to come by this evening with some soap or cream to apply to my bites.

I stood at the intersection waiting for a mini-van for more than twenty minutes and everyone that passed me was full of passengers. In exasperation, I walked to Rudaki Avenue and got into a shared taxi even though I didn’t want to go anywhere near the PedInst so as not to run into my former students or colleagues. I got to the soup place through the back door and had my usual, an oily lagman soup and fatir bread. I saw one student from the teacher group and greeted him on my way out. His English is very limited and there was no point in trying to carry out a conversation with him.

Nigina was the only one in the office when I arrived at Caritas and she had no prescription to offer for my bites although she looked horrified at the look of them and swore she didn’t even know what could cause such reaction. As a doctor, I thought for sure she’d know what bedbugs are, but she disagreed. Furkat and Khurshed were nonplussed and Khurshed confirmed he always traveled with his own sleeping bag when he had to go into small villages as part of his job. Takhmina offered me the brand name for a type of soap I should bathe with to kill the infection. I’ll wait for Ryan’s visit before deciding on its purchase.

I took a leisure stroll to the copy place and asked the other Nigina to get me a duplicate copy for a receipt Georgetown University alleges was not included in my latest expense and for which they won’t compensate me until I get a duplicate. The cashier responded she is not allowed to backdate any receipt, but could give me one dated today for the same amount. I was more than happy with the compromise.

Ryan didn’t come by after work as he had promised, so I called him and agreed to meet at his flat to check out my bites. Just one look and he informed me that my bites were not the result of bedbugs, but fleas and he hadn’t seen such a horrific reaction to them. He retrieved his camera and took several shots of my swollen, liquid-filled blisters and told me there wasn’t much I could do but continue to apply the hydrocortisone cream I had gotten on Sunday from the embassy guy. He discouraged me from taking Benadryl nightly for my allergies as he claimed it lowers my immune system by lowering the production of certain hormones. I’ll have to research that point before giving it up entirely. He also recommended I buy some mint and make a poultice of it to apply it to the bites so they’d dry up faster, but it was too late in the day to go to the market.

I took a long soaking bath, reapplied the hydrocortisone and felt slightly better, but more than anything else, relieved that it was just a pedestrian flea infestation and not anything more serious.