Pre-Expedition Happenings

I returned from an internship expedition late Friday night. It was fantastic and well worth the $300 my poor wallet had to sacrifice to the money god. You would like to hear about my experiences? Okay, but I should probably start with Sunday night of last week.

Returning home from church, it was like any other normal Sunday afternoon. I decided I should visit my home teaching families and Laura was gracious enough to make chocolate chocolate-chip cookies for me to deliver. It was a family outing. We dropped off a plate of cookies to my two families. Back in our nice warm home (thermostat set at a sweltering 65 degrees), I began to feel like I had just eaten a large meal, as in it was uncomfortable to breath because I felt so full. I also had strong desires to release whatever was squirming within my bowels, yet I could not. Fortunately just before I decided to change into pajamas, I had a release! And the bottom half of my stomach felt ever so much better. The uncomfortable feeling still existed in my upper half as I inhaled and exhaled; strange feeling indeed. It was as if my stomach was divided into two parts, and the upper was not in a good mood. I laid myself down early (just after 7:00 p.m.) in order to have plenty of sleep for the 3:30 a.m. wake-up call in order to arrive at work on time. Though drowsiness was quite prevalent, yet sleep was not overcoming. I stayed under covers until Laura joined me (very unusual that we were not in bed at the same time), upon which I mentioned to her my minor calamities. After about another hour of sleeplessness, I could feel the obvious beginnings of stomach convulsions and I was obliged to make haste to the bathroom. I quickly made the toilet my best friend for the next few minutes. Granted, what I did to the toilet I would not have done willingly to a best friend, but the toilet took it quite well, as far as I can tell. I shall just tell you that now the upper half of my stomach was emptied and I could breath much easier. I did feel better (who doesn't after such episodes?) and after a quick brushing of the teeth, I laid down for the much wanted rest. It never came.

Over the next twelve hours, there were 3 more episodes of spending time with my new found best friend, about an hour of sleep maximum (divided throughout the night in amounts of fifteen minutes) and an extremely painful lower back. I don't think I have ever had such a miserably night in my entire life. Much of Monday was spent the same, though I didn't have to visit my friend to unload the top half of my stomach, just the bottom (and that wasn't pretty either), no sleep and lots of back pain. I did manage to get some sleep that night--it was wonderful. And Tuesday I felt much better. I could eat and drink a bit more. Those sports drinks and 7-Up sure are great. I assumed I would be well enough to attend the expedition on Wednesday and informed my professors.

I am actually going to stop writing now. Stay tuned for the outcome of the expedition...