Illness

091212.1922

Though generally things have gone smoothly, this trip has not been without mishaps. I twisted my leg a week ago, and despite applying a technique my friend taught me, I had to almost limp for a few days...

The worst is the coughing, which I've been having for almost two weeks now. It began in Delhi, and didn't get better the more I traveled. The mixture of dryness, dust, smog and chocking exhausts has irritated my throat and lungs terribly, and there's almost a constant flow of phlegm that I have to resist the urge of spitting out like the locals do...

A fellow traveler said I seem to have a lung infection, which is not uncommon for foreigners in India, and recommended I take antibiotics to stop it before it gets worse. I've taken the meds for five days now, and taken some cough syrup and candy, but it seems to have little effect.

To add to that, I think I've fallen ill, perhaps due to the fluctuation of temperatures, which can reach the mid-twenties around noon and falling to five or so Celsius at night. My nose feels running but strangely feels blocked at times. Generally, just very agitated and uncomfortable, with an itching throat and difficulty breathing.

If that were not enough, because Lumbini and this region of Nepal is a malaria zone, I've had to take malarone, an antimalarial pill everyday after breakfast. The pill look small and pink and harmless, but within an hour or so I feel my stomach churn, my head feel light and so sleepy. I find my concentration has really deteriorated over the past few days, and that I'm just lethargic and want to do very little-- a far cry from when I first began this journey two weeks ago (then again, this may all also be attributed to traveler's fatigue...) Feeling this way, I cannot but admire how brave mum was, for I can only imagine her chemotherapy pills and shots made her feel a thousand times worse...

Oh, perhaps this is part of the experience of the pilgrimage... Experiencing first hand Buddha's teachings about suffering, physical and mental discontentment and illness, which tortures the body and disrupts the mind...