This trip has been interesting for me on a medical standpoint. I've had a lot of things go wrong, and when Finitsis told us before we left to expect the unexpected, I kinda pushed it to the side and didn't think that the trip was going to be different than what I anticipated. Needless to say, its been an adventure.
The day before we left for the trip, I woke up with an allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was taking for an infection. My entire body was covered with an itchy rash, and I spent half the day running back and forth between health clinics and trying to figure out a way to make it go away. It still hasn't.
The plane ride resulted in my hands, feet, and lip being swollen. It was painful for me for a couple days to move my hands or walk on my feet, but being in Greece, I just decided to deal with it and go out and do things just like everyone else. Now it's gotten to the point where I don't have any pain anymore, which is so fantastic. The first two or three days after the plane ride, I couldn't unscrew water bottles or lift up objects without being in pain.
About five days ago, I was walking down the streets in Athens with the group and fell and twisted my ankle. It swelled up to about twice the size as normal, and I spent the rest of the day with ice on it, balancing it on two of the couch cushions on my bed. Luckily, because of the great care of my roommates, the swelling went down enormously the first day, and by day number two it was only hurting a little bit when walking.
Overall, what I've learned is that you can't anticipate everything on the trip, and I'm so glad I came prepared with all the medicine that I did. Ben Sira encouraged people to go to physicians and get help, and I know that the help that my roommates and everyone on the trip has been giving me has been really good. Ben Sira got it right, taking action and asking people for help when you're sick is definitely better than just hoping it'll go away.
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