Guatemala, Rio Dulce – Flooding again on the Rio Dulce and getting sick

Do not worry about the flooding everyone, I am fine.  Luckily I live on a boat that floats as the Rio Dulce river rises.

With the flooding comes and increase in parasitic infections and one of my humans has managed to get himself a good dose of Amoebic Dysentery and ended up in hospital.

More on the ‘sicky’ in a minute, but lets talk a moment first about the flooding here, as that happened first.

FLOODING ON THE RIO DULCE

This is supposed to be the end of the rainy season, but we have had more rain in the last few weeks then I have seen all summer.  All of this rain is draining into the Rio Dulce and she has truly ‘burst her banks’.

In the Marina docks are under water giving boats the appearance of being on anchor.

Businesses along the river are also affected.  Many shops and restaurants have had to close due to flooding.

Some roads are affected, but generally transport is getting through.

The locals are generally in good spirits about the whole thing.   Many homes along the rivers edge are flooded and people just seem to ‘get on with it’.  They say ‘there is nothing to be done about Mother Nature’, and I admire their positive attitudes.

We have had to try and take a similar accepting attitude as our cruising plans are on hold.

ILLNESS ON THE RIO DULCE

As I have already mentioned, with the rise in water levels there is an increase in the frequencies of amoebic and bacterial infections.

We were getting the last of the preparations together to leave, and were quite excited about the extra water over the rivers sand bar, when one of my humans started to feel unwell.

He started with a little tummy upset that quickly got worse and worse, fever and vomiting.

I sent him to the local Medical Clinic in Fronteras where Dr Francisco Arenales diagnosed him with both Salmonella and Amoebic infections and kept him overnight to rehydrate him and administer anti-biotic via IV.  He initially responded well and was set home to continue treatment orally.  The doctor wanted him back in a day to check his progress.

Unfortunately he did not get any better.  The swelling in his abdomen continued along with the pain and he could not hold down any solid foods.  Dr Arenales suspected that something else was complicating his recovery, reemitted him to the clinic and set up a battery of tests.

A ‘pocket’ of infection (abyss) or secondary infection was suspected that could possibly require surgery.  Dr Arenales was concerned about perforation (a hole forming) in his intestines and had him moved to one of the larger hospitals in the capital, Guatemala City, to see a specialist.

The specialist put him through a full battery of tests and came to the same conclusion as Dr Arenales.  He promptly scheduled surgery and Dr Arenales came up from Fronteras to assist.

What happened next?

What did they find?

You will just have to stay tuned to find out!