Read part 2 of my scary story of getting seriously ill in a fairly remote town abroad first.

After a few hours, I felt well enough to leave. Maybe the medicine had worked or maybe the worst of whatever it was I’d had had passed. We couldn’t find the doctor again so just left, promising ourselves we’d come back in the morning to arrange payment.

The next day, they smiled and gave us something the doctor had written out. It was in English but I couldn’t make it out – doctors’ bad handwriting must be universal. I had insurance and asked about payment, but they said because it was a public hospital, it was free.

When I offered to make a donation, they said no – I can hardly imagine this happening in my own country. While the hospital was obviously not in ideal condition, the area was relatively well off in contrast to other areas, so I can only guess that it was probably not so bad as public hospitals go.

It’ s still not clear to me exactly what happened - it could just as likely have been food poisoning or an allergic reaction as mountain sickness. While I’d think seriously about traveling to high elevation again (though this was really not that high), there’s little I could have done differently: not eat at restaurants? Not stay in a small town? I had health insurance and took normal precautions. Had I been in the middle of volunteering, I would likely have been in the vicinity of more people and also either locals or foreigners who knew where the hospital was.

On a sidenote, I ended up having the opportunity to “pay back” the gift of medical care and help I’d received in another way. On my last day in another town, much later in my trip, I sought out organizations I’d read about which I thought might be able to use my volunteer proofreading services. A local with a helpful yet get-down-to-business attitude and English language ability literally led me to the office of a particular medical association, where I left my resume and email address. A few months later, after I left, they sent me the translation of a reference book they were about to publish, and I was fortunate to have the time and resources to proofread it. At the going rate in Eastern Europe – where I was living at the time – this would have been a project worth about $500. It was fitting though that I ended up doing this work for a health organization in the same general area as where I had received free and much needed medical care and help.