You won't believe this

So, as you may have noticed, I've been out of communication for the past few weeks, after promising constant updates. Well, here's the story...

Last time I wrote, we were heading off on safari in Tarengerie National park. It was absolutely incredible. On our first game drive we saw giraffe, elephants, monkeys (who lived above our camp in the trees), impala, dik dik, and the most beautiful birds. A storm welcomed us the first night, as did a curious bat eared fox, trying to get into the tent nearest to mine. That was actually pretty frightening, as it let out a blood curdling 8 pound battle cry and charged my friend's tent, and we had no idea the size of the animal at this point so the thoughts of hyena were pretty prevalent. The same night, we heard lions a few km from camp.

The wonders continued. Every day was a new sighting- groups of elephants (and one single elephant close up informing us of the 65lb weight and prehensile nature of the elephant penis), mock-fighting young male giraffees, even a lone young lion male on one hot afternoon. Good food, good company, time spent around the fire singing american pop music at night...

Next, we were off to Lake Manyara National Park, located in an area known as Mtowambu, or the River of Mosquitoes. Thank goodness for malaria medication... the park was incredible, and we were blessed with baboon, hippo, flamingo, impala, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, and a standoffish giraffe who blocked the road for a good 10 minutes one afternoon.

Now, during this entire time, an interesting battle was occuring in my right lower abdomen area, in the general location of my appendix. Increasingly, I was plauged by sharp pains and naseau, and by slight fever and bloating. Needless to say, it was insisted that I visit the doctor upon our return to Arusha, which in turn prompted the discovery of an "abnormal mass" in my side and an all-expenses paid trip (lies) to Nairobi, Kenya, to a world class hospital.

You must understand, this all occured within 12 hours of return from safari- we didn't eat much lunch, and just hopped in a car for the 5 hour drive. Upon arrival in Nairobi, and consultation with a doctor as he poked the sharp painful spot in my abdomen, it was determined that my only useless vestigial organ, the appendix, was horribly infected and destined to be removed from my body and sent to the useless organ pile in the sky.

Surgery occured within about 2 hours, at midnight on this lovely evening, and I proceeded to spend 2 weeks in the Nairobi hospital. "But wait", you say, "aren't you supposed to recover in 2 days from appendectomies? They aren't that serious of an operation!". And so God laughs at my stubborness, for I had put off the doctor's visit for about 2 weeks prior to the week on safari, inducing quite the extent of infection and therefore a more serious surgery. Snapshot: a normal appendix = 6mm long, jess's appendix = 23mm long. Any Questions?

So finally, after fighting fever, infection, naseau, new infection, and boredom (oh, the boredom), I was released from the hospital a few days ago, and have now returned to the group in Tanzania. And that, my dear friends, is why I have been MIA for the past 3 weeks. I'm doing fine now, feeling great and terribly bogged down by work... and I still love Africa!!

More to come...