Back in Nicaragua

So, I'm back in Nicaragua. How do I briefly yet accurately sum up everything that has happened to me that's led me back here? Briefly.
Shortly before my Dad and I left for Panama, I became sick. Normal stomach stuff so I waited until I returned to Nicaragua to deal with it. Well, after 2 months of tests, antibiotics, traveling back and forth to Managua to speak with Doctor after Doctor, I still did not feel any better. Not only did I not feel any better, I was worse. I was exhausted, nauseated...etc. So, being mentally and emotionally fatigued I decided to book a ticket home to the states, a round trip ticket.
I arrived in the states and was looking forward to a rest and seeing some U.S. Doctors. Well, Peace Corps has a policy called medical hold. This is where a volunteer has 45 days to resolve a medical issue, during which time they are on hold. I saw several Doctors during this period and did countless numbers of tests. All turned up negative. This was a very difficult period because I was trying to schedule appointments Doctors but Peace Corps kept making this difficult. I won't go into too much detail but the problems ranged from them insisting I wasn't physically sick but depressed to going behind my back and speaking to one Doctor about how upset I was with his service. Thanks to Janet Sangare, I was dismissed from this Doctor's office and had to find a new Doctor. Which is no easy task in and of itself due to the PC Insurance and the nightmare involved in trying to explain to Doctor's offices the insurance and how there fee schedule works; which as far as I can tell is a top secret only revealed once a Doctor has already seen you and the PC pays him/her whatever they feel like. I would also like to say for the record that Janet Sangare was not the only person that was very difficult to deal with. Brenda Goodman was also extremely difficult and unhelpful. And, in case you feel that maybe I'm being too harsh by calling these two people out...I'm not.
Moving on. I did not get better within the 45 day hold and was released from the Peace Corps. However, the people I dealt with after being released were much more helpful and very informative. I continued to see Doctors and worked with a great infectious disease Doctor in Columbus named Valerie Fletcher. We did all kinds of tests, mainly for tropical type diseases and parasites but found nothing. But, I began feeling better all by myself...or maybe it was all the attention I was getting from my family. I began doing things, working out, running...my Dad and I even took a trip to the beach. It was nice. But, I really needed to get back to doing things.



So, Courtney, my girlfriend who is a PC volunteer, arranged for me to work with a Dentist in the health center in the town where she lives. All I need was for PC Nicaragua to pay me for my time as a volunteer and send my personal things to me and I was on my way back to Nicaragua.
I won't spend a lot of time talking about how difficult PC Nicaragua was to work with...but they were. It took them months to send my personal things and paycheck to me. And, I don't think they would have done this if it hadn't been for Courtney's help. She went to my apartment, packed up all my things that needed to be shipped, arranged to pay my landlord the rent I owed, let PC Nicaragua in to collect the things and spent countless hours on the phone and sending e mails to have all this arranged. I honestly don't think I would have had my check and things yet if it hadn't been for her. And after all that, they raised a fuss when she tried to send a few of her clothes home in the bags she had packed for me. They eventually relented after I pointed out that most of their work had been done or facilitated by her.
Well, anyway, I survived whatever it was that I had. And, according to Dr. Fletcher I don't have to worry about something coming back later in my life to cause problems...she's tested me for anything that could rear it's ugly head in the future. I survived dealing with PC Washington (no thanks to Janet Sangare and Brenda Goodman), finally was sent my things by PC Nicaragua, PC Washington sent my paycheck and I actually was able to use the second half of my round trip ticket back to Nicaragua without having to pay a fee.
So, here I am in San Rafael del Norte Nicaragua. Ex PCV..they usually say returned PCV or RPCV but technically I'm not returned yet. Volunteering in the health center and trying to stay healthy. Next update will be my work in the health center. It's very exciting. The Sandanistas are in control of the government, again, and health care and medicine is provided to the citizens free of charge. So the health center I volunteer in is provided by the government to the people...when there is electricity, or they have time to see patients, or they did not run out of medicine....