Although Claude stories have been a source of great amusement, he has actually been quite ill this week and so I took him to see a doctor so he could air his complaints of chest pain. (This is not a typical Ugandan experience because we're lucky enough to have access to private healthcare. Illness is no time for authenticity!)
We chatted in the waiting room for a bit (until I worked out that there are no queues, you just take your turn when you feel ready) and I was very alarmed when he told me that he derived much sexual pleasure from working with his entrepreneurs...it turns out that Claude has been reading the works of Freud (but not very critically!).
When we got into the examination room, Claude sat down,
was asked what the problem was, and informed the doctor that he had a stone in
his lung. The doctor took this information in his stride and despite Claude's best efforts, did manage to come up with a positive diagnosis: a chest
infection and excess stomach acid. Claude was prescribed a rigorous schedule of
drugs and syrups, which I was very concerned about him remembering to take. The doctor
had different concerns, firstly he told Claude to stop smoking. Secondly he
told Claude that if he ever had cause to cry in the night again then he (the doctor) should be notified. On hearing this Claude (who had no idea what was going on) assumed that the doctor
was trying to treat him for homesickness and so refused.
It seems that the many medicines Claude has been prescribed have been doing the trick. Things have got better this week (although he did initially tell everyone that he had TB, so that wasn't a great start). Having said that, yesterday I found him smoking (an odd decision all things considered). I expressed my surprise
but he assured me that in order to ensure he could smoke over the weekend he had stopped taking his medication so that it would be ok…I cannot even begin to imagine the logic that informed this
decision!
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