My Doctor's A Veterinarian...

so there i was. in the democratic republic of congo. ready to photograph bonobos.

but ending up as sick as sick can be. a bloated 4 day old stomach virus. the type of virus that started in the pit of my stomach. and literally seemed to slowly crimp and crawl its way up my stomach. toward my chest. while turning my slightly overweight waist (ok, a really overweight waist) into a super large exercise ball.

i also found myself limping. and then bedridden. for my back was experiencing excruciating spasms . such extreme pain that i wanted to scream or cry most of the time.

what probably caused this pain was bending my 6’2″ in frame into a gumby position in order to sit in coach seat. and be on the tarmac for 5 hours and then fly 8 more hours. so 13 hours in total without barely moving.

oh yeah, then i also had to carry 2 massive duffel bags of about 100 plus pounds of clothes.  i had brought these clothes to give away to the local community.

so there i was. in pain. just starting my trip. and i could barely move.

then i finally limped outside my room. and i spoke with one young french doctor that was there.

actually he was a veterinarian.

and he had an idea for me. he would give me a pill. that could possibly alleviate some of my back pain.

i asked him what the pill was…and he told me it was a cousin of morphine.

so i obviously asked him if it was a close cousin or distant cousin.

then before he could answer, i took the pill from his hand and swallowed it.

to this day i have no idea what the pill actually was named. or if it even worked.

but i can say with certainty, that being in the DRC. in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. and having massive pain. will make one try anything to get some medical relief.

even if the doctor providing the medicine. is a veterinarian.

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