“The Happy Dance”

So what did we really do while we were at Mosiro? I mean what did we DO the entire two days we were there? You’re probably thinking, oh, no, she’s going to tell us EVERYTHING right down to every time she went to the bathroom.

Well, as long as you asked, I’ll get the bathroom discussion out of the way right away.

From talking to friends, family and patients that I have waited on, I’m going to tell you something that you probably already know. Whenever you travel anywhere, even in the best of circumstances, it throws off your bowels. I don’t care if you are staying at the nicest hotel in London or at your best friend’s apartment in New York City or in a tent in the middle of nowhere, when you are out of your element, your body is suddenly too shy to do its daily duty. Or as my mom called it when we were little – doing your job.

When I used to go camping with my sister Pat, we would both be constipated. During one such camping trip, after she had had success, she came out of the outhouse dancing. It immediately became known as the happy dance.

Many years and many happy dances later, I took it to Africa. Soon everyone on the team was hoping to be the next to do the happy dance. Rather a challenge when squatting over a hole in a crude canvas structure without a door.

Of course, before the trip was over just about the entire team was doing a dance all right. But it wasn’t a happy one.