Dysentery Disease

I was rushed into the dysentery unit of the Richmond’s Chimborazo Hospital where twenty percent of all patients suffered from dysentery disease. Dysentery is a disease that kills the intestines with bacteria and parasites. The symptoms of dysentery disease are vomiting blood, fever, and severe abdominal pains, which were all the symptoms I had. The doctor plopped me onto the hospital bed. On one side of me was a man who looked horribly ill and on the other side there was a pitiable old woman who looked much worse.

The dysentery unit was awful, left to right there were people moaning and groaning with stomach pains. I vomited blood four times so far with the infection, the old lady next to me also vomits right in front of my eyes. Doctor Cedric talked about how during the first eighteen months of the historic Civil War, twenty-five percent of the sick Confederate soldiers of the Mississippi River suffered of dysentery disease. He also said that from November 1861 to October 1862 in South Carolina, soldiers endured 12,000 cases of dysentery.

Doctor Cedric gave me a concoction of castor oil assorted with opium, which was said to cure dysentery disease. I guzzled down the horrid, tasting concoction and tried to rest. However, it was impossible to rest in a putrid smelling place such as this, therefore I was forced to stay awake. The man next to me had to get a sponge bath because earlier in the morning he had vomited and had an accident in his hospital bed.

Unfortunately, the woman next to me had to be transported into another room because the infection was taking over her whole body which was very fatal. The man next to me was also getting worse and worse, soon he also had to be transported to another room. I overheard Doctor Cedric stating to a nurse that Ms. Scott has passed away due to dysentery disease which was the lady who suffered next to me. I prayed to God that I wouldn’t have to suffer the way she did.

I slowly became better and better. As soon as I knew it, I was out of the putrid dysentery unit. Free from all disappointment and negativity. What a dreadful experience!