I apologize for the delay in posting.  I made it to South Africa in one piece on Wednesday.  The 19 hour total flight time and the 10 hour layover in London was beyond brutal.  The first flight wasn’t too bad but left me fatigued.  During my layover in London, I left the airport and explored the city via a tour bus and a trip to the London Eye.  The second flight really took a toll on my body and my POTS.  I had to get up and walk around every hour and a drank a whole lot of water.  Even so, I was still left with pain, dehydration, fatigue, tachycardia, lightheadedness and dizziness.  Once in South Africa and settled in my accommodations, my port was put to good use and I was able to give myself an IV with no problems.  Still today, the fatigue is bad, leaving me sleeping about 11 hours a night but the other POTS symptoms aren’t too bad.  At least I am functional and made it here!  I have absolutely no regrets about coming here or having this port put in so far.  Due to a variety of technical and logistical issues, I have not started my internship but will be starting tomorrow!  Everything happens for a reason and I believe the issues that prevented me from starting my internship on time, happened to allow me to rest and relax.  Those are two things I have not done in a long time!  With no phone or internet access I have been able to really relax, reflect and write!

I have been journaling about every day of my trip and have been taking pictures.  Once I get more reliable internet access I will figure out what type of outlet I am going to use to post everything, so that I can update everyone about what has been going on!  I have a lot of stories so far!

Since I currently do not have reliable internet, if you want to contact me, do so via Facebook or email(natashan.graves@gmail.com) and I will get back to you.

More coming soon!

~Natasha