October 17
Sonja, Liz, and Christina walked into the American house today and started singing to me, "Happy malaria to you..." Yes, I have the dreaded disease, although I am quite perplexed by the fact that I haven't been sick. I've been really tired, but that could easily be explained by all the work and stress at the hospital. Anyways, I decided to just get tested and found out that I have 0.10%! Liz, Sonja, and Hans have all had half that, .05%, and were throwing up, having fevers, headaches...And all I've had is a little fatigue. I'm not complaining, but I'm a little worried that it is suddenly going to hit me hard; I'm just holding my breath and waiting. When I go to work this evening, I'll prescribe myself some medicine. Until then, I've been reading the wonderful National Geographic "Malaria" article that Sonja brought. I don't think it does much more than scare us. :) Now I'm worried that I have the strain that suddenly hits, goes cerebral, and can kill you in a day...but hopefully I can just treat it and get rid of it before I ever get even a headache. Blessings to you all and don't worry...everyone shudders at the word malaria in the States, but here it's as common as rice.
I've read that National Geographic article! How exciting! Hey, let me ask you something. Is it all that it's cracked up to be? Not malaria, I mean the whole trip. I'm so jealous of you. Someday...
ReplyDeleteTake care and I'll be praying for you.
-Monte