The Sick Days

So, yet again, I find myself at the Peace Corps provincial house nearly 200 km from site and home. Why? I’m “sick” – for the third week running. Tomorrow, I’ll find my way to a 5 am bus, end up in the capital, and eventually give a few milliliters of blood to PC medical. Three weeks ago, I thought it was only something I ate, untreated water maybe. And, through a regimen of Advil, Pepto-Bismol, and lying spread eagle on the floor of my cool mud-brick hut, I treated it as such and felt better. One week later, I wake again with the same feeling, but despite the Advil and cold mud flood, my temperature reached 103.8 F by noon. By five I could walk for only a couple minutes, just long enough to satisfy the sadistic tendencies of a hell-spawned spell of diarrhea. By six I called the medical officer. From the black stool and high temperature, she most gentle used the words “on the brink of organ failure” to describe my situation. Of course she made this diagnosis nearly six hundred kilometers away and I’m sure that it made have not been as exact as it could have been, but, nonetheless, did she really have to say “organ failure”? She then followed that up with “I’m am REALLY worried about your life right now, Ryan” which now seems a little dramatic, but at the time it literally scared the shit out of me. Malaria. She suspected the culprit to be malaria. So, I took the Quinine-related malaria medication and the next morning I could stand without falling.

Everything started to level off: the temperature went down, the dizziness wore off, the chills subsided, and (best of all) my poo returned to a healthy brown. She didn’t explain it at the time, but the black stool meant internal bleeding – thus the “organ failure” bit. Anyways, my coordinator drove to my site, picked me up and we went to the provincial house. I was there for four days and by the last day, when my buddies dropped in, I was strong and healthy enough to have a few beers. The rest of the week was fine. I ate, I ran, I gardened –everything I could do before. Then, on Saturday, I couldn’t get out of bed till noon. And so by yesterday, I ended up here. Don’t get me wrong – I’m really OK. Just weak, sore and a little irritated – gastro intestinally. The medical officer just wants to rule a thing or two out, but considering that I’m perfectly OK right now, I’m sure I’ll be back very soon.

I have a eight hour bus to catch in seven hours, so I'm sure I'll think of more to say when I'm travelling. I'll post again in a day or two.

Thankful for US healthcare coverage,
Ryan