Malaria

So, this week was pretty much crazy. Well, really starting last Sunday, so more than a week. I could have written some of this last week, but I guess I was remembering all those times when I've been told not to write about ''negative'' stuff, stuff that will make your parents worry, etc.

To summarize, I was sick last week, with malaria. Now, you should know that malaria is not nearly as bad as we sometimes make it seem. I mean, it is still serious and all, but I think that because it is so rare in the United States we don't really have the same idea about it. Here in Africa, they have ''malaria season'', similar in some ways to what we have as flu season, though it is probably more serious than the flu.

So, I am doing just fine now, with no lasting effects from being sick, but it was an interesting experience, definitely something new. Not something I want to repeat though. I follow most of the precautions that they give us, like taking pills every day, and sleeping under a mosquito net. I wear mosquito repellent often, though not every day like would probably be ideal. There just aren't always a ton of mosquitoes, and I am always rushed to get ready already, so I don't take the time to put repellent on always. Anyways, so the point of all that, was that even though I do pretty well at doing stuff like that, I still ended up getting sick.

Last Sunday, I hadn't really been feeling well, and after church I really was not feeling too great. I took my temperature, and it was a little above 100, so I slept for a while when we went back for lunch. Afterwords I took my temperature again, since the ibuprofen I had taken that morning had worn off, and it was up around 102. So, we didn't leave to go out and work. I slept a bunch, took some more medicine, but in the evening my temperature was 103 now. So, I received a blessing from the other missionaries in my apartment. THe other two has come back to grab somethign, which turned out good. All this turned out to be more interesting than it might have been since the Blacks, the couple missionaries here, were in Togo for the weekend. I wasn't going to call them, since I didn't want to worry about it unless it was really serious. But, I just kept having the feeling I should call, so after my temperature was at 103, I finally listened to this prompting.

So, I had been freezing cold all day, despite a fever, which is the sign of malaria. So, talkign to Elder Black, he was saying I should go in and checked, either that night, or in the morning. I was feeling a little better after having rested, so I thought waitign until morning would be okay. But, after having hung up, I took my temperature and it was around 104, so I was thinking it would be better to go in that night.

Since the Blacks were in Togo, they couldn't take me. So, they called the Relief Society president here, who works as some sort of medical person, a nurse or something like that. And the branch president, who has a car. They arranged for them to take me down to a clinic they often use for missionaries, which was supposed to be open 24 hours a day. When we got there, it wasn't ''open'', but Soeur Félicité was able to get me in. So, they talked to me a bunch, and did all the stuff doctors do, and said, yes, he probably has malaria.

They normally start treatment while they test blood, which makes sense. But, I think sense I was white, they wanted to keep me overnight, just to be safe, so that there wasn't a bad interaction with the medicine or something. So, I got to stay in a hospital (clinic) overnight for the first time.

So, they kept me in the clinic overnight, and gave me a couple of IVs, one for the fever and one for malaria, which was another new thing for me. It is really hard to sleep with IVs in your arm. But, it all worked out. In the morning, I still had a fever up above 102, so they gave me another dose of the one IV. By that afternoon, I was feeling semi decent, and Tuesday, the day after, I felt just fine. We still didn't leave on Tuesday, just to be on the safe side. So, now I feel just fine, and things are all normal.

My fever got up around 104-105 at the highest, which I think is the highest that I have ever had. I think probably the only thing that might have happened as a result of being sick is that I might have lost a little weight, since I didn't eat a lot, and threw up the night that I was really sick. But, things are good now, I'm not sick anymore.