My Battle with Malaria

The past two months I have become accustom to always being sick, it’s just a way of life in Ghana. I carry toilet paper with me where ever I go just incase it’s a diarrhea day…or week…or month. I’ve started keeping at least 3 or 4 rolls of toilet paper in my house just incase, I ran out one time and I had to use newspaper. Not a very pleasant experience! I carry pepto, ibuprofen, aspirin, sudanyl, antacids, band-aids, butterfly band-aids, triple antibiotic ointment, hydrocortisone, a thermometer, and even medicine who’s soul purpose is to block you up incase you have diarrhea so bad you can’t travel to the hospital. This week is the first time in almost 9 months that I haven’t had any open wounds, from bug bites and cuts. Fevers have become a normal thing as well, normally 101 to 102, it will be on and off for about a week normally. Every now and then I will get a very high temperature, 104.5 to 105, when it gets that high I know theirs a problem. I’ve had 2 infections that caused temperatures of 104.5. I learned my lesson though, if you have an open cut keep it covered 24/7, don’t let cuts breath in Ghana.
This week I got a temperature of 105, my limbs when numb and my head was spinning, it hurt to move. It wasn’t so bad though, so long as I didn’t move I felt fine. The temperature didn’t bother me so much; I only felt it when I rolled over, then the heat would radiate from where I was laying. I managed to make it to my med kit and take some ibuprofen, drink some water, and wonder to take a cold shower. When I made it back to bed my temp was down to 104. The next hour was the worst part about being sick, breaking the fever. I laid there and sweat and had chills, uncontrollable shaking, when I got up I had made a sweat angle on my bed. I felt fine the next morning, I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) the next morning and told her about the temp I had had. She said it sounded like malaria, their was no way to be sure unless I took a blood smear so they could test my blood for malaria. She said the blood smear would be miss read unless I took it when I had the fever. She didn’t want me to wait for my fever to come back (normally every 24 hours) because I had such a high temp, so she started me on Coartem. I had heard horror stories about Coartem, I had heard that it was worse than actually having malaria. The side effects listed were dizziness, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, sleep disorder, joint pain, and headache. Before I started taking the medicine I cleaned up my room, cleaned my water filter and filled it, and got everything in order so I could be sick in comfort.
I ended up not having any of the side effects! Until about 5:00 pm the second day…the PCMO didn’t mention that the Coartem kicks in the second day. The second night I only got up to a 104 temp but I think it was worse because I knew what it was going to be like. The next day I was 100% cured! It was the easiest case of malaria I think I could’ve had. Turns out I got malaria on Griffins visit, it normally takes 2-3 weeks for the malaria to show up.
Terri, one of my PCV friends came to visit and nurse me back to health the next day, but she was a bit to late so we spent the whole day having fun in the sun and swimming. We had such a good time! Two days later we went to Takoradi in the late afternoon, she left early the next morning. After she got on her tro I got on mine and headed home.
I took got on the tro in a corner seat and tucked my bag under my feet and took a nice long nap. When I awoke from my nap I dug through my bag to find some mints, my mouth was dry because I had fallen asleep with it open. I couldn’t find my mints, I checked the floor and didn’t see anything and right about then the tro stopped and the two men next to me dropped at a station. We continued on our way and a minute later I realized not only were my mints missing but my cell phone was as well, and my Peace Corps issued cell phone for safety and security. The first emotion that swept my body was anger, fury, outrage, infuriated, irritated, etc. It is an over whelming emotion that fills your whole body and take all the strength you have to keep it in. I couldn’t sit still once I made it back to my village because I was so mad, last time I was robbed I was mad at all Ghanaians, but this time I was mad at myself for not catching the guys before they got down.
I am hard wired just like my Dad in this manner, I get uncontrollable mad but once I calm down I can see the light again. I took a nap, I’ve found that’s the easiest way to calm down and clear my mind. It has been a hard month for me, but they say when it rains it pours and it did pour for a few weeks. If you wait long enough you will see the beautiful golden light on the edge of the dark lovely clouds. When I woke up I saw my golden lining, the one person who could cheer me up. He loves me more than anything and I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual. If I had to describe him I would say he is a cross of the best sides of Bashful and Dopey from the 7 Dwarfs. He is a Ghanaian boy, he doesn’t understand any English, and he is 4 years old and my shadow. His name is Quabinah!
With this golden lining it didn’t take much to make the sun rise. I taught a lesson in my market town and the class was phenomenal, they listened, laughed, and were all involved. It was the beginning of an environment club, we talked about wildlife as opposed to man made objects, and ideas on how to stop pollution.
I plan to go buy a new rabbit on Monday, it is already pregnant so I am very excited. I am also starting a susu in my village, it is a women’s savings group, I want to teach the women that they can save small amounts of money and it will add up to large amounts. On Tuesday I am taking a group of 15 girls who all want to be nurses to a hospital to shadow a Ghanaian nurse for a few hours. They will have the opportunity to ask questions, and then take part in an HIV/AIDS lesson. I am so excited and looking forward to this weeks work!