Monday, August 2, 2010

Oh, That? It's Just a Little Malaria

So, on Thursday, I got Malaria.

I can safely say that I will never forget my Mefloquin again. Some reasons why this terrible event occurred? Well, it's the rainy season, which means more mosquitoes in my already buggy village. While that's not an excuse, I'm willing to bet that if I forgot my prophylaxis once during the dry season, I would not have gotten sick. Which leads me to my second reason: I forgot to take my Mefloquin!!! Never again, though.

For those of you that followed the link above and read all of the symptoms, DON'T FREAK OUT! I did not have the worst case. I didn't even have to go to the hospital, for which I was grateful. I only was hurting, faint, and had a slight fever. Malaria induces an odd type of pain, because the disease is in your blood cells. There's not one specific area that hurts, you just hurt. (The good thing about this aspect of the disease is that there leave little doubt to the source of your ailment. I immediately knew I had Malaria.)

So, the wonderful doctors at Peace Corps got on the phone with me and told me to take my emergency medicine, and within three days, here I am typing about the incident in Hohoe.

I'm back in town to do a little work. Believe it or not, but I've been busy with meetings and organizing projects. (Yes, you read that right, projects- plural.) I'll hopefully be posting my success stories here in a couple of months. In the meantime, feel free to E-Mail or Comment here. I miss all y'all like crazy, so, please, don't be a stranger.


Love, Katie

2 comments:

Theresa Mattiello said...

Katie!!! I'm so glad you're okay because having Malaria is definitely NOT okay! Love you girl and miss YOU like crazy!
Love Theresa

Anonymous said...

katie!! so crazy that you had malaria! i am very glad you are ok though. you are quite amazing and i look forward to seeing you when you get back!!!!!! love you!!!
-sarah