That's Africa, Baby.

Last week I got sick for the first time (and hopefully last), but no worries- I am fine now. On Tuesday and Wednesday I started feeling gross and nauseous. By Thursday I was only feeling worse and, with the prompting of the staff here, I decided to go to the hospital to get it checked out. I went to the hospital not because it was an emergency but because that is where the doctors are. I went to St. Joseph Hospital, the same place where Lindsay had her appendix out a couple weeks prior, with a couple other volunteers who were also sick, a few volunteers along for moral support and Sarah, a gracious staff member to translate and hold our hands. We were all thinking that we had malaria at this point. It was quite an experience, to say the least. The hospital consists of two main courtyards in a figure eight pattern with rooms facing the courtyard and the center hallway as the surgery rooms. First, the woman took my "medical history" which consisted of my age and my name. Then I met with the doctor who wrote down my symptoms and sent me over to the lab. I sat on a bench outside the lab (a room with a couple microscopes and a machine to sanitize) and when my turn came, I was treated by a German volunteer. The blood sample was easy enough, he pricked my finger (no worries, clean needle out of a package) and I just spread my blood on a slide. As for the other sample, well, you will have to ask me about that later. I waited outside for my results with the others outside in the courtyard. After about 30 minutes I found out that while I had tested negative for Malaria, I had all the symptoms and they are only able to test for 1 of 3 strains at that clinic. They gave me malaria pills to help it go away and some appetite inducing drugs. One of the girls in my group tested positive but they gave the drugs to all three of us. To Americans with good health and plenty of resources, malaria turns out to be basically a bad case of the flu, and is easily managed when it is caught early. Because I was on Malaria medication as a preventative measure it managed to slow things down a bit. The whole thing cost me about 11 usd. 5,000tsh for the consultation, 2,000tsh for the lab fees, and 6,000tsh for the medications.

I am mostly recovered now, after a couple days in bed watching Friends and a good trip to Zanzibar! Hakuna Matata!