Fever in the morning, fever all through the night, you give me fever.
So I have malaria. No joke straight up malaria. First of all my dad has asked me about 5 times if I brought malaria pills with me and when I talked to him on skype the other day and told them that I was sick, the first thing he asked “Is it malaria?” I’m like “no Dad, they don’t have Malaria here.” Well the jokes on me huh? Dad, since when did you become a psychic; I thought my mom and I were supposed to be the psychic chosen ones. Well moving right along… here goes the fing malaria story.
Chase got sick first, well actually Max got sick from the plane ride from Holland to Roatan. He had a fever for 3 days with a cough and then was better. Chase was out of the shop for a few days off and on with a fever and cough. He seemed to feel better than he went home early because he wasn’t feeling good. Rita also got sick for a day or so.
Two Fridays ago I helped assist Mo for an open water course for Molly. Molly and Jason are a couple from Tahoe who were down for two weeks. We went out in Half Moon bay and did a lot of skills. Being the DMT I had to bring extra weight and carry along the buoy that says diver below. Molly did great with just Mo and I, she had had troubles equalizing before when her boyfriend Jason and her tried to do the course earlier in the week with Robert. In the afternoon we did her first open water dive at Lighthouse. Again we practiced the necessary skills and then we looked around, after about 30 minutes we got back to the boat and Mo said that now it was my turn to lead the dive (you can’t talk underwater obviously so she had told me this before we went out- seriously malaria doesn’t give you special powers to speak underwater or think you can speak underwater, I mean I was a little coo-coo while I was sick, like bringing the remote control for the air conditioner to the hospital, but we’ll get there). I lead the dive for another 10 minutes; it was pretty cool although I did not venture too far from the boat. I pointed out a few things then we did our safety stop and were back on the boat. Again, part of the Dive Master Training is to carry extra weight to carry the tanks, overall muscle building and mental logistics of diving.
Chase, Massimo and I had decided to go and get the numbers of the other dive shops and boat info that afternoon for our Emergency Assistance Plan. Chase was at home sick with the fever, but Mass and I decided to still walk and get them. We walked the west of West End from our shop all the way to Luna Beach (which ended up being closed). We got back to the shop put everything away and I felt like a train had hit me. I went to go get a coke at the Blue Marlin before I went home and told Dorte that I must be tired from all the open water stuff. I went home, watched a movie and then the chills started. I put on all my warm clothes, took my temperature; it was only 99.5 F and went to bed. My alarm went off at 7, still felt like crap. My temp was around the same, I called Dorte and told her “I have a fever and am not coming in”, she of course understood. I fell asleep again only to be awoken at 3 pm by Dorte checking in on me. (Oh ya, did I forget to tell you that I have a phone now? Dorte loaned one to me and when Massimo leaves I think I’m going to buy his.)
Sunday I woke up and felt better. Today was moving day! I was moving out of my apartment into Noelle and Chase’s house. My temp was back to 98.6 F still a little high for me (I’m usually around 97.6 F), but I decided to clean up my apartment and go out and see the world! I walked down to the shop and hung out with Uwe and Dorte for a bit. Kala had come in the night before. She is going to be my instructor (along with Mo) for my dive master. Dorte has kept telling me that I’ll really like her. She’s from Canada, 26 and her family owns a brewery and bar. She came by to meet me and also look at my apartment to see if she wanted to move in. We walked there, the power had gone out, she said that she was indecisive and wanted to look at other places. We went back to the shop. Noelle called said the power was out at their place too and they were in the middle of cleaning and cleaning the dogs (she has 3- Diesel “DZ”, Lola and Shanti) and that as soon as the power came back on she’d take a shower and then drive her car over to pick up my stuff. Power came back, we moved me. Hot shower, good company and dogs. We went to the Dive Bar to watch the rest of the football game (boo Broncos why do you suck?), had a little bit to eat, we went over to the Blue Marlin to hang out with Fou and Rita who were working and then I didn’t feel so good anymore. Chase took me back home on the scooter, got home and had a temp of 100 F, it was 7 pm and I went to bed for about 12 to 20 hours or so, I’d wake up intermittently and check my temp it went as high as 102 F.
Slept for most of Monday, was feeling better on Tuesday temp was back to 97.6 F so I went into the shop. Massimo was now sick. Molly was finishing her last 2 dives of Open Water (they had taken the weekend off to see the rest of the island) and of course I was excited to help. I knew something was wrong after I the second dive. I was cold and I’m never cold. I couldn’t warm up. I was exhausted too. I tried coffee at the shop and got out of my wet stuff but was still cold. I told Dorte that I was going home, my lips were blue, I needed a hot shower and a bed. I called Noelle who said now she wasn’t feeling good either. I got home, took a shower, and crawled into bed at 3 pm; my temp was around 101 F. Woke up around 7 decided I had to eat something, I took my temp again it was up to 103 F. I told myself that I would tell Noelle and we would go to the hospital. But I couldn’t even think straight; I ate my dinner and went back to bed. My head ached. Wednesday I decided even if I was feeling better to stay at home, I had a slight fever in the morning and by afternoon it was gone! Noelle had called me during the day and while she was talking to people they all decided that I should get tested for Malaria and that she was taking me Thursday morning. Eddie got on the phone and said, “Darling you should go to the hospital, they might have to amputate a few things, but in the end you’ll be fine.” Thursday I woke up with a 103 F temp again, we went to the hospital. My brain was fried.
I ask Noelle to stay with me at the hospital, she tells me there is no way she’s leaving me there by myself. They got me in right away, I talked to a doctor in Spanish, they hook me up to an I.V. The doctor tells me she thinks it’s Malaria although it could be the Dengue Fever (Dang!). There’s no cure for the Dang. I start crying, partly because now I can be treated and partly because I’m scared, I don’t ever remember being this sick. I’ve never spent the nite in a hospital and never had an I.V. The doctor tells the other nurses that they need to control my fever before they can test me. This is opposite of what Eddie had told Noelle the day before, he said they couldn’t test unless you had a fever and that I wasn’t supposed to take anything before the test. The I.V. made me feel wonderful, plus they gave me a little pain reliever for my head. Did I mention it hurt really, really bad? I went through the bag really quickly, the doctor had said I was dehydrated. I thought next they would take the test, but a half hour went by and all the sudden I felt worse than I had before. Noelle was with me and got the nurse who gave me another I.V. and a shot of vitamin B which made my veins set on fire. Finally they took the malaria test, another doctor comes in and says that they need to take the test when the fever is at it’s worst… which is it people?! Well I was feeling pretty bad at that point and what do you know, 5 minutes later yes you have malaria. FML. I take the meds, the nurse takes my temp, it’s still to high she says.
All day we have been at this 3rd world country hospital. Noelle says it reminds her of an insane asylum with the lights flickering. When I go to the bathroom or “bano” I have to carry my I.V. thingy (the wheels don’t really work) to this hallway, I open the door, it’s a very small hallway and the room across from the room we’ve been in is the morgue. Just to the left is the bathroom. Lovely. There are signs above the door that look like street signs “bano”, “oxigeno”, “morgue”. Noelle and I giggle about the naked old man who is in the curtained room across from ours who keeps peeking into our room, who also got yelled at by the nurse for touching himself inappropriately, we can’t figure out why they just don’t get him some pants. He’s funny, but creepy. After my 3rd I.V. I realize the color of the hospital is Tiffany Blue, such a beautiful color for an insane asylum. Then the nurse comes, she had told me that I would have to stay if my temp didn’t go down. She took it again and finally, finally I get the I.V. out, all my meds and directions and the promise of my own bed instead of a vinyl hospital bed with nasty sheets, with a creepy old man in the room across the way, a scary hallway with a morgue next to the bathroom which we all know I’ll have to use multiple times during the night. My bed, my bathroom, Noelle and Chase to check on me and no scary morgue.
I’ve been sleeping since last Friday. My liver hurt. It’s better now, but it hurt when I would yawn or move too much or sleep on it. It wasn’t a sharp pain, just a dull aching one like something is wrong with it. I didn’t want to go back to the hospital, although they were very nice, so I drank lots of water and set my alarm for my meds and water. I was so nauseated from the drugs fighting the dirty little parasites that were attacking my blood cells I could only eat saltine crackers because I couldn’t take the drugs on an empty stomach. Isn’t that a pretty little picture? I know I’m being dramatic, but it did really suck. Woke up on Monday and finally had an appetite. I love you bacon more than anything in the world, you are wonderful and absolutely delicious. Most everything else doesn’t sound too good. It’s been raining again like crazy. I walked down to the shop midday to make sure that I still knew how to walk. Half of the road in west end is gone and a boat has been sunk from the storm. Kala told me her surface interval was 100 hours (meaning they hadn’t been diving since Thursday). Eddie told me not to drink alcohol because it would make my liver work to hard, not that I have any craving at all but I’m so glad my doctors told me that. Oh and did I mention that they didn’t give me all of my medication? One of the bags of the medication says take 1 cada dia por 14 dias (one a day for 14 days), but there are only 9 pills in the bag (by the way I’ve been taking about 10 pills a day). Not to worry, I went to the pharmacy with the pills today and the doctor said that he’ll have them in tomorrow for me. I finally got on the computer to tell my parents that I’m ok; I just have freaking Malaria. My dad asks me what I want for Christmas, I say not to have Malaria. Ok, I’m pretty dramatic, but I’d really, really like never to get this again and maybe no mosquito bites again? Is that too much to ask for? If I have to choose one, then no more Malaria again? I’ve been really good this year Santa, I’m pretty sure.
PS I hate you, you dirty little mosquitoes.
