My greatest–all time greatest–fear is returning from Africa with some kind of sickness….a sickness that would be simple and easily treatable in Africa….but, a profound mystery for the American medical system. Well, this past week has been my nightmare week.
During the last two weeks of April I visited in four countries in Africa. One of those countries was Malawi–a country in southern Africa is is mainly lake–and a place where there is a problem with Bilharzia–a small blood fluke. That small blood fluke–a worm–spends half of its short life in snails that infest the lake. The other half of the life cycle of the blood fluke–the half where they spend their honeymoon and get the new family started–takes place inside a human. (How those new little hummers get out of the human and back to the lake I’ll leave for you to figure out!)
Having lived in a Bilharzia area (Lake Victoria) and having traveled to other Bilharzia areas (Lake Malawi), I have had the experience of being that happy breeding ground on a couple of occasions. The usual procedure is this: you go to the local clinic, they draw some blood and find some enzymes present with the blood flukes. The clinic dispenses about six “horse pills” and you go home, take the medicine. The next morning you are over Bilharzia.
This past week I woke up with a moderately high fever, joint pain, and muscle pain. It was serious enough that I had Margaret take me to Urgent Care clinic. Of course all of this is happen just on the anticipated cusp of the swine flu “pandemic”. The first day was spent at Urgent Care explaining the finer points of Bilharzia to DOCS that aren’t interested in having it explained to them by a patient. I was admitted to the Hospital and put into an isolation room–all the while trying to explain to everyone that I simply had Bilharzia and needed “the pills” and I’d be alright by morning. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were consumed repeatedly stating that case to “infectious disease experts” who pretty much blew off whatever I was saying–even though they hadn’t a clue as to what was causing the fever and other symptoms.
Tuesday–finally–the bilharzia pills were found and a decision was made to “at least try” that approach. By Wednesday morning (after taking the bilharzia medications) I was well! SURPRISE!!!!!!
Today I am resting and hoping to restore the strength and reserves I lost while the DOCS dithered. I feel much stronger. I took Kijana for a nice long walk this morning and did some small projects around the house. I don’t feel 100% yet, but I am doing much better.
GREG
