Medical Mishaps

Greetings from South Africa!

I am a medevac. Cool right? No not at all. So in the beginning of August, I came down to Lusaka to get my gum pain checked out and I visited with the new PC doctor, told him I had been experiencing body aches and fatigue for the past couple weeks. He did a physical and I had pain on my left side so immediately he thought I had a kidney infection. I was put on anti-biotics and I told him I can't stay in Lusaka because I was committed to helping CamFed with their one week girls' camp in Chinsali. So against doctor's orders, I headed back up North feeling a bit better.

A few days into the camp, the fatigue came back, the antibiotic did not seem to be working, the pain in the left side became much more intense and I developed a rash on my upper tummy. I thought maybe it was a reaction to the medicine they gave me, but the doctor-he is very good-called every day to check on my status and when he heard I developed a rash, insisted that I come back down to Lusaka that day. Lucky for me, a CamFed vehicle was going down as well so I got a free ride with them. I was so sad to leave the camp-it was great and CamFed Zambia is a great NGO-I really enjoyed working with them. So I visited with Dr. Harry on Thursday and at this point, I was feeling very bad-nauseaus and dizzy. He checked and I had a fever as well-so I continued with antibiotices, slept a lot and they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Took more blood and could not figure it out. I was switched to a different antibiotic because they thought I had another infection but during the weekend, fever continued and I was feeling like crap. Come Monday morning, I was sent for x-rays and told I was heading to South Africa first thing the next morning. Though I really did not want to go, I had no choice so made the necessary calls to my villagers and said my goodbyes and next day-hello South Africa. I was met at the airport by a PC driver and he took me right to the hospital in Pretoria-Little Company of Mary.

I met with Dr. Cedric who is the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer-he is great! And I was admitted right then and there. The flight was painful-I could not sit comfortably and so immediately at the hospital, they did blood work, I had a CT scan, an MRI and all came back ok so final diagnosis was that I had a virus infection that got into my blood which was causing the muscle/joint pain. They confirmed that I had dengue fever-I had a big rash on my back that I had no idea about...and so I was at the hospital for about six days. It was weird -my first time ever to be admitted to the hospital and of course, it would happen in Africa! But the hospital was so nice, very clean and I had my own room. The nurses were great and made sure I was very comfortable. I was visited every day by Dr. Cedric who also made sure I was ok. I started physio-therapy while at the hospital and it was so painful at first I really could not stand it...but I have been in it for about two weeks now and it's getting better. So I was released from the hospital on Monday-I arrived the Tuesday before so I was ready to be out. I was taken to the PC office, met with the medical assistant who organized for me to be taken to the guest house where all the medevacs are staying. It is this beautiful guest house in a nice neighborhood in Pretoria. It is an old victorian style home and my room has hard wood floors. So nice! Breakfast is provided and it is delicious, we have a great variety. I cant' complain-they certainly make our stay very cozy during our time here. So I met volunteers from the Gambia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Uganda, and Swaziland who are all here for different medical issues.

I have been seeing the therapist every other day and there is definite progress. I am going again tomorrow and then Thursday, hopefully I can get on a bicycle and if there is no problem after that, I am good to go back to Zambia. I am so ready to get home-my poor villagers probably feel deserted. Luckily I was able to call and check in with them all and everything is fine at home, yay for that.

It is strange being in Pretoria. A land full of white people who speak Afrikaans-it is so different from being in Mpika. I just don't fit in very well here and miss being able to speak/understand the local language. And it is just so clean here. I have gotten to know the other volunteers and everyone's living situation is so different, even though we are all PC africa. I have it the roughest but I wouldn't trade my little hut with no water/electricity for anything else. Everyone else lives with families in cement homes, have flush toilets and electricity-crazy!! Oh Zambia...

So that's about all going on here-I am overwhelmed with the malls, fast food, McDonald's and bars...