Ok, so let me preface this adventure by saying I am just fine now. No lasting damage, and really it only took me out of commission for seven days. Thanks goodness I don’t feel cheated out of a holiday, I still have months left!
About a week and a half ago, I started having severe stomach issues, which I attributed to having eaten a salad at a wedding (rule one- if it isn’t cooked, don’t eat it). It got progressively worse until I was in pretty severe pain from head to toe, and I developed a 104 degree fever. The doctor at a local clinic gave me some meds to try, but they only made me worse. The next day I checked into the Chiyaphum business hospital, and was diagnosed with Dengue fever.
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From wikipedia:
This infectious disease is manifested by a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains (myalgias and arthralgias—severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease) and rashes. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechiae and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
Other symptoms include: fever; bladder problems; constant headaches; severe dizziness; and loss of appetite.
Some cases develop much milder symptoms which can, when no rash is present, be misdiagnosed as influenza or other viral infection. Thus travelers from tropical areas may inadvertently pass on dengue in their home countries, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can pass on the infection only through mosquitoes or blood products and only while they are still febrile.
The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease (the so-called "biphasic pattern"). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal.
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So, I don’t remember much of the first two or three days. I slept pretty much the entire time. I do remember the doctor telling me that my latelet level was 32,000 instead of the 115,000 where it should be. My blood count didn’t start to rise until this past Wednesday, and even then they relaeased me with a 75,000 count. I have to go back today and be re-tested.
The doctors and nurses were very kind, and they all knew at least limited english, which I appreciated. I have more holes poked in me right now than I'd like to admit, and I am pretty sure for every hole there is a nurse walking around with a new swear word in her vocabulary. All of the nurses look like little dolls, perfectly attired in tailored suits, and wearing high heels! That was really annoying, the clikity-click sound when my head was pounding as it was.
I was so bored. The only TV was Thai, and I didn't bring nearly enough books to this country. I did get visits from the school Principal, various teachers, the lady who in in charge of VolunThai locally (Oom and her family), and a few VolunThai volunteers who I met when I first arrived. Trying to speak slowly and to understand the accents of the various people was painful at times.
Oh, and everyone brought me food! I was chided if I didn't eat anything, but I was so not hungry, especially not for KFC! Luckily the nurses rescued me, and told everyone to stop feeding me bad foods. Thank goodness. People did also bring fruit, but bags and bags of the stuff. I had to ask them to remove the Durien right away, the smell made me feel really ill. There was a mixup in the kitchen, and for two days they only brought me soup, which I got very, very sick of. Luckily they had no problem ordering other things for me, which meant I had steak twice (the iron jump after eating that was fabulous) and most often I ate Pad Thai.
Which brings me to a small rant. Everyone is complaining I don't eat enough, and then in the next breath they say how I am fat and it's good that I am losing weight! I made the miskate of showing a picture of my sister to everyone, and you can imagine how that went over. Everyone asked why I wasn't as thin as Shannon. I have been eating incredibly healthy foods here (evern going without to avoid eating badly), but I did lose 12 pounds in the hospital. I really, really hate it when people point at what I am eating, and proceed to tell me how bad it is for me. I lost my temper a little last night when I was craving salt and I grabbed a small bag of Lays, only to be lectured about how they will make me fat. I smiled and said very, very slowly and clearly.
I DO NOT CARE.
First (the daughter in my house) thought that was very funny, and re-told it to everyone. I think it's because people call her fat, and she doesn't eat dinner because she is on a diet. You can guess my feelings on that. Next person who makes a comment about my food gets dumped in the river. I can't think of a singler person in this town I can't benchpress, so that's a potent threat. Anyway, rant over.
If you have any questions, I'll update this thing with answers as soon as I can. I have been online for hours uploading pics etc, time to go for a walk!
Love to all,
Kelsey
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