DAYS 54-64

Day 54

Guess what I came down with…

I’m writing this several days after Day 54 has passed… and this is why:

It was a bright and sunny morning and I woke up feeling hot, very very hot –and not at all in a sexy way. My skin was scorching and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the high temperature outside, or if it was my body emitting heat. The past few nights I felt myself coming down with something and popped a bunch of vits, herbs and other concoctions of Chinese medicines my grandma, who swears by it, supplied me with, hoping it would go away but whatever it was had finally caught up to me.

My body ached and head was throbbing. I could hear my quickened pulse echoing in my skull. It felt like my skeleton would snap from the weight of my skin. It hurt to move, took a lot of effort to breath and I couldn’t get myself out of bed. I felt like I had been run-down by a truck.

Baraka and I had a field assignment out of town. When he came to pick me up I was still in bed. The maid let him into the house and he made his way upstairs to see what was holding me up. I was barely conscious of his presence.

I remember a lot of chatter between him and the maid, and the annoying ringtone of his cell phone going off that made my head hurt and I remember thinking what the hell, shut up an let me get some rest! …apparently I wasn’t just thinking this and actually said this out loud, Baraka told me later.

Before I knew it I was being lifted from my bed, undressed from my nightwear, into clothes they had randomly pulled from my closet. I was too weak to put up a fuss and completely submitted myself to them. They hauled me into the project van and took me to Aga Khan Hospitali downtown.

I drifted in and out of consciousness throughout our wait, and don’t even remember the encounter with the doctor. They even pricked my finger and I didn’t flinch. The only part I remember is Baraka helping me up to leave.

“Hannah, listen to me” he said, “You have Malaria.”

I jolted to consciousness at the sound of Malaria.

“What??!!!!”

He showed me the paper with my lab results showing +’ve for Malarial parasites.

How could I have gotten Malaria??? Damn useless Larium, giving me vivid dreams and paranoia and couldn’t even prevent Malaria!!!

I lost it and began wailing hysterically, that people around me began asking “Ukimwi? Ukimwi? Is it Ukimwi?”…..

(Ukimwi means HIV+ in Swahili)

Oh geez… Nice one, Hannah! I thought. UGH!

I had contracted Malaria, but there were a low number of parasites in my blood that it was minor and treatable with Coartem. Apparently it’s like the Pill and not 100% effective. I’ll admit I missed more than a few doses … I suffered and paid for it.

Baraka managed to calm me down and told me, “It’s no big deal, I get it at least once every couple years”. To people here, it’s like a common cold and treatable as long as testing is timely and meds are taken promptly. Their bodies can handle it so long as they get treatment, but to weakling foreigners who’ve never been exposed to anything as exotic as Malaria, our bodies don’t take it as well and it really bogs you down.

“You think you feel sick now, wait t’ill you take your medicine” he warned me as he handed me my meds.

Coartem, is the universal drug you take to wipe you clean of any parasitic infestation including Malaria but really does a number on your body. It completely runs you down, and probably eats up a good chunk of your liver, but apparently very necessary, so the studies say.

I remember learning about this drug it in one of my clinical classes and thought “Oh… shit… I’m gonna be the guy straight out of a case study.”

No words can even begin to describe the ungodly feeling of discomfort and pain I was afflicted with that week. It cost me very agonizing painful nights of hell. Think of the worse fever/flu you’ve ever suffered and multiply that by a million! “Not so invincible after all,” I scolded myself.

Hoyce, the girl I’m living with, has been travelling out of town for the past few weeks and still not back yet, so I’ve been staying at the house alone. Baraka didn’t want to leave me by myself and spent the night. There is no other furniture in our house other than the beds in our bedrooms. There was no couch for him to sleep on and he didn’t want to sleep in Hoyce’s bed, so the poor guy slept in a chair beside my bed and watched me thrash in my sleep as my body processed the Coartem.

I was out of commission for the rest of the week and hated myself for it. A week of work was lost.


Day 55 --SICK--


Day 56 --SICK--

Malaria bites.


Day 57 --SICK--

To the mosquito that infected me, you suck.


Day 58 --SICK--

Down with mosquitoes!


Day 59 --SICK--

Canada Day in Tanzania

I missed the big Embassy party and spent Canada Day in bed. I had been looking forward to it all week. My fever finally broke the day before and I wanted to drag myself out of bed to attend but Baraka wouldn’t let me past the door. I activated the waterworks and he still wouldn’t budge. I was crushed I had to miss it.

Happy Birthday Canada. I miss you dearly.


Day 60 --SICK--


Day 61

Recovering….

I can now sit up without feeling dizzy and weak, and walk around on my own. The gang from the office came by to visit! They all piled in the project van and drove to my place together. I received many Pole sana’s which is an expression of sympathy in Swahili. Swahili people are very apologetic.


Day 62

Recovering…

Day 63

Recovering…

This has been the longest week EVER


Day 64

Baraka means ‘blessing’ in Swahili

Baraka has been my rock and I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through this without him. The maid would prepare food for me in the morning, which I didn’t have an appetite for, and Baraka would drop by in the afternoon after work, and force me to eat it. Sometimes he’d come with a thermos full of hot porridge and practically had to force-feed me to take it, it was so bland!

I can be pretty stubborn when I’m sick and I imagine I must’ve been pretty cranky too, so why he stuck around, I don’t know, but will forever be grateful and in his debt. He would stay with me the rest of the day and wouldn’t leave until I had fallen asleep. Although there were some nights I don’t think he left at all and slept in the chair by my bed and still went to work in the morning.

To express my appreciation I told him I’ll name my first-born child after him. I think he will hold me to it.

My poor, poor liver

I really hope my liver is still functional by the end of this year after the abuse it’s gotten.. I’m gonna chug milk thistle when I get home.