M is for... malaria

Malaria is the word that sends shudders through the expatriate community. We worry about, discuss about and gather information about malaria on a regular basis. Stories about malaria stricken friends circulate. Before our departure, we had read everything we needed to read about this threatening disease, consulted with our family doctor and were briefed at the Travellers Vaccine and Medicine Centre. There is no vaccine that exists against malaria and the reason being is that there are many types of malaria. So we did what every health conscious traveller does; we armed ourselves with lists of do's and do'nt's and brought preventitive medicines, sprays and Deet cream.

So here I am newly arrived in Kenya, full of anticipation for a holiday from the intense life in Conakry and hopeful for a rejuvenating educators' conference. For the first two days, Raymond attends the administrators' sessions and I lounge around by the pool, read and relax. Not a bad life at all, I think to myself. On my second night in Nairobi, I start to shiver violently, so much that I wrap myself cocoon-like in a big blanket. Thirty minutes later, the shivering has stopped and a high fever kicks in. I wonder if I have malaria but I also think this may be a 24 hour flu, after all I have had symptoms like this before. I take 2 Advil and go to sleep. It is a restless night, interrupted by vivid dreams, a pounding headache and profuse sweating.

In the morning, I feel weak and thirsty. I decide to have a light breakfast of fresh fruits but I can barely eat. I feel so weak and dizzy that I head back to my room and spend the day reading and sleeping on and off. My head feels very heavy, my body feels very weak and I continue taking Advils throughout the day, numbing the pain somewhat. When Raymond arrives from the conference, we decide to have a bite to eat and meet up at the pool side restaurant with friends.

I explain my symptoms and everyone around the table says I may have malaria and to get to a doctor asap. I feel fine at this time so I feel a little confused as to the reason for getting a doctor. I wonder what to do next but as the evening wears on, I know I will call a doctor first thing in the morning.

Monday morning arrives, this is the first day of the teachers' sessions and I still have a pounding headache. Maybe a shower will help me but I barely make it to the washroom, extremely dizzy, nauseous and the headache has increased to a pounding pain. I crawl back to bed and Raymond says that I need to get a doctor. With the help of the hotel staff, an hour later, I am wheeled into a van and driven to the Aga Khan University Hospital.

M is for .....motion

Raymond carries me inside the van and by this time, I cannot keep my eyes open because the pain in my head is excrutiating and I am hyper-ventilating, every breath becoming shallower. I can barely murmur to Raymond...hurry, hurry! The ride to the hospital seems interminable and I can feel all the bumps in the road, exacerbating the pounding in my head. My throat is dry yet I can barely quench my thirst with the tiny sips of water I manage to drink. Finally the van stops in the emergency area and I am wheeled in, brought into a holding room and layed down on a bed. Finally I'm at the right place and someone will diagnose me and treat me.

M is for...... medical attention

What happens in the next few hours is hazy. All I can remember is that the pounding headache increases as if someone is hitting my head with a hammer and then an image of a vice grip with my head being squeezed in. At this point I also get electric shock pain in my ears, which surprise me by their intensity. I am given fluids intraveneously which relieves me because I know I am dehydrating by the minute. Blood tests, blood pressure and temperature are taken and the doctor questions me and Raymond fills in all necessary information. The doctor checks my ears and tells me that my ears are bleeding from the inside which explains the electric shock pains I have felt. I remember thinking...this can t be just an earache, though I remember suffering severely from swimmers ear as a teenager and a few other times in my adult life (until I figured out I ALWAYS HAD to wear earplugs whenever I swam).

Of course, I am worried about my one and only kidney and I tell the doctor. He asks me why I only have one kidney and I tell him “’I was a donor 4 years ago”’. The doctor looks at me with the kindest eyes, whispers oh and our eyes lock for a few seconds. I smile as he looks deep into my eyes. I know that he knows what this means. He asks me if I gave to someone in my family to which I answer that I gave to a man from my church. I am given pain reliever through the IV and the doctor converses with Raymond asking how long we have been in Nairobi and where have we come from. Raymond explains that we have been living in Guinee since mid-July and the doctor nods as if he makes a mental connection. He explains that I may have malaria and that Guinee has a different type of malaria. Different? Like how different, I wonder. The results of the blood tests confirm that I have malaria and I start receiving more aggressive treatment. Finally, after 6 hours in the emergency ward, they wheel me up to the only ward that had an available room, the maternity ward.

M is for......mothers

Being on the maternity ward was a joy. I had a small room that I shared the first night with a young woman that I never saw. She was very quiet and I guessed that she had a miscarriage. From the other rooms, I could hear women practicing deep breathing. At other times, I heard the heartbeats of the babies on the machines that record those lovely pre-natal sounds. The second night I spoke a bit to my room mate Nancy and found she was admitted for a Ceasaran scheduled for the next morning. Again the machine recorded the swooshing noise and the rapid heartbeat of this unborn baby. How wonderful all this new life around me!

Meanwhile, my pain was constant, even with all the strong medications I was given. The worst was the pounding headache that did not want to let up. I wanted to get a shot in the head at one point, thinking that if I received an injection exactly at the site of the excruciating pain, somehow I would feel better. Of course, this did not happen, but it just goes to show that I would have done just about anything to get the pain out of my body.

M is for .......marvelous!

The treatment and care from the staff at Aga Khan University Hospital was out standing. The nurses, especially the male nurses were compassionate and kind beyond words. Every time they give me a shot or changed the medication in my intravenous, they sympathically said “’sorry, sorry”’ and all of them did that! This was amazing to me! I had never had any nurse or doctor ever say they were sorry for my pain. It is probably cultural to treat patients with this degree of care but it sure had a very positive impact on me. I noticed that the staff would speak in the same way to all the local patients also. So I did not get special treatment because I was white. I liked that.

M is for......my friend

My friend Laurel from Saskatchewan, via Saudi via Ethiopia was giving a workshop at the conference and she came to visit one night. I thought I was dreaming. She really helped me gain more energy as I was in my healing process. I felt better after her visit. We connected as if we had only seen each other the night before, yet it had been 4 years since we had last seen each other, on one of our many road trips to Winnipeg, stopping thru in Saskatchewan one summer. Laurel was a breath of fresh air and I only wished I could have been in better shape to talk with her. I've always admired Laurel and her husband Kirby for the wonderful act of adopting 3 girls from Lithunia while we were living in Saudi Arabia. Of course, we caught up on all the girls activities. It was great seeing Laurel again!

M is for ....Mali

I stayed 4 days and 3 nights at the hospital. I was discharged on Thursday and we were flying out to Mali. I am presently recuperating at Sylvaine's little paradise in Bamako, Mali. I am feeling better and better all the time. What an ordeal I have been through in the past week. I am so relieved and grateful to be here and to be healthy again!