Malaria

My apologies for not have writing so long. A lot has happened, so I will briefly summarize:

Last Wednesday through Friday I went to the Salvation Army Hospital in Chikankata, which is a nursing school/hospital/AIDS research facility. I was allowed to sit in on one of the classes in the nursing school. It is amazing at how they have to learn. The teacher writes down EVERYTHING onto the chalkboard and the students copy those notes into big notebooks. We're talking pages upon pages of notes that the students write down. It makes sense to do this since they did not have a projector of any type or a laptop in sight. I befriended one of the students. She told me that they have school all year round with only a two week break in December and holidays off.

I didn't do anything with the AIDS research part of the hospital, but I was able to give an IV push in the ICU, observe tube feedings of babies in the NICU, and observe a G-tube placement in an infant. I did a lot of observing while following around the nurses who would explain the procedures they were doing as well as briefing me about different patients and what process of healing and care they were going through.

Now for the not so exciting news.... My original plan was going to be to blog all of this on Saturday night, but I wasn't planning on getting a severe case of gastroenteritis (aka nausea, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, vomiting). It was an experience that I stayed conscious and very alert throughout the entire thing. I won't go into the gross specifics (who wants to hear about that? Yuck), but I will just say that by 1:30am Sunday morning, the last time I tried to head back to bed from a bathroom visit was the turning point. I crawled to my room and laid on the floor - I crawled very slowly because I was severely dehydrated to the point where orthostatic hypotention would cause me to be unconscious if I tried to stand up. My two roommates helped me by making a bed on the floor with some blankets and one of my nursing professors came to assess my condition (she had been checking up on me all night). We decided that if I couldn’t stand up without feeling lightheaded, then I would have to go to the doctor. So, I tried to get up. I made it to a bent over sitting position and that’s as far as I could go.

I was carried out to the van and transported to the nearby clinic. The doctor was waiting for me. An IV was instantly inserted and I was started on IV fluids. My very first IV I happen to get in Africa. My very first experience as a patient I have in Africa. I thought that was an interesting little twist. I also received antibiotics for my gut infection and a fever was starting to develop… Malaria. Originally, looking back on it all and during the time, I thought that the attack on my intestines was the Malaria, but that was actually some weird unexplainable fluke that happened to be on my fork or food or a fly that landed on something I ate. So, I am a little upset that I don’t really know what it was that made me so sick. But, it was food related. This weakness, however, was the perfect opportunity for the Malaria to form its battle regiments and attack my immune system subtly. So, really, I only experienced fever, backache, possible nausea (but that was probably from the gastroenteritis infection), and weakness from the Malaria. I did not get fever and chills, dilusions, or any of the full-blown attack signs of Malaria because I was already being treated in the clinic. So, Malaria was present in my system (the blood test was positive), which made my case a very mild one.

I spent from early Sunday morning to late Tuesday morning recovering in the clinic with my IV line constantly pumping fluids into my veins. The doctor who took care of me (all credit to him) knew exactly what to do with my case and was so good at educating me about what I was experiencing. Very excellent doctor. He’s had worse cases involving the gut… such as hippos biting a chunk out of some guy’s side. But, that’s besides the point. He did say jokingly that I was now officially welcomed into the country by Africa because I had been welcomed by the common illness of Malaria.

I am now back recovering at the compound drinking a lot of water, eating here and there, and overall trying to get the energy racing in my system again. Anyways, there’s more to that story, but this entry has already been long.

Thanks so much for everyone’s prayers in my healing process. God is definitely doing so much for me and my health, both physically and spiritually. Not once did I panic because I was in Africa without my family. Not once did I get homesick because I knew God was with me and I had so many people here supporting me – even our wonderful Zambian staff who is like family to me. Prayer is a powerful tool that God has given us to use to lift others up when they are ill in any area of their life. I am so thankful for prayer!