Last week I attended meetings at the Provincial Education Offices and the Creative Self Help Centre and continued my jogging around Kina Beach in the afternoons. Wednesday I woke up with a headache and feeling a bit weak but I attributed it to the possibility of being dehydrated. I often wake up feeling this way regardless of the amounts of water I consumed during the day. I filled my nalgene with a mixture of Gatorade because I needed the strength to make it through two 2-hour lectures at the Teachers College. After lecturing to over 70 teachers I was exhausted, but I was determined to stick to my commitment to get in shape. During my run I felt nauseous, but I attributed it to the heat. I decided to stop and cool down by the sea. While I was stretching I noticed my legs were covered in red splotches. Mosquito bites. Headaches. Nausea. Could I possibly have malaria? I stopped taking my doxy 3 weeks ago (sorry Mom, but you know I hate taking meds and I must build my immunity).
When my symptoms increased the next day I decided that I should go see the doctor, malaria isn’t something you wait around for to get worse. Plus, I had plans to go to Sier Village for the weekend and I knew I would need my strength if I was going to make the trip. My friend Roselyn, a teacher in the Deaf Unit invited me to spend the weekend in her village. The island is only a 15 minute boat ride from Madang’s mainland, but Sier Village is a 45 minute walk through the rainforest from the shore.
My screening test for malaria was negative, but Doc said my symptoms were classic of malaria and insisted I immediately receive an injection while we waited for the results of my blood tests. He shared that statistically, a person living in Madang was bitten 2 times a week by malaria carrying mosquitoes. In the Highlands, the numbers jumped to 2 times a day! He didn’t want to risk the vital 24 hours it would take to confirm the screening. I was escorted into a room overlooking the beautiful blue waters of the sea. A breeze blew through the curtains and filled the room with cool, salty air. If it weren’t for the metal basins filled with cotton balls and brown bottles of medicine lining the shelves I would have thought I was being lead into a day spa. For a brief moment when the nurse, wearing her floral dress, asked me to lay on my stomach I dreamed of getting a relaxing massage. Instead I got a needle poked in my butt.
The next day I barely had the energy to cut the tops of the coconuts to drink the kulau, much less walk down the stairs of my apartment to climb into the VSO vehicle that drove me back to the doctor. I had to postpone my trip to Sier Village. I was really looking forward to eating traditional PNG food and staying in a village in the rainforest. Now, I would be spending the 4th of July alone and sick while I imagined my friends and family back home enjoying fireworks and cookouts. It was the first time since my arrival that felt a bit homesick. I had purposely planned to have my mind occupied for the holiday. I didn’t want to worry Mom or Dad, but I selfishly called them just to hear their voices. They were happy to hear that I didn’t have malaria or Denge Fever or any other tropical disease that Doc tested me for. It was a viral infection that kicked my butt.
I filled my days with naps and books. I finished Half of a Yellow Moon and I am half way through Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I highly recommend them both.
Jasmine is back from Lae. I noticed she was gone but I didn’t notice how quiet things were around here until her return. My goodness this little five-year-old has a set of vocal chords on her. I also didn’t realize how much she cries. From the trail of braids along the sidewalk, I assume she was crying today because they took out her hair extensions…you know every 5 yr old needs extensions right. A week at home has helped me to get to know my neighbors a bit better. Jasmine’s parents manage the Exxon station down the road. Jasmine and Jeremiah (remember the kid that taught me to scrape coconut) are cousins not siblings and the girl who I thought was an older sister or young aunt is actually the house meri (nanny/maid). Earlier last week, I had made a vegetable curry dish only to realize that I didn’t have much of an appetite. So I gave it to my neighbor Linda, who is 18 and has been married to her husband, Tommy who is in his mid 30s, for little over a year. This helped build a relationship and she has come over since to check on me.
Latest news around Madang: the main bank in town was robbed on Friday. Men dressed in police uniforms held three employees by gunpoint and stole over 2 Million Kina from the uninsured bank. The bank is closed until further notice. I guess there is one advantage to my empty bank account, the robbers didn’t steal any of my money.
Oh and I chopped off all my hair. After a few days of fever without air conditioning, I couldn’t stand the heat and cut it all off (again, sorry Mom). I think I did pretty well seeing that I don’t own a comb or brush.
1 comment:
Being sick can inspire some great haircuts! I really like the new do'.
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