Malaria is caused by a parasite that is passed from one human to another by the bite of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. After infection, the parasites (called sporozoites) travel through the bloodstream to the liver, where they mature and release another form, the merozoites. The parasites enter the bloodstream and infect red blood cells. The parasites multiply inside the red blood cells, which then break open within 48 to 72 hours, infecting more red blood cells. The first symptoms usually occur 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, though they can appear as early as 8 days or as long as a year after infection. The symptoms occur in cycles of 48 to 72 hours. Malaria is a parasitic disease that involves shaking chills, high fevers, and flu-like symptoms. The symptoms we were told to look for were chills, fever, vomiting, muscle pain (usually in an uncommon place) headache, not being able to sleep, diarrhea and, bloody stools. Malaria level 4 & 5 people sometimes fall into a comma…
The DI spent the night in hospital and had to have a treatment in an IV drip…the treatment was Qualaquin (quinine) and Glucose mixed together…the Quinine is super strong and has some extreme side effects… fever, chills, confusion, weakness, sweating, severe vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, problems with vision or hearing (they say your ears start ringing and they continue to ring for a period of time)…you receive just a bag of glucose in an IV after you have completed the bag of Quinine & Glucose…it depends what level of malaria you have for how many treatments of Quinine & Glucose you will receive…the DI had a bad reaction (but the doctors said a very common reaction) to the treatment…she threw-up for almost 12 hours straight, had awful headaches, her ears were ringing and she was sweating profusely …she came back to campus on Tuesday afternoon and she looked horrible! She was given tablets to take for a few days and then she can start taking her malaria med’s again…(we all are supposed to take one pill a day) she just started to feel better yesterday and finally has an appetite again…I spoke with her yesterday and she said it was the worst experience she has ever had…
Another DI started to feel a little bad on Thursday (she lives a few steps from me)…she has only been here for 10 days but we were all advised to react if we ever feel a little off…I volunteered to go to the hospital with her for a malaria test, and I figured I might as well get one too since I was going to be there…so we both just grabbed a jacket and hoped into the car and went to the hospital…it was a little crowded and since it was her first trip to the hospital it took longer than usually for her to be tested…I took the malaria test and my came back negative…we waited for her test and when the guy walked-out he looked at her and said you must see a Dr. right away…we both looked at each other and started thinking the worst…so she was called into the Dr.’s office and I went with her…he told her that her test was positive and that she had level 2… she told the Dr. that she hadn’t been taking her Malaria med’s everyday…she had been taking them every other day…i dismissed this at the time and was more worried about her getting better..
After filling-out some forms and having a visit from the supervisor she was then placed in the ER to start her treatment…since I had accompanied her to the hospital I too had to stay the night in the hospital to look after her and help her if she needed it…it wasn’t so bad at first…
I walked to a nearby bakery (one of my favorite places in Blantyre) and used the money the school gave us to by us dinner and some amazing (American Brownies)…that was what they called them…anyways I returned to the ER and she was in an area that had a bed and a trash can…the bed still had dirty sheets on it from the last patient and what seemed to be another malaria treat IV bag that was half-in & half-out of the trash can (and this is the nicest hospital in Blantyre)…
So we both ate a little and gave what was left to the nurse who quickly snatched it from us with a BIG smile…she was really funny about it!! they started to put the needle in her hand for the IV and the moan she let-out sent shivers-up my spine…we were then moved to the hospital ward and into a tiny room…these rooms have two (patient) beds, no mosquito nets on the windows just over the two beds and it was about 10 degrees hotter in the room than it was outside…i let-out a heavy sigh and helped my friend into her bed…the supervisor later returned with a mattress and a blanket and a sheet for me to sleep on for the night…the floor was so nasty! I set-up my bed and started to notice the color changing in my friends face a little bit…from what the doctor had said she soon was going to start feeling the side effects from the Quinine & Glucose…I had to help her get in and out of her bed a few times to go to the bathroom and hold her Quinine & Glucose bag while she did…an hour or so later she started freezing and shaking…so I covered her in the blanket from the other bed and gave her my sheet too…then she threw-up a few times and I held her hair for her and the bucket…she finally was able to fall asleep…
As I laid down on the mattress, I gazed-up at her Quinine & Glucose drip and just watched the drip for a while…it was so incredible hot in that room and I had to close the windows because I didn’t have a mosquito net to cover me while I slept…the noise from the hospital and knowing that I was sleeping on a dirty hospital floor kept me from sleeping a wink…I had to finally open a window because the smell of her vomit was smothering me (they didn’t remove the vomit bucket until the next morning)…I then broke-out into a mental panic worrying about getting bit by a mosquito here because there are some many malaria infected people at the hospital…
I tried to com myself by counting the shadows of people who walked by until I saw a few roaches crawl across the floor…I then turned over and mentally tried to find a happy place…so I envisioned getting off the plane the first week in May and jumping into my fiancés arms and then walking to the car and being covered in kisses (or licks) from our labradoodle Nimbin…
I was so happy when the sun began to rise but I found myself very angry…I was mad that the DI neglected to take her Malaria pills every day and had put me at risk… and that I had to spend a miserable night sleeping on a disgusting hospital floor…I also had a few mosquito bites from the night and God only knows what else I could have caught there…she was feeling fine when she woke-up but the doctor insisted that she stay another night because she needed another Quinine & Glucose drip since she had level 2 Malaria…when the supervisor got there at 7am I took him outside and told him that I refuse to put my own health at risk for another person's carelessness and stupidity!!!! another DI came to the hospital to take my place and i returned to the campus...
I'm really looking forward to visiting the orphanage tomorrow and seeing all of the beautiful children there
No comments:
Post a Comment