I got Malaria!

Well as the title said I have malaria. Now I don’t tell you this for sympathy or gifts in the post (which would be very nice regardless). Getting malaria here is as common as getting a cold in the UK and costs just over £2 for the medication which you take over 72 hours with as much rest and rehydration as you can. As you can imagine for the everyday Ghanaian, they don’t have the luxury I did of having a few days rest as they can’t afford to lose that income. There are 4 types of plasmodium parasite that infect humans causing malaria and the severity of it varies from person to person. The length of time you have it before you notice symptoms, your natural immune system and if you are taking an anti-malarial to slow down its progressions are some of the factors that alter its impact. Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t attend much of Independence Day, any of Garrison Day or International Women’s Day. However, as I have told the volunteers and they have told the communities, your health is more important than all these things in this harsh climate.

 

The symptoms really hit me on Monday night and I went to the parade on Tuesday where all the armed forces, police and select members from various schools in the region come together and march for a few hours as well as receiving prizes. It must be done as early as possible before the sun really starts to hit. The volunteers came to my house for lunch that afternoon which was lovely. Sadly, another one of my volunteers has malaria but his infection was more severe, so he spent the following 72 hours in hospital. I went for lab tests on Wednesday and picked up a nice big ol’ bag of medication and IV fluid to take back to my house. An ICS nurse came and placed an IV then gave me injections every 8 hours over 24 hours. It is a service they started to offer here as volunteers can find staying in a hospital here very distressing, also it saves a bed for someone who needs it more.

 

Sooo since then I have just been resting and sweating. Thought I would take the chance to show you my Sunday morning routine. I take Sunday as a mental health day and enjoy washing my clothes, doing lady maintenance, catching up on podcasts, blogging and making my way through The Sopranos on my laptop.

 

Next week we start week 9 of 10 so no more time to be lazing about!

 

 

The stands for Independence Day are packed!

 

 

Marching at Jubilee Park.

 

 

Sunday, time to start my washing. First soak them in the grey bucket with detergent then scrub them with soap in the next bucket and wring them, put them in the third bucket and later I will rinse out the soap using clean water. The last bucket has my shoes waiting for the wash.

 

 

A job well done! Leave them out in the sun for a few hours and they will be ready to take in.

 

 

My clothes are clean so now me, time to start my bucket wash (the shower head uses water too quickly)

 

Medication, IV fluid and my hand in case this needed clarification. The needle slipped at one point and my hand and arm started to fill with fluid which was more painful than I could have imagined. Also having to force a blood clot out of it is a horrible and new sensation.