In regards to the hives, it turns out I was having an allergic reaction to malarone (my malaria medicine). I decided to stop taking the medicine and try taking a natural remedy in its place. All you have to do is boil the leaves of a neem tree and drink it. It is disgustingly bitter, but I don't want malaria. I already stopped using insect repellent and stopped wearing long sleeves at night. (It's too hot for sleeves)! I need some form of defense against malaria in addition to my mosquito net.
I've already had a malaria scare. We were having a meeting in the SM hut and I was very cold. The ceiling fan was up pretty high. However, the fan only cools the room to the point you don't want to kill yourself anymore. I tried to tell myself I get cold easily, there is nothing wrong with me. But, I saw Zach dripping sweat, while I had goose bumps. Finally, I told everyone my symptoms, and left to speak with Dr. Bland. Dr. Bland sent me to get tested for malaria and typhoid because everything seemed to be going wrong with my health.
Praise God the test came back negative. I was already close to a major break down with the possibility of having malaria. I wasn't sure how I would handle actually having malaria. It turns out Zach was the one with malaria. He was sweating perfusely because he had a temperature of 100.5 F. His test results reveiled he had 0.25 of malaria. Most people only have 0.05 when they get tested.
They started Zach on intense treatment. He was out for a week; malaria wiped him out. I actually was able to help him by selling him some of my malarone pills. Malarone is gold in Tchad. It is very hard to come by and very expensive. I was able to get over 200 tablets of malarone for a decent price. Of course, I had to haggle with my medical insurance to cover the charges first. (I'm like a drug dealer now).
If I didn't have the malarone for Zach, he would have had to take quinine. Quinine is the strongest malaria medication at the hospital. If it weren't for the horrific side effects everyone would gladly take it. This is how the side effects were explained to me: "You feel nauseous and practically go deaf. You have headaches with quinine and lose your appetite. Dr. Bland lost 25 pounds the first time he had malaria. You have to be babied and cooed into eating. You eat anything and everything you want to eat, but the trick is keeping it down. Basically, you rather have malaria than take quinine. The side effects of the medication are far worse than the illness itself."
Malarone is the next strongest medicine and there aren't as many side effects. Let's be real, I rather have a severe allergic reaction, while trying to treat my malaria with malarone, then take quinine. I'm glad I am able to save people from the torture of quinine.
Currently, Zach is doing much better. He has significantly improve. There are no symptoms of malaria present, and Zach is back to his usual self. Josh was just diagnosed with malaria, but he only had 0.05. He is still able to play basketball and keep up with everyone else. The symptoms of malaria hit him in waves, and being sick makes him miss home (especially his mom). All in all, he should be back in the game in no time.
Just a small side note. I totally won the bet! Josh, Daniel and I bet on who would get malaria first. My prize is a meal in Paris on our trip back. It is super expensive there! I don't know what meal I want, but I have 6 more months to figure it out.
Continue to keep the health of everyone in your prayers. In total, 7 people got sick with malaria (the count includes the doctor - yes we only have one doctor right now - the dentist, SMs and bere boys) and 1 person got typhoid in the past week. Malaria is really bad this year. Project 21 is hoping we can get a grant for DDT to eradicate malaria, but we are still working on writing it up. DDT got approved in Tchad this year (maybe a month ago). Pray that everyone is able to keep good health, and we can get the grant we want.
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My mother has told me that a few people have asked how they can contact me. You can email me at Shannicebaker@gmail.com. My internet is very spotty. I can only access my email and post blogs off of an iPad app. That means no facebook or anything else. I am still testing the waters to see what else I can acess.
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