Emergency room visit

So I was going to write a really well thought out blog about Malaria, I even started researching, but I don't have the energy right now. I'll have time while resting this next week to tell people a bit more about Malaria. In general I want to make sure everyone knows I am fine and recovering. I’ll tell my story quickly before I forget. I had a few interesting experiences while seeking treatment at not one but two hospitals. My illness came upon me very quickly. I was ill for about two hours before I decided I needed to go the hospital under the advice of my roommate and professor. The first hospital I went to, the doctors were on strike so there was no one there to treat me and the nurses were not kind at all. I had such bad nausea and diarrhea at that point all I wanted was a bathroom but they informed me that there wasn't one. An outright lie, but their bosses were gone so what did they care...very little obviously. They were kind enough to call a taxi for me after I requested. While waiting I felt ill and went outside. I accidentally left my phone in the hallway and jumped in the taxi forgetting it completely.

The taxi driver was going to take me to another hospital but at this point I figured I was better going back to my room to compose myself and think up a new strategy. By the time I reached the dorm I realized I forgot my phone, but I was too ill to return and asked the taxi driver to kindly go get it for an extra 10 cedis and bring it to the front desk. While at the hospital I had called the professor I work with to inform him that I was ill and that at the hospital there was no doctors so I needed to go to another hospital, but since I had forgotten my phone he could not reach me. Being the wonderful person he is he went straight to the hospital found my phone, talked to the taxi driver and came and found me in my room. Just when he arrived I realized that I should call him from my roommate’s phone since I had forgotten my phone, but he arrived with his wife to take me to the emergency room in Madina. Without them I would have been helpless at the hospital, not knowing how the system works.

The emergency room was full of mostly mothers with young children that were ill. Within two hours I was being treated for Malaria. They call it blind treatment they don’t really test you for anything, but since I had a fever, chills, bone aches, they treated me for Malaria. Since I also had stomach issues they treated me for stomach protozoa. They choose this blind treatment because 90 percent of the time it is one or both of these. I was so dehydrated I had an unquenchable thirst. My prof and his wife waited till they had me settled in a hospital bed and went home to rest till the morning.  I received two liters of fluid and a few other injections for the malaria.

The nurses here were also unpleasant and I soon found out quite inattentive. When I was sleeping they must have also decided to take a nap or at least not check up on me because I woke up with the nurse grabbing my hand and a puddle of blood on the bed next to my head. The fluid bag had run out resulting in me bleeding out. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to startle me. Luckily the gentleman who was in the room with me had a son who was attentive enough to help me when I needed it and called the nurse. There goes donating blood ever again, but don't worry the needle was sterile and packaged. I learned to watch for that from piercing parlors. Finally I was re-hydrated and pumped full of a bunch of lovely drugs to make me feel better for a while at least. I felt amazingly better after waking up in the hospital and I was hoping it would last but that was too good to be true.

The wife of my prof made me a wonderful breakfast and dinner, even though I don’t have much of an appetite I know I have to try to eat a bit to get better. My stomach is still extremely upset and my headache and body aches come and go. I am drinking water with powder Gatorade to keep my electrolytes up and hydrated. I will recover and I will be fine, but it I don’t wish this experience on anyone. I highly recommend that if you do come down with a sickness while traveling in Ghana, and I have a feeling in many places that have endemic malaria and stomach diseases one has not been exposed to, to instantly go to the emergency room and seek treatment. One can dehydrate so quickly and find oneself in a tough position. You also may not be sure as to how the system works and getting treatment may take a bit longer than you thought it would. I figure this is just one more life experience to learn from, as unpleasant as it is. I will be fine, just give me a few days!