my life with dengue, or, BLEEDING PRECAUTION

Sooooo, I have dengue. Some of you may already know this, but for those of you who don't, I just want to update you now that I'm getting better so that you can be less worried...and so you can learn about the oh-so-many wonders of this delightful disease!

Day 1--> 28 Aug. 2008-Thursday

So, I came down with dengue at about 5:30 pm, when I thought I had a migraine and was just really tired. This was right after I had been over at Sutjeeah's house visiting with people, and I thought I had just gotten worn out. I took an excedrin migraine and texted Linda, the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) to let her know. Then I ate a little dinner, after which I started feeling worse and worse. At that point I just went to bed. Linda called back at about 9 or so, and I took my temp then. It was 103.something, so she told me to take tylenol every four hours and that she would call in the morning.

Day 2--> 29 Aug. 2008-Friday

I woke up still feeling crappy--now with joint pain and muscle aches, talked to Linda, and then proceeded to chill out in the upstairs hammock for a couple of hours, at which point a PC staff member showed up to help me get a taxi from the taxi stand in town to get to the Hub Site. Once I made it through the hour-long bumpy, loudly-musicked trip to the Hub Site, I got in a rental car with two more PC staff members who were headed to Phnom Penh and took me along for the ride. At this point I still have a headache and body ache. Once I arrived, the Medical Assistant took my vital signs and some blood and let me lie down in the medical office. He also tried to get me to eat a little, after which I threw up in a trash can. Eventually, he dropped me off at a hotel, and I went to sleep for hours. At night, Michael and Emily went out to eat and brought me back some soup, which was really nice of them since I was in no shape to move around.

Day 3--> 30 Aug. 2008-Saturday
I basically slept all day and continued to be in pain. It made it hard for me to sleep sometimes because my legs hurt so much. This was apparently the bonebreak fever portion of my dengue fever. Linda informed me that my test had come back negative for dengue, which made it a super secret super painful mystery tropical fever. Luckily, it turned out that was just because the blood sample was just taken really early on in the course of the disease. I also still had like zero desire to eat anything.

Day 4--> 31 Aug. 2008-Sunday
I felt a lot better Sunday afternoon, enough to walk around a little bit, watch a weird movie with Emily and Michael in Michael's room, and actually venture out with them to go out to eat dinner. However, after eating my huge banana pancake, I felt super nauseous at night.

Day 5--> 1 Sept. 2008-Monday
In the morning, more blood was taken from me, and then it turned out that it wasn't enough blood to do the new dengue test, so I had to go to the Medical Office to get more blood taken. I felt really, really bad and nauseous again. My platelets came back really low, so I went with Linda and Katie (who was also sick) to the hospital in PP to be checked in there. It was a pretty sweet facility. They gave us shampoo that smelled really good.

Day 6--> 2 Sept. 2008-Tuesday
In the morning, my platelets were down even more, so they decided to send me to the hospital in Thailand. John, the Cambodia PC Country Director, went with me there, which was really nice, because I didn't have to negotiate things like taxi fare, etc. We had to wait a really long time in the waiting area in the hospital in Bangkok, but I made it in the hotel, and he peaced out and went back to Cambodia. They put a sign up behind my bed in all caps on 8.5 x 11 computer paper that just says: BLEEDING PRECAUTION. Awesome. They also put a catheter in my arm.

Day 7--> 1 Sept. 2008-Wednesday
My platelets continued to go down to an all-time low of 43,000 (normal is 150,000-450,000), but I did get wireless internet in the hospital, which is why I am able to write you right now! Also, a nice current PCV in China (who was also medically evacuated) came by and chatted with me for a while, which was really nice.

Day 8--> 1 Sept. 2008-Thursday
My platelets started to go back up (54,000), but I got all rashy and was super tired with a headache all day. At least they gave me an antihistamine to help the itchiness! I finally convinced them to let me take the catheter out, since they weren't using it for anything, and my platelets were on the up and up.

Day 9--> 1 Sept. 2008-Friday
My platelets were up enough this morning (108,000) that I get to go back to Cambodia! I'm leaving the hospital at 2:00 and leaving Thailand at 5:30! I still have pain behind my eyes, fatigue, headache, a rash, etc., but it's apparently part of the recovery process. I should be as good as new in a few weeks!