Malaria Scare

I woke up Thursday morning with the worst soreness and achy-ness I have ever felt in my life. It felt like I had over worked every muscle in my entire body, even though I hadn't been to the gym or put on my tennis shoes since I left the states in the beginning of January. My head felt a little light, but I thought it was maybe because I hadn't eaten yet. However, my lack of appetite seemed to say otherwise.

My grandma has ingrained into my mind that that I should never give excuses for not being able to do something. This was mainly applicable homework in grade school and chores at home, but her words have left a strong impression in my mind. Since my health wasn’t horrible, my limbs were still in tack, and I could still walk, I didn’t think it was necessary to confide myself to my room and skip class. Plus I hate skipping class. I’m almost done with my undergraduate career and I have just realized how much I love learning (nerd…..). I wasn’t going to give up four hours of lecture time to stay in bed and feel sorry for myself. Thanks grandma. So yea, I went to class. Everything seemed alright. It wasn't until after class that I felt like something was actually not right. Seriously. I hate complaining about my health to others, except for my grandma and to Evan since I feel the most comfortable around them. There are so many less fortunate than I am and when I think of others, I feel like I’m blowing my own illness out of proportion.

So yea, I ended up sleeping all Thursday afternoon. I woke up with a fever, more aches and pains, and a pounding headache. The fever was what scared me, so I end up deciding to go to the hospital. I was too far from home to try to stick it out, and if this was malaria that I had, I wanted to get rid of it asap. Megan accompanies me to Trust Hospital in Osu, and I get it checked out.

A lot of people have had some pretty negative experiences in the hospital. There have been stories about people being refused treatment initially, being treated very rudely, long waits to even see the doctor. My experience was quite the opposite. The doctor was very friendly. The guy who drew my blood was very reassuring and told me about what he was going to do with my lab tests when he stuck the needle in my left brachial artery (haha PHYSCI). When my results came in, the doctor explained everything to me very clearly and gave me my treatment options.
Basically, my lab results tested negative for malaria. However, because of the malaria cycle, the malaria parasite they were looking for might have been isolated in my liver, or it could have been in very low concentration since I was taking Malarone. The doctor told me that I could wait to see if it got worse, or I could just start antimalarial drugs since all my symptoms were of that of malaria. He included that many times, people taking Malarone had to get tested 3 or 4 times before the parasite shows up in the lab results since it is the strongest prophylactic. Since I had a test the following Monday, I decided to begin the antimalarial treatment. I began my cycle Friday morning, stayed in bed all Friday. Woke up Saturday feeling 80% well and spent Valentine’s day with the UCLA girls. I was 100% by Sunday. Thank goodness for the antimalarial.

Some emotions experienced during this time..

1. PISSED OFF- I had spent hundreds of dollars on Malarone. Because I was leaving the country, my UCLA SHIP insurance would NOT cover my malaria medicine. A lot of others on this trip had the same problem. Since Malarone comes at about $8 a pill retail price, I assume insurance companies are very hesitant to pay the costs. Also, since it is a prophylactic, it is considered a “preventative” measure, and some other friends had the problem of getting it cause some insurance plans do not cover preventative measures. A pretty corrupted system I’d say. But yea, where I was going with this- I was pissed off because I had gone through SO much hassle to get the medication, had spent SO much money on Malarone- and I was still getting malaria. (Even though the results were negative, I’m pretty sure considering all my evidence, that I just got malaria.) Agh. It wasn’t even like I was skipping pills like some of my peers. I was pretty diligent about the bug spray and about covering up at night as well. What horrible luck.

2. THANKFUL- that I had friends who were willing to accompany and wait for me at the hospital, for friends who went to the market the next day to buy me herbal remedies for malaria, for friends who brought me my meals and fruits when I was too tired to leave the room. It was really nice. I was also thankful that it’s the year 2009 and not 1909, when British colonialists were still dying left and right from malaria because a remedy did not exist.

3. REFLECTIVE - This reminds me of why I want to be a physician. To be sick and not have access to health care or medical services is such a violation of basic human rights. It only cost me about 45 us dollars to get treatment, get a lab test, pay for medicine, and to take a taxi to and back to the University. Compared to the 80-dollar copayments I had to pay sometimes when I was kid without health insurance in the states, it wasn’t that expensive at all. I received excellent and prompt treatment in a relatively up-to-date private facility with knowledgeable and friendly doctors. There are so many others in Ghana who could never even imagine getting health treatments like I did.

All in all, I guess you could say this was a positive experience. Getting malaria wasn’t that bad. There’s a really bad stigma against it in the states. Yes, it has killed many, but with pharmaceuticals and drugs for the parasite now, it’s kind of like getting a really bad cold..
Don’t worry about me though. I want to be a physician one day, so I will take care of myself. If I don’t, how will I be able to take care of others?