When Malaria Strikes

Well despite taking Malarone each day at 10 a.m. in order to prevent it, I managed to catch the dreaded malaria. I began showing symptoms on the Saturday night that Kayla, Dorothy and I spent on a small island in the Nile called Hairy Lemon (no idea where the name comes from haha). I'll spare y'all the gross details, but basically my stomach was upset with me in all kinds of ways and I was feeling lightheaded and exhausted until Monday morning. I then asked one of our Sole Hope nurses, Prossy, to give me the quick, finger-prick malaria test. The results were negative, but I had heard that it's not uncommon for the finger-prick test to show negative while the blood microscopy test shows positive. I think if this happens it usually means you've diagnosed it early enough that the finger-prick test is not sophisticated enough to detect it. So, I decided to head to a clinic in town with my selfless friend Amber from Seattle. The clinic was completely run by Ugandans and was very organized and quick. The microscopy test showed positive, I paid $10 and they gave me Ridmal to treat the malaria along with a painkiller. Pretty simple! Then I headed back to my bed at the SH guesthouse and essentially didn't leave it for 3 days. Malaria, much like mono, presents itself differently in different people, but from what I've heard, the most prevalent symptom is exhaustion. I spent about 60 hours during those 3 days asleep. I am extremely grateful to have had caring people like Kayla, Dorothy, SH staff, Tamara and Jeremy Boone, SH ambassador Becky Browning and her family looking out for me so far away from home :) By Thursday I felt well enough to travel to Kampala to begin our safari early the next morning!

Beautiful plant from the Boone family and card made by Gloria :)

The pigs at Hairy Lemon

Ferry ride 

Our tents on Hairy Lemon

View of the Nile

Peaceful

The ferry