You know that feeling right before you get really sick with
a bad cold or flu? That’s what dengue
feels like but for an entire week along with super fun night sweats. The kind that wakes you up in the middle of
the night in a pool of your own sweat, and then you freeze. And then there’s the muscle aches are weird
and painful, couple those with achy joints, it makes you walk like a 103 year
old. Then when your fever finally breaks
you get a lovely rash all over your body.
I started feeling bad Sunday and just thought I was getting
a cold. I figured I was due for a cold,
I hadn’t had one since training and I was sure I had been exposed to enough
germs that I was bound to get one sooner or later. Alas the cold didn’t develop the next day I
just got worse, but it was a holiday and the office was closed so I couldn’t go
in. Tuesday morning I called the PC
medical officer (PCMO) and told them I was coming in. Packed a bag and was on my way. When the PCMO finally checked my temperature
it was at 101, which as you can imagine is very high for the third day of a
sickness.
It was then decided that I would stay in town for 2 to 3
days until I felt better and that I needed lab work to see which of the
mosquito related illness I had. There
was some debate if I should go to a hotel or a hospital. I managed to assure the PCMO that I could
take care of my fever and eat and should go to a hotel and not the
hospital. That hot shower was divine, it
felt so good on my muscles, and it felt so good to wash all the yuck off my
body.
My initial test results were negative for both dengue and
malaria but I was told that was because my body had not built up antibodies
yet. Some of my blood was sent to the
CDC to check for Zika and Chikungunya.
After I was feeling human again I was sent home with instructions to
drink plenty of fluids, and rest, and come back in two weeks to do a follow up
test. Shortly after I got home I noticed
my skin seemed rather red and thought I had a sunburn, until I showered… It was a rash, but not an itchy one, just
there making me look red. That took 2 days to fade and I think I’m completely
back to normal. It’s now been a month
since I got sick and I got the results today, I did in fact have dengue.
I now feel like a true Peace Corps Volunteer, I had dengue
and survived! Fingers crossed I don’t
get another mosquito related illness!
