Dengue

I’m now on the upside of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). Last Saturday I had a bad fever that didn’t let me do much other than sleep. Because I had heard about a few people in the area having dengue, I looked up the symptoms. One of the symptoms is a rash. Because I didn’t have a rash, I decided not to worry about dengue.

Tuesday morning, after several days feeling miserable and week, I noticed a rash on my arms. Fellow teachers at school who have had dengue said that’s what it looked like. They took me to the hospital.

At the hospital they checked my blood. My platelet count was real low (91,000/I don’t know). This was the confirmation they needed to diagnose me with DHF. They admitted me, stuck an IV in me, and wheeled me off to my room.

Thanks largely to a number of people praying, I began to almost immediately feel better. The hospital didn’t get a single feverish temperature reading on me.

While in the hospital I had several visitors. The director and assistant director of the EP program where I teach came to see me. One of the English teachers. Four faculty from the larger school EP is a part of, all of whom I had never met, one of whom was the assistant director of the school. Two of my students came. One of my neighbors came. A few American friends came.

Many of these people brought fruit. So far I’ve collected 3 large baskets full of fruit, a bag full of bananas, a bag of oranges, and a bag of guava. (I’ve also given some of this fruit away already as well).

After an uneventful night, the hospital checked by blood again and said I could go home. My platelet count is on the rise, but still not back to normal. They encouraged me to be very gentle brushing my teeth and to avoid anything that might present the risk of cutting myself. Apparently if I started bleeding right now it wouldn’t stop real fast.

Since getting home I’ve had another few visits. My room is admittedly a wreck. Keeping it clean wasn’t a real high priority in my feverish state the beginning of this week. So receiving visitors was a little awkward. Oh well.

I’ve been sitting upright too long now. I’m going to rest some more.