Dengue Fever

Back to reality...except what is that? Mom and dad left last night; hopefully they're somewhere high above the Pacific as I write this. They left Sunday night, will spend 10 hours in Tokyo and arrive at YVR Monday morning. The concept of time and travel is just so difficult to wrap my head around, especially right now. At this point, wrapping my head around the fact that I need to brush my teeth after I eat a good breakfast is difficult enough. Last week I caught a bit of a fever and, thinking that it was going to be like any other flu, I sweat and slept it off for a day, and then headed to Bali with my parents. Once I got there all I wanted to do was sleep and to recuperate. Little did I know that I wasn't needing recuperation at that point; my body needed total rehabilitation. Mom and dad called in a Bali Dr an she came and gave me a bunch of antiobiotics, fever control and vitamins. Told my parents that because of my symptoms there was no chance I had malaria or dengue fever (a common fever in the Indonesian area; caused by mosquitoe bites). This Doctor didn't have a clue. By Wednesday (we'd arrived Saturday) I decided that I just wanted to be in my own bed with the potential to go to a really good Doctor if needed, so my parents took me to the airport and our temporary driver, Selamat, picked me up on this end. Turns out i did have dengue fever after all, and it's a good thing I came home from Bali when I did. The doctor I ended up seeing here gave me the option of drinking 4 litres of water in a very short period, or being hospitalized. Needless to say, I became water-logged over the next 12 hours. I sent out a quick email to a few people who I knew would pass on the information and ask others to pray, so thanks for responding and thanks for praying. At this point I am in a weird head-space and am not sure whether it's because my parents have just left for Canada and I'm left here in Indonesia or if it's because of the illness. Regardless, it's going to take a few days for me to figure out which way my head is screwed on. I've copied a bit of medical info re: dengue fever into this post to give you an idea of the ordeal that this illness is. For the record, I am feeling better each day.

"Following the deposit of the dengue virus in the skin by the bite, there is a an incubation period of 2 - 14 (usually 4 - 8) days.
Thereafter onset of symptoms is usually abrupt, coinciding with viremia (the virus multiplying in the bloodstream) with chills, headache, backache, weakness, pain behind the eyes, flushing of the face, muscle and joint pain, and lassitude. The joint and back pains can be very bad indeed; hence the older name 'breakbone fever'.
The temperature rapidly rises, often to 40°C (104°F), and there is a low heart rate (compared to the degree of, and other causes of, high fever). The blood pressure is often low also. A transient rash which blanches under pressure may be seen during the first 24 hours of fever.
During the 2nd to 6th day of fever, nausea and even vomiting may occur, and the patient may develop one or more of the following; skin hypersensitivity, generalized swelling of regional lymph nodes, swelling of the palms, changes in taste sensation, loss of appetite, constipation, anxiety and depression.
Within 2 to 4 days a temporary improvement can occur with a sudden drop in temperature and subjective improvement - for 24 hours until there is a second rapid temperature rise. A generalized morbilliform (“measles-like”) rash appears a characteristic rash on the trunk, limbs, palms and soles especially. (This second febrile phase does not invariably occur). This rash usually disappears in 1-5 days, the skin in these areas turns bright red and may peel. The temperature should fall back to normal and the infectious episode is effectively over."

Apparently the US was studing dengue fever as biological warfare for a part of the War. I wouldn't wish this illness on my worst enemy!

Thanks for reading.