Well Warren was supposed to be doing a marathon in Warsaw next weekend, BUT unfortunately he's been struck down with malaria this week!! Oh no - bummer! Last week I had a cold - felt bad for a few days and then got over it. So when he started complaining of flu-like symptoms I just thought he was being a bit soft. A few days later he was feeling worse, and was very hot in bed (that is, he had a bad fever and was sweating so much the sheets were soaked through)! So the next day he went to the little Russian Ghanaian doctor here, had some tests done and voila! he has malaria.
There are different strains of malaria - one kills you in six hours - thankfully he didn't have that one. More commonly around here you get a low-grade strain which makes you feel pretty awful - flu like symptoms, fever, stomach upsets, muscle pains and fatigue. Once you get the right medication for it you start to feel much better within three days, and he should be back running again in about a week. So he has cancelled that marathon in Warsaw and rescheduled for another one in Frankfurt, Germany in about six weeks time. Hopefully all will go smoothly until then!
Its the rainy season at the moment (the second and shorter rainy season for the year) so the mosquitos are out in force, and a few people at the mine have had malaria this week. The locals build up an immunity to malaria after they've had it numerous times in their life, so will only get mild symptoms generally. They usually have an injection for treatment and off they go again. I'm trying to stay out of harms way - our house is pretty mosquito proof, so I'll try to stay inside as much as possible, especially in the evenings, nights and early mornings. And/or use lots of insect repellent.... and fingers crossed....
No comments:
Post a Comment