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I have lived in Brazil for almost 3 years at the end of May. I thought I was doing good. I thought I learned most of what I needed to, I thought I had been through all the hazing of Brazil that needed to be done. However, Brazil was not done with me.
I have been lovingly bestowed, body aches, head ache, fever, nausea, since Friday night. Better known to many of you as Dengue. Dengue is a big ol kick in the pants. It throws you down on the ground and you better not even think about getting up. Mostly because you can't. I'm down and out for the count. Or at least until tomorrow when my atestado (medical leave from work) is up.
Originally, it all started Friday night with a raging fever. I didn't know where it came from...I had mistakenly gotten burned...I thought I was experiencing heat exhaustion. But it continued all day Saturday. So I went to the hospital. The doctor did an x-ray of my chest (I've had a cough for a little while) and told me it was just a virus and I should feel better by the end of the weekend. Except I didn't. And I kept having fevers. And my whole body was hurting. And the headaches. And the nausea. Nausea is awful. But I went to work on Monday anyway. And worked from 8 in the morning to 7 at night. It kicked my trash. I slept from 8 pm that night until 6 the next morning. And then cried when I had to get out of bed. But I still went to work. When I came out of my classroom at 11:30, the secretary looked at me and said, what is all over your neck?? That would be a pretty little rash developing from the dengue. So finally they convinced me to go to the hospital. So I went. And waited for a long, long, long time. To tell me I have dengue. The great thing about dengue is there is not a thing you can do about it. So, take some tylenol, lay down, and rest. Try to keep the fever down.
Thankfully I will only have to work one more day. Then I will have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to rest. Thank goodness for Tuesday holidays in Brazil. (if it falls on a Tuesday, you get Monday off. if it falls on a Thursday you get Friday off. It's great!)
6 days ago
12 comments:
I hope you feel better! I had it at the end of March and Early April and it's a long recovery. It took me forever to want to drag myself out of bed, because the being tired part can last for a month. All and all I think it was about 13 days for me. My rash ended on day 7, but my headaches and nausea came ever afternoon until day 13. It completely wiped out my immune system (WBC and Platelets). The doctor told me to try to eat before I felt nauseated, because if I waited until I was hungry it was too late and I couldn't even sat without getting dizzy. After day 8 I remember being hungry all the time. I think I ate a heavily protein based diet for a week. Guess my body was telling me I needed to make more blood cells. Right now it's spreading like wildfire through my neighborhood, so I have been praying that I don't get it again.
You poor thing! Do you seriously have to go in Thursday, even though they know you have Dengue?? Hopefully they will feel merciful & let you ride it out at home.
Hope you are feeling better soon!! (Don't forget to drink lots of water & agua de coco!)
oh man! I have been there! It is terrible. Rest, drink lots of fluids and hang in there. Even when it is over you will feel pretty weak the week after.
Sounds absolutely awful, you poor thing. I hope you start feeling better soon.
I've never had it (knock on wood) but a friend of mine had it here and said it was one of the worst experiences of her life.
I can't believe you're going to work!! Ack but hopefully you start feeling better soon!!
Get better soon!!! Dengue is one of my fears right now here in Mexico. Especially with my kids.
How horrible that you cant take anything to make it go away. I hope you are feeling better soon.
You are freaking me out! Here I was worried about poisonous caterpillars and theives, and totally forgot about Dengue! I'm so so sorry you're feeling so terribly. I hope you get better quickly.
Ahhh! Ugh. You poor thing. Hope you get better and can enjoy a bit of the holiday!
Oh my word!! Hope you feel better soon. Take care of yourself.
Lisa Q
Oh that just sucks! I'm so sorry! Dengue is supposed to be the most horrible thing ever and then to have to experience that away from home, even though it has been 3 years, just makes it worse. It sucks to feel like death in a hot bed in a room with tile floors and no horrible wallpaper (bad wallpaper reminds me of home ;) I hope the Dengue Gods are good to you and you start to feel better. From the experience of friends I hear it may take a bit longer :(. At least there is all that tropical fruit to make tasty liquids that are good for you right now. Get well friend!
Ugh! We worry about stupid thing like that here too (Malaria, Yellow Fever). I can't believe you went so long feeling sick! At least you know what it was, even though you couldn't do anything about it. Hope you're feeling tip top again!
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