About Me

A culmination of my travelling experiences....

Tuesday 12 April 2011

An Abrupt Ending

Unfortunately overnight on the Friday night my "malarial" syptoms escalated, and I had to go to the doctors on Saturday morning.  Marc Bea (the hotel owner) kindly took us to his local doctor- the 'Tuba Community Clinic', which was a slightly scary experience, although at the time I wasn't all that with it.  The clinic was a basic concrete building with a waiting room at the entrance, in which there were benches, a bed, and a desk.  I was summonsed over to sit by the desk, and had my temperature and blood pressure taken, before I was sent in to see the doctor.  I was given an immense stack of medicine- some for every ailment, and some for Malaria.  The doctor said that he suspected that it was Malaria coming and that I should take the medicine and I would get better, cholera and food poinsoning were among the other suggested possibilities.  Back at the hotel I didn't get much better, and couldn't hold any medicine down, so the lovely nurse, Evelyn, came and hooked me up to a drip, which made me feel much better.  In the meantime, news spead, and Ken came to check up on me.  In the end I decided it was safest to try to get home, in case it actually was Malaria, and my brother changed my flights to Sunday. 

Sunday morning came, and after a lot of sleep I was feeling a little better, Evelyn came back and rinsed me of 86cedis for my drip (probably the best £35 I have ever spent), and I got my stuff together.  Being charged this for the drip really made me reflect on the cost of medical care (maybe I was paying obruni prices) as the drip was cost more than a whole monts wages for an Omega teacher (70cedis a month), meaning that if the locals get ill it must be hard for them to get the treatment that they need.  Ken and the Donkoh family collected me and drove me to the airport, and I was VERY sad to leave.  I had such a great experience and even though I only left a couple of days early it was heartbreaking to leave, but I knew I had to get myself healthy again.  The airport was typically Ghanaian with its crazy systems, but I made it through and onto the very quiet plane, getting myself a whole row of seats and enjoying a nice sleep before arriving in Brussels. 

Since returning I have had multiple blood tests and have gradually recovered, I am still awaiting the results of the test which will confirm or deny Malaria, but whatever it was it wasn't nice.  To my parents disappointment however it has not put me off, and I am hoping to get some more travelling in as soon as this masters is done!  The biggest disappointment is that I can no longer really get away with using my "I think I've got Malaria" catchphrase- gutted.

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