Infections!
Greetings! The past month has been an interesting one...filled with rainy-season infections, village celebrations, gardening, rain (lots of it), and travel.
The ride down to Kombo was an exciting one, as I was toting my host sister (really my host cousin but everyone is a cousin of someone else here, so it's easier to say sister...plus, she's like the younger sister I never had.) Fanta, my host sister, is looking to attend Senior Secondary School in Kombo and came with me to speak to some headmasters and to talk to relatives about living in their compounds while she attends school for the next three years. This trip was exciting because 1) I had a traveling companion and 2) Fanta had never crossed McCarthy Island nor traveled to Kombo via the North Bank Road. I think I was more excited for her than she was herself.
A few days prior to my departure, I was at another PCV's place for a Friendship Day Party (August 3). While there, I developed a fever and became really sick to my stomach. In addition, I developed a weird rash/bite-type thing on my right arm. It became really itchy, like a mosquito bite, started to scab (without my even scratching), and then a large, puffy, hot red ring formed around it. The fever was gone in twelve hours, but my arm didn't improve. In addition, I had an infected toe for about 2 weeks prior to my departure to Kombo. It's an ingrown toenail, and chances are it be removed during my visit to Kombo.
The day of departure to Kombo, I had three large pimples (or so I thought) on the left side of my face. You know the kind that are deep, down under the surface, and they hurt like mad? (If you don't remember, think back to when you were 15 and actually had pimples. If you go to Africa in your mid-20s, you'll feel like your 15 again because they magically come back!) Anyway, I rode down to Kombo, without any problems, dropped my host sister off at our relatives, chatted for a while, and headed to the office. After a few hours checking email, I went to the PC house, took a shower, and immediately the entire left side of my face started swelling. It continued to swell, so much that I had to call the PC duty nurse. I took some Benadryl and used some cold compresses. The next morning, I walked quickly, with my head down (literally embarrassed by the size of my face), to the med unit only to be told by the Duty Nurse, that she wasn't going to do anything until the doctor saw me. I only (minorly) freaked out. My face is swelling up! Not to mention my toe is infected...
The doctor and my health nurse saw me and immediately prescribed aggressive antibiotics. The swelling went down slowly and continued to decrease, little by little each day. They have no idea what happened or what it was, but they were concerned it wouldn't respond to antibiotics, and they'd have to begin treating me for a staph infection (ON MY FACE!). Thankfully, the antibiotics worked.
Twelve hours before I was scheduled to leave with my two friends, the nurse gave me the approval to go. And I went...and so happy I did.
Thankfully, it's all better now...or it appears that way. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Trust me, it was bad---looked worse than my wisdom teeth swelling and conjunctivitis pictures from training.
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I arrived in Kombo about 1.5 weeks ago to attend a pre-Service Training meeting, have some skin infections checked out, and to head to Dakar, Senegal for a mini-vacation with two friends.The ride down to Kombo was an exciting one, as I was toting my host sister (really my host cousin but everyone is a cousin of someone else here, so it's easier to say sister...plus, she's like the younger sister I never had.) Fanta, my host sister, is looking to attend Senior Secondary School in Kombo and came with me to speak to some headmasters and to talk to relatives about living in their compounds while she attends school for the next three years. This trip was exciting because 1) I had a traveling companion and 2) Fanta had never crossed McCarthy Island nor traveled to Kombo via the North Bank Road. I think I was more excited for her than she was herself.
A few days prior to my departure, I was at another PCV's place for a Friendship Day Party (August 3). While there, I developed a fever and became really sick to my stomach. In addition, I developed a weird rash/bite-type thing on my right arm. It became really itchy, like a mosquito bite, started to scab (without my even scratching), and then a large, puffy, hot red ring formed around it. The fever was gone in twelve hours, but my arm didn't improve. In addition, I had an infected toe for about 2 weeks prior to my departure to Kombo. It's an ingrown toenail, and chances are it be removed during my visit to Kombo.
The day of departure to Kombo, I had three large pimples (or so I thought) on the left side of my face. You know the kind that are deep, down under the surface, and they hurt like mad? (If you don't remember, think back to when you were 15 and actually had pimples. If you go to Africa in your mid-20s, you'll feel like your 15 again because they magically come back!) Anyway, I rode down to Kombo, without any problems, dropped my host sister off at our relatives, chatted for a while, and headed to the office. After a few hours checking email, I went to the PC house, took a shower, and immediately the entire left side of my face started swelling. It continued to swell, so much that I had to call the PC duty nurse. I took some Benadryl and used some cold compresses. The next morning, I walked quickly, with my head down (literally embarrassed by the size of my face), to the med unit only to be told by the Duty Nurse, that she wasn't going to do anything until the doctor saw me. I only (minorly) freaked out. My face is swelling up! Not to mention my toe is infected...
The doctor and my health nurse saw me and immediately prescribed aggressive antibiotics. The swelling went down slowly and continued to decrease, little by little each day. They have no idea what happened or what it was, but they were concerned it wouldn't respond to antibiotics, and they'd have to begin treating me for a staph infection (ON MY FACE!). Thankfully, the antibiotics worked.
Twelve hours before I was scheduled to leave with my two friends, the nurse gave me the approval to go. And I went...and so happy I did.
Thankfully, it's all better now...or it appears that way. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Trust me, it was bad---looked worse than my wisdom teeth swelling and conjunctivitis pictures from training.
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posted by Stephanie at 1:45 AM
1 Comments:
um, so it's your old pal fanta again, and I'd just like to inform you that I too recently thought I had an under the skin pimple that turned into a gigantic swelling oozing staph infection (mrsa at that) on my face too! ON MY HONEYMOON. and I live in america. maybe it was sympathy pains for you. once again, my life is a sham.
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