We had been back in San Blas for about three weeks, when…. Someone ( read- Kelly) started with a fever, and some stomach pain….
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water….
Malaria Strikes back!!!
Yes Round 2. Luckily, because Kelly was so afraid of getting this disease again, at the first sign of it, we quickly took the dinghy to Carti from the West Lemmons island of Elephante. Our trusty Center of Disease Control doctor happened to be there that day and when I told him that we thought Malaria was back, they didn’t hesistate to do the finger prick test.
It confirmed that YES, I had round two of malaria. But not as strong as the first time, Thankfully, and a dose of medication was started.
Malaria is treated with two medications, Chlorquine and Premiqine. Both are very hard on your system and the meds take weeks, if not months for your body to recover from. Side effects of these meds are extreme nausea and vomiting, dizziness, heart palpatations and skin abnormalities. None of which are even a consideration to the pain and feeling of Malaria.
But the effects of the meds are not so PERFECT for a dinghy trip 4 miles back to our NautiKel. By the time we got back to the boat in the dinghy, I was really sick…. And … well we will just stop there… it wasn’t pretty.
We were in the anchorage with Fantasy this time, and Lorena was very good with us and brought over some soup and smoothies everyday.
It was about a week or so before I was better again, and life resumed back to our degree of normal.
One of the best things about this lifestyle is that the friends you meet, are truly good friends and they all rally and support in times of need. We are lucky.
