Now that I’m back at Alma, busy with classes, friends, different clubs and organizations, etc, it seems like Sierra Leone was so long ago. I’ve noticed small changes in myself, like the fact that I went from being what some people might call “cold blooded” to having the cold tolerance of the average senior citizen. I also brought far less to school this year in the way of material possessions. Seeing people live with so few precious possessions that they could all fit in their arms and be carried off at a moments notice can be sad in some ways but freeing in others. I’d never thought I’d say it but being without a cell phone long enough to get used to being free of the tether of it all was really nice. I still forget it regularly, and the first couple times it happened, I didn’t even consider running back to get it. When I got back to my room and my cell phone, I had three text messages from the same person, the last one reading, “Where are you? Why aren’t you responding to my texts? Are you mad at me?” It also seems silly to tote every single pair of shoes I have up to school with me when I wear only two pair regularly, and do I really need to bring up enough books to keep me busy for the entire school year even if I didn’t have classes to study for?
I spent so much time while I was in Sierra Leone worrying about getting sick. About malaria, and typhoid, and then about rabies when I learned that they no longer have access to the proper treatment of Magbenteh Community Hospital, and if you get bit by a rabid animal you basically have to get your butt to civilization within forty-eight hours or you’re toast. Which would probably mean being medically evacuated and is the reason I made sure I knew how to set the ball rolling in case it came to that. Even when I got back I was a little paranoid about getting malaria because of its long incubation period. I was only home for about a week when I started displaying some malaria symptoms. I figured that I could have malaria, but could have the flu, and I was hoping for the flu. Eventually I got sick enough that I called around to a couple hospitals to find out that the malaria test must be sent to Grand Rapids to a special testing center so no matter where I went it would be two days before I knew whether or not it was malaria. I felt so sick that I needed to go to the ER either way, so I went home and Andrew took me to the ER.
When I got there, I told the doctor my symptoms and said, “Oh, by the way, I’ve got a curve ball for you, I just got back from two months in Africa. Where there was lots of malaria.” Like I expected, he seemed a little excited about the prospect of something a little out of the ordinary, as I probably would be if I were in his position. I had a kinds of fun tests done, including blood tests and chest x-rays, and received some IV fluids. While I was there I spiked a terrible fever, which just added to the fun I was already having. When the urine and blood tests came back, the doctor came and told me that unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn’t have anything fun or different, but I did have a massive urinary tract infection that had spread all the way up to my kidneys. They gave me some antibiotics by IV for a boost, and a prescription for some more antibiotics. I was fine for about a week, then the antibiotics messed up my physiological balance and messed me up even more, so I had to stop those meds and start different ones. I felt like it was almost Africa retaliating against me for leaving, haha!
At the start of the school year I went to Dr. Grimnes and asked if she had and advice about who I could talk to and maybe do more with my HIV and Hep B data, and she sent me to Dr. Anderson. Dr. Anderson teaches epidemiology here at Alma College, and she was almost excited as I was about the data. I am taking a couple credits of independent study with her and preparing for an Honors Day presentation. The Ionia paper also interviewed me, and they did a feature about me! Here’s the link: http://www.sentinel-standard.com/topstories/x1291382980/Ionia-graduate-learns-first-hand-medical-experience-in-Sierra-Leone
All in all, it was a wonderful experience that I wont forget for the rest of my life. Thanks for reading!
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