Again I did not sleep that well, waking up in the middle of the night, needing to go to the toilet and then drink. I am wondering if the Malarone might be causing this as insomnia is a possible side effect. I will try to go to bed in future well hydrated, but not so well hydrated I will wake up. I still got 8 hours sleep but felt tired in the morning. The change of prolactic seems to be working as my stools have improved. Due to my waking up in the night, I did not get going early enough [View Full Entry]

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My day started unexpectedly early, with the dogs barking at 1:20am, waking me up as a car arrived back. I learnt later that it was people returning from a party linked to a wedding. When I woke up again in the morning I felt unexpectedl achey, as well as shivering a while, so I got worried I might have malaria again. I didn't feel brilliant, but there was no fever at all. At around 10am I walked down to Al-Rahma hospital, the nearest hospital to the house, last time I went there it wasn't too busy. I was far busier this [View Full Entry]

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In the morning I went to the hospital again to see the Doctor. Sadly my usual (and preferred) Doctor Miriam had gone into the shambani (countryside) for an emergency so was not around, eventually I saw the Doctor I had seen previously, on my first visit to that hospital. They have mostly exhausted the tests they can do there I think. So we are now experimenting with my diet, I have been banned fatty and fried food for a week, as well as milk products (I stopped those a while back). I gave away the rest of the pringles I brought [View Full Entry]

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I had a bit of a mixed day. I went into Stone Town again in the morning, arriving quite early for me. However, I did not feel that great, so in the morning I just rested at the veranda outside the St Monica's restaurant. I had plently to drink, and read a paper, as well as talk with however was around. Later in the morning Nuhu came, he has had malaria, and is still weak but recovering. His wife is a nurse, so he should be in good hands. It was good to see him again, I have not seen him [View Full Entry]

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I did not go into Stone Town at all today, instead mostly resting back at the house. I began to think of the rest of my seven months in Tanzania, and began planning for the Frontier Trip. I phoned their Tanzania Office to ask for advice about whether I should go, as I am concerned about my health problems. They are fairly well prepared to deal with health problems, with experience of dealing with past difficulties of staff and research assistants. They have not lost anyone yet! I was advised that my loss of general fitness should not be a problem [View Full Entry]

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Today I was OK, in the morning, and rested for a while. In the late morning, I made another trip into Stone Town. Stone Town was hot - contrasting to Britain at the moment from what I have heard. I went in on the daladala, the minibus type things (I will try to get a photo) very hot and crowded at points, but cost just 200 shillings - 10 pence. On my way to the daladala stop I walked by some kids coming out of a nearby school who were very excited to see me, surrounding me and wanting to say [View Full Entry]

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Boxing day has a very different purpose here. More on this later. Sadly I had a single bout of diarrhoea this morning, after a couple of normalish faeces. I suspect, as I ate more than I have been typically yesterday, that it is as a result of that. I don't think I still have any infection, but I think the lining of my intestines has been damaged slightly, possible resulting in something called malabsorption. When I get the lab results back, I will see my doctor and see what she thinks. I had a fairly quiet morning. In the afternoon I [View Full Entry]

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Compared to the day before, yesterday was much quieter. I spent the day mostly resting again, although I made a short trip to the local shops. Appetite still not what it was, but as I am not getting that much exercise this is not too much of a problem. I haven't really lost much weight at all. In the evening I listened to Carols From Kings - on BBC World Service. Even though I may be many miles from Cambridge, I can still hear it on the radio. [View Full Entry]

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Merry Christmas to all! Just a quick note of explanation, the reason there are two travelblogs marked 25th December is that I have decided to match up the day described with the date, so far I have always described the day before the date, so for one day, there will be two blogs as I change. The culture is different here, and so Christmas is different. Unfortunately my day didn't start brilliantly, as I was sick before breakfast, possibly due to some grass smoke. As a result I stayed at home to rest whilst most of the family went to church, [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was by my recent standards a very busy day. In the morning I had a short trip to the hospital to drop off a stool sample, not sure when the results will be ready, but I have not heard yet. Fortunately I did not have any real problems in that department yesterday, with healthy stool. Unfortunately my appetite is still small, which is worrying me slightly. I ate a very small breakfast and lunch, although by tea (which was very late) my appetite was better. In the rest of the morning after taking the stool sample I rested. The Christmas [View Full Entry]

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