Fighting "The Phoid"

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So I am about two weeks into my trip, travelling around SE Asia. A lot has happened, but at the same time, not much has happened at all.

After spending two crazy weeks getting ready to leave Japan (I swear I will never move again), I said my goodbyes and took off to Kuala Lumpur to meet James.

I can't say I saw or did much in Kuala Lumpur because I spent most of my time lying in bed, recovering from typhoid (or "the phoid", as I now affectionately refer to it).

It is actually quite a funny story, if you get over the fact that I felt like s$%t, and have learned that typhoid can be quite a menacing little illness.

While in Japan, I did my best to seek out the vaccine. I managed to get my Hepatits A and Japanese B Encephalitis, but unfortunately, the Japanese government didn't recommend the typhoid vaccine, leaving me defenseless in KL.

On the second day of my trip I stopped by a medical clinic near our hostel to inquire about getting the shot. The vaccine needed to be ordered over the weekend, so James and I made the plan to do a little travelling, and then come back for the shot the following week. As the clinic manager said, typhoid is relatively rare in Malaysia, but getting the shot is in many ways, good insurance.

I started feeling ill the next day. I found myself back in the doctor's office diagnosed with food poisoning and severe dehydration. After receiving antibiotics and an IV rehydration drip, I thought I would soon bounce back, but the symptoms persisted.

I don't know if I have felt quite so terrible. I completley lost my desire to eat or drink because I felt so bloated. When sick as a child, my mother would tell doctors that I still had the apetite of a horse. I think she was able to judge if something was seriously wrong when I stopped eating: this rarely happened. Well, I stopped eating and drinking, and my high fever left me feeling slightly delirious.

I went back to the doctor's office. Within five minutes he diagnosed me with tyhoid. Within 10 minutes I was having an ultrasound done of all my major organs. (Apparently my kidneys and liver look "pristine": he thought I didn't drink). I was given an IV drip of antibiotics, and then prescribed a long list of other medications, including an anti-malaria drug just to really kill it off. The doctor had also taken some blood to do the typhoid test, and indeed, I was infected. I felt better within hours.

Here is where the humour comes in. As I returned to the doctor's office on different occasions to ask questions, the other people at the office would ask, "Are you here to get your typhoid shot?"

I would say, "No, I have typhoid."

"What?"

"Yeah, I actually have typhoid."

Jaws dropped.

What can I say about this experience?

1. I felt so lucky to have been treated by the doctors at this clinic. In fact, think I developed a small crush on the doctor that treated me. At one point the thought of becoming a doctor crossed my mind. Must have been the fever.

2. Being sick away from home sucks. We all know this.

3. Being healthy rocks. Sometimes we don't all know this. It is amazing how good you feel when you can reflect on what it means to feel awful.

Anyways, that is the latest on this crazy adventure. There is a reason I don't have a lot of photos of KL. The white wall in the hotel room didn't make for great pictures.

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Comments

[Stewart Hutchings]

Glad you are feeling better. Looking forward to your return to our really great country.