Malaria

Malaria is extremely prevalent here. Wednesday a doctor used the term "cerebral malaria" which I did not know existed. It sounds bad because malaria can be awful and can kill you. And now the brain is involved. I am unfamiliar with the disease process of cerebral malaria. This I do know: the patient that we believe to have cerebral malaria was semi-conscious on Tuesday upon arrival via ambulance to our ETC. We gave him an IV antibiotic or IV antimalarial and Wednesday morning he was fully conscious and able to drink! We saw him while in the ETC and he was well enough to walk outside! Hopefully his second Ebola test comes back negative. The first one did.

I have been waking up over the past few days with a wretched taste in my mouth. The anti-malarial I am on is taken once weekly. Apparently most people take it on Mondays (Malaria Monday to help you remember!) but mine and one other nurse's are due on Wednesdays. I take mine in the evenings and as soon as the pill hit my tongue my brain went, "Ah-hah! The foul taste every time I wake up has been identified!!" Thankfully I am on dose 4 and only have to take them once a week. (Ten more, no big deal right?!) I about gagged but, remembering that the early symptoms of malaria and Ebola are almost identical, I swallowed that pill. I have no desire to leave Sierra Leone earlier than scheduled nor do I want to visit an ETC as a patient myself! ;-D

~praise God with me--Betty does not have Ebola! And we have discharged two from confirmed--which means they had Ebola but they are now cured! We have also discharged many this week that did not have Ebola. We treat malaria and Ebola at the ETC since the initial symptoms are quite similar; identical at times. We are unable to treat anything else just yet.
~Praise God with me that I haven't yet felt faint in the PPE. I am sure that will happen but I know how I feel when a faint is nearing (and now the reason I fainted once a semester in nursing school is clear: preparation for wearing PPE in an already warm environment!) It can take 10-20 minutes to doff gear. The trick is noticing when you or another worker is beginning to not be 100% and sending yourself or your co-worker out to the washing station to begin doffing pronto. As you remove each piece of PPE, you feel significantly better. And being sprayed with the cold chlorinated water while fully garbed actually feels fantastic! Picture running through a sprinkler on the hottest day in July or August and that is close to what it feels like!
~Continue to pray for my interactions with my co-workers.
~And pray for my up-coming interactions with Ebola patients.
Thank you for praying with me, for me, and for my family