Typhoid

So while I said the conference went well for the girls, it didn't go so well for me. I was sick most of the time. It started with pain in my lower back and the pain moved up my spine into my neck and head. Honestly I felt like I was being beat. Nothing helped and I'm in charge of getting 4 girls home safely and that includes passing a bunch of checkpoints. Thursday morning I say to heck with it and go to a missionary hospital nearby. I've been there once on a tour during training.
I feel like an asshole walking in and getting an appointment when some people camp out on the massive veranda for days waiting to be seen. They only pass out numbers for maybe 100 new patients and 50 followups a day. Of course I am paying 6 times the normal tarif. This is probably the best up country healthcare facility and they are amazing. There is also a really nice American pediatrician who helped translate for me during the exam. The Guinean Dr narrowed it down to 2 options: malaria or typhiod. This doesnt sit well with me, I take malaria meds, sleep under a net and I'm vaccinated against typhoid. They do the blood work and its typhoid. I'm not even showing the classic signs but now that i think about it the kids in my compound have.
I'm fine now and its debatable if i really had it or not. maybe the antibodies developed after being vaccinated gave a false positive or maybe being vaccinated gave me mitigated symptoms. The important thing is I'm better and now I have a heck of a story to tell about it.

A few days later I saw my friend who gave me a note and chocolate for my belated birthday, he had been planning on sending it to me by pc post. Along with wishing me a happy b-day he also hoped I hand't come down with the malaria like everyone in his village. "Thanks," I said, "but actually I've got typhoid." This got a perverse round of laughter, "Sorry dude, I didn't mean to low ball you there." We're still trying to figure out a decent nickname that can come out of this situation. I'm sick of being called White Danielle or Cracker.

Moral of the story: Some times you just have to laugh at this shit otherwise it'd be depressing.