Amoeba

I've got some time to kill before I leave for the airport for my trip home, so I'll use this time to fill you all in on what's been happening with me the last 2 weeks. I've been sick. Not stay in bed and drink only liquids sick, but mild diarrhea, pain, and fever sick. No big deal, initially. But when I still had the same symptoms, only worse, after 8,9,10 days, I knew I had to see a doctor since self medication wasn't working.

I talked to one of the doctors that comes to the school and he told me to have a couple tests run. So I did. I talked to the doctor at the lab where the tests were run and she told me I have an amoeba. She then went on to explain that EVERYTHING in El Salvador (food, water) is contaminated and she gets a ton of foreigners in her office with the same thing. On a side note, it's interesting how quickly people's voices rise when they get excited here. Is it like that at home too? Maybe it's more common here, but she started speaking in a very spirited manner about contamination and amoebas in El Salvador and her voice rose a good 2 octaves.

Then she told me that if I had my HepA vaccine I would be safe from contracting that from this Amoeba. Is that how you get HepA? How little I know. Of course, now having read a lot about Amoebic Dysentery, I kind of wish I didn't know so much. Let's just say I want all the amoebas to die. Quickly. Amoebas, you are not my friends!

Right. Then she wrote a prescription for me, I went to a pharmacy, and started taking the pills right away. Felt better a few hours later and by Sunday morning my fever was gone. Yea! Now I'm ready to go home. I continue to take the pills until Thursday. Then if the problem returns, the amoebas are of another strain that requires different medicine to be taken for 10 days. I hope they are not of that strain. Until I know, I won't be sharing any food or drink with friends. Well, some food, I'm sure individual french fries, pizza slices, vegetables, you know, items that can be easily stolen off another plate, aren't a problem. ;)