Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A kick in the pants

I have lived in Brazil for almost 3 years at the end of May. I thought I was doing good. I thought I learned most of what I needed to, I thought I had been through all the hazing of Brazil that needed to be done. However, Brazil was not done with me.

I have been lovingly bestowed, body aches, head ache, fever, nausea, since Friday night. Better known to many of you as Dengue. Dengue is a big ol kick in the pants. It throws you down on the ground and you better not even think about getting up. Mostly because you can't. I'm down and out for the count. Or at least until tomorrow when my atestado (medical leave from work) is up.

Originally, it all started Friday night with a raging fever. I didn't know where it came from...I had mistakenly gotten burned...I thought I was experiencing heat exhaustion. But it continued all day Saturday. So I went to the hospital. The doctor did an x-ray of my chest (I've had a cough for a little while) and told me it was just a virus and I should feel better by the end of the weekend. Except I didn't. And I kept having fevers. And my whole body was hurting. And the headaches. And the nausea. Nausea is awful. But I went to work on Monday anyway. And worked from 8 in the morning to 7 at night. It kicked my trash. I slept from 8 pm that night until 6 the next morning. And then cried when I had to get out of bed. But I still went to work. When I came out of my classroom at 11:30, the secretary looked at me and said, what is all over your neck?? That would be a pretty little rash developing from the dengue. So finally they convinced me to go to the hospital. So I went. And waited for a long, long, long time. To tell me I have dengue. The great thing about dengue is there is not a thing you can do about it. So, take some tylenol, lay down, and rest. Try to keep the fever down.

Thankfully I will only have to work one more day. Then I will have Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to rest. Thank goodness for Tuesday holidays in Brazil.  (if it falls on a Tuesday, you get Monday off. if it falls on a Thursday you get Friday off. It's great!)

No comments:

Post a Comment