die amoebae, die !

Three days ago, Amy and I went to a great Balinese dance in Ubud. It was a traditional dance with lots of animistic elements, elaborate costumes and neat stories that are acted out. It was really hot at the dance (at 7pm!), so I was sweating profusely and almost passed out. Some chocolate cake and mint tea for dessert seemed to make me feel better that night, so I thought it was a transient issue and didn't pay much mind. We went back to our hotel (Alam Indah) and I promptly decided to take a bath and fell asleep for around 30mins in the tub. I showered, then got into bed and immediately fell asleep which is unusual after I've napped that late in the evening.

I woke up at 6am (uncharacteristicly early for me) the next morning feeling really strange. My head felt hot so I took an Alleve (which I was supposed to take for something else anyway) and went back to sleep. Breakfast is included at most of the inns here, so Amy and I moseyed up to the veranda, sat down and felt really lightheaded again. I went back to the room and passed out for a few hours. When I woke up, I realized that something was definitely wrong. To be cautious, I started taking Cipro which is what the travel Dr in Philadelphia had told me to do. Checkout was at 12pm, so Amy was nice enough to research and book our next accomodations (at the Royal Palace in Ubud). The rest of my day consisted of advil and sleep -- I think I slept 20 of the 24 hours. The only other experience I've had that was comparable was a boat ride to the farallon islands (off SF) with Amy and Ron that I got so sick on I was dry heaving for seven hours and quasi suicidal by the end (ahh the memories). Even on advil, my fever was over one hundred, so Amy called our travel insurance company to find us a doctor. She wound up speaking to a physician on the phone and making an appointment for the next day. Incidentally, the Royal palace reminded me of a superficial person who is beautiful on the outside but horrible on the inside as the exterior structures of the palace and grounds were absolutely beautiful, but the rooms were dingy. They were the only accomodations available, so we made due.

We took an air conditioned taxi (b/c of my fever) from Ubud down to Kuta which is the tourist mecca of Bali, but also has the best western medical clinic too. They took a bunch of blood to run tests on and told me they would contact me. The doctor said it might be Dengue fever! I was a little freaked out because Dengue fever takes at least 2 weeks to recover from (maybe longer), is really painful, and it would probably ruin the majority of our Indonesian travels. Amy took me out to lunch all hopped up on advil, cipro and with a high fever, so she said it was a really entertaining meal because I was cracked out and funny, making all sorts of Dengue jokes. If you're reading this blog Matt and Charis, it reminded me of the Moldovan Syphilis string of jokes. My fever eventually broke that evening, but then my GI system went haywire. It has been a shitty few days :) The clinic ran some more tests and figured out that I have a colony of amoebae living in my gut! They prescribed me flagil (sp?) that specifically targets the pesky pathogens. The Dr called this morning and the Dengue tests came back negative -- yay! So, cross your fingers as the crisis seems to be averted for now. I think I'm going to pay more attention to which drinks have water and/or ice in them.