Hypochondriac you say?

As I had mentioned in the previous post, I had my COS medical exams this week. Little did I know, I was in for a RUDE AWAKENING: I'm not as healthy as I thought.

Every test seemed to bring about more tests. And those results brought more doctors appointments and further examinations, which eventually has led me to here and now, where I'm sitting in the Peace Corps office waiting for the latest results and resting up so I can travel back to my hut sweet hut! How I miss my small little room with my spider and scorpion friends!

For two years I have said that "I am allergic to Swaziland". At first this started out as a joke, that I was ready to leave, but slowly and surely I realized that this was not only metaphorically true, but realistic as well. The first time I left the country in December 2010, I realized my constant allergies, the sneezing and crying came to a halt in Mozambique and I could breathe with ease. Since then, every vacation I've taken whether it be to South Africa, Mozambique, or Europe has been a wonderful break from the constant irritation that seems to only happen in Swaziland. I have found that it takes about a day to clear my system, but I'll be perfectly healthy for the duration of my trip. I am truly allergic to Swaziland.

So for two whole years, I've been taking Zyrtec daily, and when the allergies get extremely terrible I'll take up to 3 Benedryls a night, along with a nose spray and eye drops. Although I have allergies everywhere in Swaziland, some parts of the country are worse than others. There was one memorable night where it was extremely terrible and I had taken 3 benedryls just to stop crying and go to sleep. I woke up around 10pm with something touching my right hand. Annoyed, because it wouldn't leave, I turned over and quickly fell back into my self induced coma. A few minutes later I awoke to a scream and my hard-drive flying across the room. Trying to piece together what just happened, my friend sleeping on the bunk below me informed me that something fell off of my bed onto her. She grabbed it thinking it was my phone. It turned out to be a bat. She flung the bat across the room and my computer and hard drive went with it. We spent about 20 minutes hunting the bat down and trapping it, then I went back into my cocoon and fell fast asleep. As it turns out, I was petting the bat in my sleep. Good thing we've got our rabies shots.

Most of my nights in Swaziland end in a similar fashion; I end up going to bed extremely early due to allergies. So when one of my friends said to me, "Shauna, I heard you wheezing last night. Were you OK? I think you have asthma, you need to get checked out" and she had heard me quite clearly from a tent far away, I realized it must be pretty severe. The thought of developing asthma had never crossed my mind previously and I hoped this was not the case. I immediately talked with my medical officer and she gave me a breath tester. Turns out I was way below where I should be. She put me on an inhaler immediately.

About 2-3 weeks later, I came in for my COS (Close Of Service) Medical Examination. The inhaler was helping a lot and I had thought my breathing had improved, so when my medical officer said she was sending me to get a chest x-ray, I was shocked. If I was healthy, why would I need an x-ray?! Results came back and in it held another surprise- I have bronchitis and possibly pneumonia. WHAT?! How on earth did I not know and more importantly, how long have I had this? I've been feeling slightly ill since January but blamed it mostly on the allergies, so have I been sick all along?

Then I have found out that I have an iron deficiency. I figured as much since I rarely have access to meat, and my diet consists of ramen, rice and beans, and spaghetti. But it was still nice to hear that my "laziness", tiredness, and inability to walk up hills was more than just being physically out of shape. I have a legitimate medical excuse!

Among these issues, I also became aware of that my vision has significantly worsened, the click in my jaw is terrible- I now clench and grind my teeth at night, I may have developed asthma, I have tested for anemia and there is inflammation in my system with which they are testing for a variety of things. So, basically, I'm on all sorts of medication right now. I've been put on a few different antibiotics, antihistamines, inhalers, antimalarial pills, and other random stuff. I definitely feel like a hypochondriac with all my meds right about now. Like they said, discomfort courtesy of U.S. Peace Corps.