Phew! Not Dengue!

I do not have Dengue!

We had a little scare here this last week - I got sick on Thursday, and by Saturday morning, I had all the classic symptoms of Dengue Fever.  Fortunately, ALL in miniature, so not a whole lot of pain or life-derangement :-).  I felt well enough to go to class Saturday, although I was not really with it (but no tests, so lucky me!).

By Monday, we had decided that I'd better see a doctor to find out if it really was Dengue.  We had read that not everyone has the severe symptoms, so even though mine were minimal and very short, it was still possible.  The most important reason to know for sure whether or not I had it, is that the second time someone is exposed to the virus, it can be life-threatening.  Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever is a high risk when someone has the dengue antibodies from a previous bout. 

Well, it turns out that the EBAIS is closed on national holidays* (imagine that!), and Monday was Juan SantaMaria Day.  We made our trek to the clinic, not really expecting it to be open, but we didn't know for sure (now we do!).  We couldn't go Tuesday, so that left today.  By the way, each trip to the EBAIS means getting in line somewhere around 6:00 a.m., getting an appointment for later that morning, perhaps returning for tests, etc.  Basically, you get up too darned early, and your day is shot.  But, you get pretty much everything taken care of all in one day.  Today was only slightly different, because dengue is a public health issue, and so the blood test for it is "urgent."  So, after my morning doctor's appointment, we went to the urgent laboratory at UCR, got blood drawn, then went to the cafeteria there for brunch.  We returned to the clinic for the results.  We had a little language mix-up**, and so were two hours late :-| but they fit us in!  And... NO DENGUE!  Turned out it was a bigger relief than I anticipated!  I'll still worry a bit about mosquito bites, but if the bugger is carrying dengue, at least I am back at square one in that progression.  Square one is a *good* thing sometimes!


* In case you didn't know, next week is Semana Santa, and Thursday and Friday are national holidays too.

** language mix-ups are no fun!  And here's an easy one:  12:30 sounds like "dosayeemedia" and 2:30 sounds like "doseemedia"  - say that fast and see what happens...  The fix is this - write down the numbers and confirm those with the person giving you the appointment.  It's a bit harder to *remember* to do this...