Visitors

Ok so this is going to be a slightly graphic post because there's no way to talk about unwanted visitors in your belly without talking about POOP!  haha!  Don't worry...this post is intentionally picture-free.  But, if reading about my digestive processes grosses you out, you can go ahead and skip this one :) 

One of the realities of life on the field is dealing with parasites, and it's not uncommon to hear other expatriates discuss their bowel movements and whether or not they should be tested for amoebas.  We become much more comfortable talking about our poop than most of us ever really want to be!

About a week ago, I started feeling sick a few hours after I ate, and I prayed my stomach was just adjusting to new bacteria and would sort itself out on its own.  But every day I felt a little worse after I ate, I had diarrhea, and I would get really bad cramps all across my abdomen.  I finally decided my immune system wasn't taking care of business and guessed I had something in me that wasn't supposed to be there.

So, I collected a sample of my poop in an old plastic butter container and put the container in a black plastic bag (totally a tell-tale sign of someone taking a sample in!), and drove to the medical clinic in town.  I walked in and said I needed to have a test done, and the man said, "A malaria test?"  I kind of grimaced and said, "No, I have a sample."  He said ok and pointed me to the lab room, where the lab tech was waiting.  He was very friendly, and told me to set the plastic container on the counter.  I sat in the chair in the room and he proceeded to carry on a conversation with me while he scooped my poop out, mixed it with solution, and smeared it on a microscope slide!  It was incredibly awkward, but he made it seem totally normal. 

As he was looking in the microscope he asked, "Have you ever seen an amoeba?"  I said "No...does that mean I have amoebas?"  Sure enough, when I looked in the microscope, there the little buggers were!  Little roundish protozoa that really didn't look very harmful.  The tech asked me if I had pain in my abdomen, and I said yes.  He diagnosed a certain type of amoeba, I paid 100 shillings (about $1) and he sent me to the Doctor in the clinic to prescribe meds.  The doctor reviewed the lab results, explained that I had the type of amoeba that burrows in the intestine, which causes cramping, and prescribed Tinidazol, a strong anti-amoeba drug.  I purchased the three doses of four pills each for 200 shillings (about $2), and drove home about 45 minutes after I arrived.  That evening, before I went to sleep I took the first dose and finished the last dose a few days ago.   I feel great and I am amoeba free for now!

In 45 minutes, for about $3 I was diagnosed, seen by a doctor, given a prescription, and purchased the meds I needed. Talk about cheap medical care!  That's one of my favorite things about Kenya-they understand their diseases (especially intestinal stuff and malaria) and have figured out how to cheaply and efficiently diagnose and treat them.  In the US, I would have seen a general practitioner, then a specialist, then collected a week's worth of poop samples, waited a month for results that I paid an arm and a leg for, then been on really intense drugs that you have to take every few hours for a week!  I prefer the Kenyan way.  :)

You can pray for me that my immune system will adjust to all the strange bacteria and parasites here and become resistant to them, instead of letting everything waltz right in like it does right now.  Mostly, amoebas are just an obnoxious distraction but still it would be nice to be able to focus on ministry and relationships without such distractions. 

Well, you've officially made it through the nastiness of the amoeba post-congratulations!  I hope you never have to experience it first hand, but at least now you have an idea of what it means when I say I have amoebas. :)