Dengue Fever…oh the joys!!

Ahhhh good old Dengue Fever, where to begin with this joyous experience!

Well…

Me and my friend Abigail were coming up to the end of our month in Thailand and getting ready to cross the border into Laos, when I woke up one morning in Bangkok feeling like I’d been hit by a truck that had then proceeded to reverse back over me! At first I just put it down to heat exhaustion and dehydration, so decided to shake it off and soldier on with our day full of Temple visits…

It got to around midday and I couldn’t physically hold my head up in the Tuck Tuck without feeling like I was going to pass out. So I crawled out of the backseat and slumped into a doorway of a nearby cafe whilst Abi checked out some of the nearby temples. I have to say, it must have been an extremely pathetic sight seeing a 21 year old girl slumped in a shop doorway drooling and panting like a bulldog. I’m pretty sure the locals thought I was either homeless or another idiotic drunk tourist, as the majority of people seemed to turn a blind eye (I don’t blame them if I’m honest, yuck!)

As the day went on the symptoms started to get more and more similar to the bubonic plague, a rash came up on both my thighs, I couldn’t move my eyes, my arms and legs stopped functioning, I couldn’t stand without feeling as though I’d pass out and any sort of food or drink just made me vomit. (An attractive combo right!)

After a further two bedridden days, crawling on my chest like a slug to the bathroom and looking like I’d been dug up out of a coffin…it was time to make our way out of Thailand and into Laos!!

We began the journey to the border where the following day we had a 3 day trip booked called the Gibbon Experience – where we’d be trekking, zip lining through the jungle and sleeping in tree houses…exciting stuff!

This was the one activity that was on the top of Abi’s To Do List in Asia, and she’d been an absolute gem for the past couple of days carrying my bags and at times basically carrying me, so I didn’t want to let her down.

I was starting to feel a bit better once we crossed into Laos, and a local who we met on the bus was a guide from the Gibbon Experience and kindly offered to take me to the hospital before the trip just to make sure everything was alright, so I agreed – hopped on the back of his motorbike and set off.

The town in Laos where we were was out in the sticks to say the least…and the hospital we arrived at must’ve been the size of a small primary school!

I very quickly got a hard hitting realisation of the dire situation people were in here. There were at least 6 people crammed onto one bed, others sat on the floor screaming in pain, the guide who was with me told me that these people couldn’t afford medical care, and a lot of them would probably die. I couldn’t really register what I was seeing.

I was lucky to have him with me at the hospital as nobody there spoke English and my Laotian was embarrassingly rubbish, so he translated everything between me and the nurse. She took a blood test (from a very dubious looking needle pulled out of a drawer) and literally within 10 minutes came back with the results! (Take that NHS!)

I sat there twiddling my thumbs expecting to be told everything was fine. After talking with the nurse for a couple of minutes, he turned around to me and said, ‘Emily, Dengue Fever…very serious. You could die in 5 days’.

I think my first reaction was just laughter! When you’re expecting the words ‘you can go’ and you hear the words ‘death’ it’s a little bit of a game changer. He explained that my white blood cell count was dangerously low, and that I was on the verge of Severe Dengue (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever) and would have to stay in hospital for at least 5 days. MEHHH. 

I walked out of the hospital in a complete daze and hopped on the back of his bike to tell Abi and collect some things for the next few days. When I got back to the hotel, I opened the door and just burst into tears, I told her what they’d said and without even hesitating she replied, ‘Right lets get your bag packed I’m coming with you!’ – (If there’s an award for friend moment of the year – this should be nominated).

She was so positive and didn’t even think twice about the trip she’d be missing out on, she was the best person I could have had with me at that moment…without question.

I then had the awkward task of telling my parents, anybody reading this who knows my mum will understand why this could be an ordeal. I think the phone call went something like ‘Hi mum, just going into hospital for a few days, nothing serious…will be in touch soon’. I think if I’d have told her I had 5 days to live she’d be paddling across the ocean like Tom Hanks in Castaway. So i decided to keep her in the dark on this occasion, after all…ignorance is bliss!

The next 6 days consisted of being in a corpse like state, connected to an intravenous drip, with daily blood tests, being fed numerous pills and a delightful cocktail of salty orange flavoured water to rehydrate me. Everyday Abi would read Harry Potter to me whilst I lay under a mosquito net (I milked being ill to the max) all the while she was having to sleep on the cold hard floor fighting off the cockroaches…I owe her bloody big time!

 

On one occasion a group of about 15 doctors came into my room and all stood around my bed, prodding and poking me like I was a strange specimen. It was a bit like the scene on Friends where the doctors are all stood around Ross trying to work out what the weird thing is on his ass… SAME SITUATION!!

 

 I felt a bit better one morning so we decided to sneak out for a visit to the local shop. I was still too weak to walk so we plopped me into the hospital wheelchair, (which I have to say was the most hilarious contraption you’ll ever see! It was basically a plastic garden chair with two bike wheels stuck either side of it – they need to feature it on Top Gear!)

We set off out of the hospital and hadn’t noticed my drip was low. We made it half way down the dirt track when I started to feel woozy, I looked up at my drip and my blood had started to run back up into the bag! So Abi span the chair around and pegged it back up to the hospital looking for a doctor whilst I sat slumped in the chair, looking high as a kite as if I’d been smoking marijuana. Lesson learnt – don’t sneak out of hospital on a makeshift wheelchair.

On my last day, two of my other friends came to see me, and…THEY BROUGHT PIZZA!!! I hadn’t eaten for a good 10 days and the doctors wouldn’t let me brush my teeth (hello boys) so let me tell you that pizza tasted like pure cheesy tomatoey heaven!

We started trying to compile together a thank you card in Laotian for all the staff at the hospital who had been absolutely amazing for the week I’d been in there. The words on the card probably translated to ‘Thank you for lending me your goat, is your uncle free for sweater shopping this thursday?’ – but the thought was there I guess.

 

When they finally said it was ok to go, we were both really sad to leave. Even though we spoke different languages, the staff there had really touched our hearts and couldn’t have done any more for me!

 I was expecting the bill to be through the roof for the standard of care I’d received, and when it came to paying… it was a total of £42. FOURTY TWO POUNDS. For a week in hospital!!! I’ve probably bought more expensive socks for that price!

The doctors advice for the next couple of days was to rest up and take it easy, so naturally the next day we hired mopeds and went exploring waterfalls!

 

So I guess the main reason for writing this post is for other travellers heading to South East Asia this summer. There isn’t a vaccine for Dengue Fever and its transmitted through a mosquito bite so your best bet is to lather up in repellent and always sleep under a net when you can. It’s no fun to have especially when it turns serious, so get to a medical centre as soon as you can if you have any of the symptoms I did. I’ve since been advised by my doctor not to return to any of the red zones where Dengue is present, as apparently a second spout of it can be pretty fatal. So if you’re heading to a country where Dengue is a risk this summer…be sure to bathe in repellent and karate chop any mosquitos in your immediate vicinity and stay safe but most of all happy travelling!

Thanks for reading folks ;).