Dengue

August 5, 2012

I learned more about Dengue (rhymes with Ben Gay) than I wanted to this week.  It is a virus that you contact from the mosquitos that bite in the daytime.  The ones you see at dusk here are pesky, but they won’t hurt you.  After 5 days of running a high fever upwards of 102 (especially at night when I was so hot I was afraid to take my temperature), body aches (you can’t stand because it hurts, you can’t sit because it hurts, and you can’t sleep because it hurts), chills (I never thought I would be cold here – ever), we finally called our mission doctor.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was on the last day of this fever/virus and if I just had waited one more day it would have all been over.  Anyway it was the morning of Zone Leader’s Council and I knew Bruce had to go and that I was not going to be able to fulfill my assignments at the meeting because my fever was back up to 101 and I was flat in bed that we called the doctor.  I could hear Bruce’s end of the conversation and I knew they were talking about blood work at a lab.  I had hoped beyond hope I would make it the whole 3 years without having to experience medicina Méxica, but that was not to be.  Panic set in when I realized that Bruce would not be able to go with me.  I can barely say hello so I didn’t see how I was going to be able to explain that I needed a biometría hemática completa. Fortunately the Assistants were able to break away from the meeting to take me to the lab.  I was so thankful they were there because I was so out of it I wasn’t even sure when the lady asked for my name (which I wrote out on a piece of paper because I didn’t think I could make her understand how to say or spell it) and I had no idea that she asked for my age.   To my surprise the lab was clean and the nurse that took my blood was quick and it was pretty painless.  The whole test cost 112 pesos which in American dollars is less than $10 and I got the results 4 hours later.  I was able to go to the Leadership Training Meeting on Friday and I was comparing symptoms with another missionary who had been diagnosed with Dengue.  They were the same – bad, but that 6^th day you get up with no fever and feel wasted, but okay. 

I had a missionary call me yesterday to say his companion was sure he had Dengue because he had a new mosquito bite.  I asked what his symptoms were – vomiting and a fever.  I said nope, that’s not Dengue (I wanted to say – call me when you have 30 on your legs like I do, but I didn’t).  I had another missionary call me to say that he had a really high fever and he wanted to know what to do.  I asked how high his fever was and he said he didn’t know because he didn’t have a thermometer.  How about you take it and then call me back?  Another missionary called me this morning to see if I knew of a really quick way to get over the flu.  After he told me what he had been doing, I just told him he was doing all of the right things and he would just have to wait it out.   I had an elder (who is fairly young in the mission) call for one of the sister missionaries who doesn’t speak very much English because she wanted him to help her be sure I knew what her ailment was and what help she needed.  He told me she had head lice and wanted to go to see a dermatologist.  I said, “Elder she doesn’t need to see a dermatologist to get rid of head lice,” and I told him what she needed to do.  She called a bit later and with her broken English and my broken Spanish I finally knew what she had really asked him to tell me.  We got her the help she needed and yes she did need the specialist.  Before she hung up she wanted to be sure to know she did NOT have head lice.  Something got lost in translation.  I love these boys.

We received two new missionaries this week – one on Monday afternoon (he had been waiting for his visa) and one on Tuesday morning.  We tried to make things the same for them as when we get missionaries on the regular cycle, but it wasn’t quite the same when we unrolled our big sign with only one name on it.  We still took our Monday missionary from Nicaragua to tacos and then had breakfast for the missionary that came on Tuesday.  This was one we did not know about and had not been expecting, who had been in the mission field for 10 months and then decided to go home.  We are so happy he is back and we can see he is completely committed to working hard. 

Bruce tried his hand at BBQing this week.  Would you be surprised to know that it did not turn out like we expected?  The package of what we thought would be briquettes looked exactly the same as the ones we buy at home.  That’s where you get sucked in – when the pictures and brand name are the same.  I marinated the steaks and we started the “coals.”  Surprise!  The bag is filled with large pieces of charred wood and dust.  The BBQ is attached to the side of the house and the fire rose higher and higher.  At first we thought we might singe the side of the house, but then we remember the walls are 6-inch thick concrete so nothing was going to burn – including the wood.  I pan fried the steaks and we ate dinner.  Bruce checked on the fire outside about 2 hours later and discovered it was just right for s’mores (haven’t seen marshmallows or graham crackers here so that was not to be).

On Friday night after the Leadership Training that I did get to go to, we went over to the bishop’s house for tacos and soup.  He has a regular job during the day and then on Wednesday through Saturday nights they make food to sell.  This is a very common thing for people to do and it is not unusual to see tables and chair outside someone’s house where neighborhood folks come for dinner.  We only got lost once getting to the bishop’s house, parked and enter their courtyard.  The house is tiny (so small you would have driven right by and never even noticed it there) and the courtyard had tables, chairs, their food station and then junk piled up against the side of the building next door.  The food was good – the place was spotless – and we told the bishop we be back often.  He didn’t want us to pay for the food we had but we told him that we couldn’t come back if he didn’t let us give him something.  Bruce slipped some money in his hand and we made the drive across town to the mission home.  These people are eking out a living and are so humble but would give us anything they had.  The family is remarkable.

Yesterday Bruce made a very long drive to visit two of our problem missionaries.  This involved maneuvering around horses, goats, burros, and dogs, along very bumpy roads that were not marked.  Oh he even had to swerve to avoid a landslide.  One of these missionaries is reported to have a girlfriend whom he talks to every night up on the roof of their house (because he has his own phone) and is saving money from his monthly allotment from the mission for his support and has it in an “I’m going to bring my girlfriend home with me” fund. He is now threatening to physically hurt his companion if he doesn’t go along with his crazy ideas of going to visit this girl.  We’ll see how this all play out once our office elders can verify the information. We may be sending a missionary home this week.  Note:  While I have been writing this Bruce has talked to Salt Lake and our Area Presidency – he will go in the morning with 2 elders so he won’t be doing this alone, to have this missionary pack his things and he will be on a plane tomorrow night for home.   During the drive, he discovered two more situations where missionaries have gotten into some difficulties with girls in their areas, becoming WAY too familiar.  This even involves one of our office elders which makes the situation even harder to deal with.  So he was arranging 2 emergency transfers as well as interviews with both missionaries while on the drive home.  He was pretty tired when he got to the mission home and I had been doing quiet mission stuff all day still recovering from my fever/virus goo from the week, so we decided to try a new taco place we found when we were lost the night before.  Their specialty is tacos al pastor – muy rico!  When you all come to visit, this IS the place we will take you. 

The missionaries are wonderful and as I watched and listened to their interaction with Bruce – with both questions and answers – I feel of their great spirits.  Bruce has been truly inspired with the direction he has given them and we have both been so grateful for the way they have accepted his guidance.  There have been many missionaries who have expressed their love and gratitude.  Life is much easier when we are obedient to what we know to be right – I have seen this over and over as we have watched how our missionaries behave when we are around and, most importantly, when we are not.