I fight mysterious South Indian fever
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
I fight mysterious South Indian fever
For the past fourteen days I have had a fever. It snuck up on me. After the fun time on the houseboat in Alleppey, Kerala, I had a cough the next day and wasn't feeling so well. I traveled to Kochi with Raph and Ethel. I was feeling out of sorts, only lasting for a couple of hours of activity in the morning, before crashing in my room in the afternoons. At night I had cold sweats and had to keep changing the sheets.
This kept up in Munnar, Kerala, which, although it had beautiful tea plantations, I could only stand to explore for a couple of hours each day. After a couple of nights there I split up with Raph and Ethel. They headed north to Mysore and Bangalore, while I headed to Madurai.
In Madurai, I found a decent hotel room at the Hotel Rathna Residency, with room service, hot water, and fresh sheets. I holed up here for a couple of days, thinking that if I just rested, I would get better. At the end of the second day I still felt like crap. I bought a thermometer and some ibuprofen, and found my temperature was going as high as 104 F (40 C)!
The next day I went to a nearby hospital. The doctor said I was dehydrated from the fever, and it was probably a viral infection. I had not done a great job of staying hydrated, so I accepted their service of hydrating me with two IV packs. After six hours of IV I went back to the hotel.
Although the hydration was probably good for me, I still felt like crap the next day and my temperature was still shooting up. So the following day I went back to get bloodwork done. That was Saturday, two days ago. The hospital was to test for malaria, dengue, typhoid, and leptospirosis.
They did not have the capability to test for chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease prevalent in South India. So yesterday I went to Apollo Hospital, where they took blood and urine to test for chikungunya fever and viral indicators.
I found out yesterday that the test for malaria was negative, which is a good thing. I should get the remainder of the results today. In addition, I am getting an ultrasound at Apollo to check my abdominal organs. Then I meet with the doctor at Apollo again and see if he can figure out what's going on.
I haven't seen any sights here in Madurai, I haven't wanted to. Yesterday from a rooftop restaurant I saw the temples from a distance and they do look beautiful: tall, multi-colored, intricate, and elegant.
I fight mysterious South Indian fever
