It Finally Happened...

It's the phantom blogger that shows up once a year to throw in her two-francs worth, only to slink back and let the real writer do his "thang" on a regular basis. I usually have sad news to tell but today it's only kind of bad.

Rachel and I have had malaria for a week now. It's the first bout for both of us and the first for our family. We talk to people all the time that have malaria, especially our Cameroonian friends and to be honest, I have never been very sympathetic. I know that isn't very kind, but I just couldn't relate.

Let me tell you...I can now relate. That is like nothing I have ever felt before. It starts with a general feeling of achiness and fatigue and then it hits. There is fever and chills, a lot like the flu, and much more achiness. So, as much as I hated that Rachel had it too, we could commiserate and lay in the bed together for days feeling absolutely miserable. We all take a malaria profolaxis but the one time we forgot, we had just been to Kribi (the beach) which is notorious for having the really nasty strain of malaria mosquitoes.

So that's it. I just wanted to tell you that I have now had malaria and I survived. I am not completely back to my old self, but I'm not flat on my back anymore and I am a missionary with a new notch in my belt (for being a real missionary) and a new attitude for my buddies that have malaria and a lot more often than I will ever have it.