I got sick Jan 31. We went to church on Jan 30, it was held at an mid to upscale restaurant and we had lunch with everyone from the service afterwards. Both Reneé and I had shrimp dishes and a berry lemonada (probably made with local water). This was the last really good meal for me for a while. We checked with the people at the church and no one else had any issues with the food, so I probably did not get here.
The next day both of us were at little out of sorts, upset tummy sort of thing. No diarrhea for either of us, no vomiting just a bit of nausea.
I got progressively worse, with occasional days where it seemed like everything was normal. I went to the pool one day at Barra de Navidad and the whole day was fine, the next day was horrible.
We went into town and saw a local doctor, who treated me for Acid Reflux. The next day we called our doctor in San Diego and started the first round of antibiotics.
We moved up our flight back to the states (our Daughter in Law is/was due on 3/14, no baby yet as I am writing this on 3/19). We flew in on 2/16 Wednesday, I saw the doctor on Thursday and we got blood tests and stool samples ordered.
It was an effort to get through this (BTW, I was on my second round of antibiotics at this point). Apparently I have a parasite, but the research on the internet says treatment is up to the patient and the doctor as many people have this one for decades with no problem.
This is what I wrote up on 3/7:
What’s going on as of today, 03/07/2022
I have been dealing with a parasite and maybe something else, since January 31 this year.
We travel a lot, and we were in Mexico when this started. Initial symptoms included night sweats, followed by shivering with a temperature of 98.6. The night sweats would soak the bed.
We came back to the states by way of San Diego 2/16. I saw my doctor there who after seeing my blood work prescribed an antibiotic for the parasite. I will finish those at dinner tonight.
He also referred me to an oncologist/hematologist.
My significant symptoms include:
- Night sweats (I think I am done with these)
- Exhaustion
- Slight headache
- Fever 97-100 usually low
- Unusual weight loss, I stepped on the scale this morning (2/27/22) at 209. That’s down from approximately 235 in January. Lowest have weighed since about 1977.
- Slight upset tummy
- Slight tightness in chest
- Low appetite
- Minor cough
What I am not experiencing:
- vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea
- Runny nose, clogged sinuses etc
- Open sore
- Sore throat
Please refer to the blood work attached, as you can see, up until the February labs everything was pretty stable. Note I had a physical in October 2021, so only 4 months ago.
I am really tired all the time.
So, to describe the night sweats, about a gallon of water out of my body soaking the bed and pillow all the way over to Reneê’s side of the bed, followed by shivers for a half hour.
As of today, I have had a follow up blood test and stool samples. The parasite did not show up in the stool samples. The blood work is returning to normal. It has been about 7 weeks, my weight is back up to about 220 (about when we got married in 1982). I tire very easy and can’t walk very far compared to what we are used to. Hopefully I am getting better day by day. We are supposed to be back on the boat, April 6th. We will resume the blog then.