The Good with The Not So Good

My experience in Colombia has been great and the experience with my fellow SAP Social Sabbatical team has been wonderful...but with all good things, there are sometimes bad...  I contracted the Chikungunya virus on Monday.  I woke up with a slight rash on my face and by lunchtime, my entire face and neck was covered with a very painful rash.  Chikungunya is common to the Caribbean area and is caused by mosquito bites. When I was in Cartagena over the long weekend with the team, I was bitten several times by mosquitos. I was very responsible and applied bug repellent when on the Isle de Rosario and I even went on a "jungle" cruise without one mosquito bite!! But on the day we returned to Bogota, I was shopping inside a store in Old Town Cartagena and I was bitten several times. So.... seven days later I developed the virus.  The biggest issue is the rash .... I even have bumps on my eyelids!!  The symptoms of this virus is the rash, fever and joint pain and swelling. I am "lucky" so far, because the rash is the worst part ...but my hands are very swollen today.

So...that's the not so good part.....the good part is that I have a wonderful support network here in Bogota. We have a local consultant here in Bogota who's job is multi-faceted....including taking care of us in case of emergency or illness. Liza is a very amazing person.  She took me to the ER, stayed with me the entire time and made me laugh!!

Liza feeding me "baby food" - red jello and red fruit tea to match the color of my skin!!

Liza took my mind off of this crazy rash, which is not easy to do!!  I could not have maneuvered the ER without her - she made sure that I was not forgotten and translated everything for me.  The doctors who treated me both spoke English - which was so nice!!  The primary doctor I saw was really wonderful - he had just been to Stanford for a training course and he and his wife had a chance to see a little of the Bay Area so that was nice to have someone who knew where I was from.  I have never been treated so wonderfully by a doctor - he took my entire health history and never rushed me. He explained what he thought the rash could be and explained that it could take up to 12 days for a virus like this to develop after a mosquito bite. The hospital performed multiple blood tests to confirm the virus.  I have follow-up blood tests and a follow-up doctor appointment on Thursday to monitor the virus.

My fellow teammates have been wonderful too. Sabrina and Steffen had to work without me on Tuesday as I am supposed to take 3 days off, doctors orders.  They were great and included me in the debriefing of the day so I do not feel left out.  Many people checked to see if I needed anything and to see if they could do anything for me....I definitely do not feel alone in a foreign country.  Even those who themselves are not feeling well asked if they could do anything for me. Dyvia, who will be a wonderful mother some day, came to see if I had food for dinner and encouraged me to come to her room for dinner.  It was really nice to get out of my room and see some of the team. Dyvia's Indian meal was wonderful!!  Srikanth's father had this virus last year, which caused problems with his blood count so Srikanth reviewed my blood test results. It looks like my blood tests are fine and it was really nice to have support from someone with experience with this virus.

I feel very lucky to have such wonderful people around me and really appreciate all their help and support.  I know that I will be fine....and I have something different to take home from Colombia!!