I am slowly getting back to normal. Whatever that is - it feels better! The doctors at the Department for Epidimology at the Danish National Hospital have finally granted me permission to leave Denmark, which I celebrated by getting a ticket to Belgrade in Serbia with arrival this evening.
Yesterday the doctors and I finally sort of agreed that I have had malaria. - Well, maybe it was dengue!, the young doctor kept insisting still. For the past 10 days the doctors have insistingly, but in vain, been trying to find malaria parasites and dengue in my blood.
Mistake #1: I took the anti-malarial treatment I always carry with me in case of an emergency without consulting a doctor. To my excuse I´d say that I found myself in the Danish equivalent of the bush (my parents farm at Lolland), and that when you have over 40 degrees fever you give shit about rules, and if you can still read the user guide of an emergency malaria treatment within a hand´s reach you´ll eat it. When I told the doctors so, they flipped, and painted a vivid scenario of me being irresponsible as I could still could be ill from dengue or cerebral malaria.
Fair enough, but maybe a bit too dramatic. I did miss Dr. Stockley for a cynical and down to earth point of view here. Mistake # 2: I realised that the four different young Danish doctors who were part of the consultations all seemed to be extremely sceptical when I happened to state that I´d rather have malaria in Uganda, than Denmark, as the Ugandans seem to have a more relaxed relationship to it. I would have been treated like a normal case at Dr. Stockley´s surgery, not like a guinea pig with a bad reputation.
My insurance company has been the highlight of this week as they promptly granted me compensation for my lost ticket to Belgrade and making it financially possible for me to change my other tickets to actually do some vacation in Serbia.
So - I´m off in some hours...
PS. The best advice I can give to people travelling in and out of Africa, especially if they don´t take any malaria profylaxis - really - is to always carry with you a malaria emergency treatment. You can also get these smart rapid tests, which I´d also recommend - only problem is that they can be a bit too difficult to handle when your hands are shaking too much.









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