NO worries, I’m HAPPY in the hospital - seriously!

This section is dedicated to Ms. Schreier and Dr. Grauer at the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen http://www.medizin1.uk-erlangen.de/e109/e689/e701/index_ger.html, to Dr. Wadchara and Dr. Lily and the nurses and staff at the Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok http://www.bumrungrad.com and - last not least - to Simon and Heidi.

The symptoms are always the same. Mostly in the evening and always without pre-warning I start shivering and trembling and feel cold despite the fact that my temperature rises rapidly. I’m bound for a dreadful night but latest the next morning the symptoms are gone. The bad news is the next event starts more or less regularly 72 hours later. My sixth “fever attack” began when the new year was just an hour old (at least over here). But then I was already taken very good care of in Bumrungrad International Hospital and now I’m quite confident that it was the last one.

The pattern is typical for Malaria. In my case it was only detected 17 days after the first event due to a combination of unfortunate circumstances. After the second event I began seeing doctors (5 visits at 4 different doctors). Three blood tests were performed in 3 different cities. Two were negative for Malaria which is hard to detect off the actual event with the simple methods available in Lao (counting parasites under the microscope). The last one didn’t check Malaria because in the meantime I had developed symptoms typical for Dengue fever (rash, joint pain). And the test was positive for Dengue fever which can only be treated symptomatically and usually takes no longer than a week for a primary infection.

At this point I called the infectious disease, travel and tropical medicine department at the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. Ms. Schreier instantly gave me the mail address and mobile phone number of Dr. Grauer despite the fact that he was not on duty that day and the following one. I photographed my blood test results, typed up my case history, mailed everything to Dr. Grauer and left a voice mail for him. The evening was not over in Luang Prabang (where we had arrived December 26) when he called back. The evidence for Dengue Fever was so compelling that he tended to agree with the diagnosis of his Laotian colleagues. But he was also sure that a second underlying disease was a prerequisite to explain the pattern and duration of the fever - possibly a bacterial infection since Malaria had been ruled out twice. He mailed the international name of an antibiotics which I obtained from the local pharmacy and we both hoped that a week of rest in beautiful Luang Prabang with its mild climate would finally cure me.

When the next event came the following evening, Simon send a mail to Dr. Grauer who called back quickly. The conclusion was that it was time to fly to Bangkok right away. After the decision I already felt better and was ready for a round of calls with my travel health insurance. The next day all flights to Bangkok were completely booked which was kind of fortunate given the fact that we had only slept half the night. Finally on the last day of 2553/2010 we had a smooth 100 minute flight to Bangkok and the same evening Dr. Wadchara, an infectious disease expert at Bumrungrad International, gave me a call in my hospital room and confirmed that I definitely had Malaria and not Dengue fever.

The good news came yesterday morning from Dr. Lily, the physician on my ward. She told me that the parasites were no longer detectable in my blood - despite the fact that they had plenty of time to multiply. Today Dr. Wadchara confirmed they were again below the detection limit. The start of 2554/2011 has been perfect for me: getting better every day - probably won‘t last the whole year round.

I will never forget however that Simon carried the burden of taking perfect care of me for 17 up and down days and 5 dreadful nights - up to the point that he felt ill when we arrived in Bangkok. Fortunately an examination and a reliable blood test confirmed that his symptoms were purely stress-related and that he had neither Malaria nor Dengue fever - which gave him an opportunity to celebrate the new year by hanging out in the Bangkok clubs until 5 in the morning with the gang from the guesthouse http://www.soi1guesthouse.com/ located within two minutes of the hospital.

And I do know how Heidi suffered with me - in particular when she called during the worst event only to find an exhausted son and a husband in delirium. You can tell how she must have felt since she called again at 4 at night (her time) - luckily to find her boys recovering.

My present environment contributes to my well-being. In addition to world-class medical care and benchmark nursing and service, this place - selected by the insurance - resembles more a great hotel than a hospital.

Feel like reaching out? Please view my Thai mobile phone number above. Please consider the 6 hour time difference to Europe and don’t call after 16:00 in Europe (22:00 over here) - before that you‘re welcome anytime. But please don‘t feel obliged to anything. Presently I have got much more time than anyone of you. As an alternative, comments are always appreciated by the authors of this blog.