Bacteria
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| Looking down to Robin Hood's Bay from Scott's mum's B&B |
Back in Mossley again, but only for two nights. I flew back from Guinea last Saturday... via Monrovia. I mean seriously, Monrovia?! It sounds like something out of a b-grade vampire movie. The earlier flight from Conakry to Monrovia (actually the capital of Liberia) had made it all the way there, had some problem with the landing gear or something and then... wait for it... decided that the ground crew at Conakry was better than at Monrovia and so turned back. I’ve been one year in Guinea now; somewhere can actually be worse than Guinea, really? Really truly???
So our flight to Paris took a detour to drop the somewhat irate passengers off, hence missed flight to Manchester and didn’t get home to Mossley until about 12 hours later than normal. No big deal though.
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| Walking along the cliff from Robin Hood's Bay to Whitby |
This rotation I took what I think was my 6th dose of antibiotics since I first went out there. The first was for a gastro condition, which while extremely unpleasant did have some excellent weight loss side effects. The next two were for a horror ear infection combined with the worst flu I have ever had. My entire sinus cavity was full from top to bottom and goo was oozing out of every orifice – gross! I picked up some good future prevention tips there – always take the drugs to clear your nose because the infection afterwards is most painful.
The next 3 were because of a skin infection. One weekend in Conakry I went out to the islands, which were lovely and normally no problem. That far away from the city the Atlantic is clean again. However once I went for a walk and went swimming and noticed that the water didn’t seem as clean as normal.
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| Old whalebones at the bay in Whitby |
Over the next few days every little cut or pimple or dry patch or blister turned septic. One in particular on my arm was horrendous and the swelling went from above my elbow down to my wrist. It was very painful, but being in Conakry I waited until I got home... I got off the plane at Manchester, caught the train to Manchester Piccadilly, another to Stalybridge, change for Mossley, and then walked across the road from the train station and into the doctor’s clinic with my suitcase still.
I asked the receptionist if I could see a doctor. She said sorry, no space available today. I rolled up my sleeve and said I’d just come from West Africa... she gasped and said we’ll get you an emergency appointment in the next 10 minutes. J
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| Watching Dumfermline "the Pars" win their last match in the second division and be promoted |
So, antibiotics again. They cleared up the problem nicely. However a few rotations later... exactly the same thing, this time on my elbow. I was in Conakry again so I sent an email to the doctor at Canga asking if there was some sort of cream or something I could get. He took one look at the (admittedly ugly) photo and said get ye to the clinic for more antibiotics. *Sigh*.
This time they took a sample and grew some bacteria in a culture dish.... so when it happened for the third time the Canga doctor was able to give me the right sort of antibiotics. Because it wasn’t just any kind of bacteria, it was MRSA, also known in England as a superbug that randomly kills hospital patients. So this led to me spending a lot of time in the clinic, getting the nasty big lump (bigger than my hand) cleaned out, a daily intramuscular injection and a twice daily drip.
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| Amazing science and arts centre in Valencia |
The funny part of all this was that this time the lump was on my arse, so the doctor and nurses, who are friends in the tiny Canga village that I have dinner with often, now know me a bit better than I’d like!
The photos by the way are all my my last break - a few days in Whitby, watching football in Scotland then off to Valencia. Today I'm off to Lanzarote on the way to Paris through back to Guinea. It's a tough life!
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| Lots of good things to eat at the Valencia market |
