Having been literally knocked on my back by dengue (what’s that, you ask? Go here for more detail), I am in the process of struggling back up to the surface of reality and some sense of normalcy. While still not out of the woods, I can at least walk across the room now without my muscles and joints exploding in pain, my head feeling like it is going to erupt like Mt. St. Helen, and my heart feeling like it is running in molasses.

Probably the most fun part has been the fever of almost 104° and the attendant “sights.” It is fascinating how you can see things that aren’t there, or, maybe they’re always there and you just can’t see them without a high fever. During the early morning hours all sorts of things were appearing in my bedroom. Dreams? Man oh man, do you get some psychedelic dreams! I had the same little gypsy man coming around each night, all night long, for three nights, making up little boxes especially designed to catch my thoughts. I would have to intensely fight my thoughts to not think them or he would catch them. I’d wake up exhausted just from running from him all night long!

Last night around 4:00 a.m. the fever of three days finally broke, big time. I woke up thinking that I either a) wet the bed or b) had been drenched with a bucket of water. Never had a fever break with such intensity! It actually brought me amazing clarity for about an hour and I just sat there reveling in the feeling.

So, hopefully I’m on the mend.

For your viewing pleasure, if you’d like to see how the mosquito that carries dengue reproduces, check this out. (HINT: it’s in the water!) Though it is in Portuguese and Spanish, I think you’ll get the point 🙂