Greetings to you all from Zambia. Please forgive me for sending out this newsletter a bit late. It has been a rough month for me as I have been down with malaria for most of the month. I had malaria when I wrote the last newsletter and I still had malaria by the time I should have written this newsletter. Praise God, I am doing fine now and I am full of energy.
I wanted to take this opportunity to tell a little bit more about this time I had malaria and the symptoms involved. I had not been feeling well for a few days before, but on April 25th I blacked out in Kitwe and that is when I realized I was quite sick. By this time, I had all the symptoms for malaria: general aching, shoulder pain, dizziness, lethargy, headache, eye pain, waist pain, appetite loss, abnormally low body temperature or fever, large urine production, nausea, vomiting, and my spleen was large and tender. The next day, I started a course of Fansidar. Fansidar is taken all at once and does not start working for 1 or 2 days. Once it does start working, you feel worse than when you did before. It takes everything out of you. Clara, my friend who stays with me, also came down with malaria a couple days later. She also took Fansidar. Neither one of us could get out of bed for long. It is good that we had no appetite because neither of us could cook. We were blessed as God sent friends to help us through our sickness.
Pastor Frazer Encouraged the People to Pray for Me
I usually feel better within 5 days after I take Fansidar, but this time I still felt quite sick. I just thought that I was worn out and would feel better soon. I struggled up until the 17th of May. I went to Kitwe to do some shopping and eat with a friend. As I was eating, I noticed that my heart was racing. I tried to relax, but could not relax much more than what I was. I started getting dizzy. My friend suggested that I should get tested for malaria again because many people were finding that they still had malaria after their first treatment. We went to a clinic in Kitwe where I tested positive for malaria again. I was given Artemether which would work in together with the Fansidar that was still in my body.
At first, the Artemether seemed to have no side effects. I even started feeling better. Then a couple days later, it hit me. I couldn't sleep. My heart was racing almost constantly. I had terrible headaches. After a week, I started feeling better. Clara was also sick again at this time, but she did not still have malaria. It turned out that she has very bad ulcers so she has been taking medicine for them. She is feeling much better now, but is sad that she will no longer be able to have chili peppers, coffee, or Coke.
One day when I was feeling quite sick, the Overcomer Singers from Liberty Baptist Church came to visit me. The Overcomer Singers consist of Leonard Mwale and his wife, Beauty. Also, Evelyn Namuchimba and her niece, Charity. They are a new group which committed themselves to meet 3 times a week to pray for the church. From there, they also started singing specials at church. When they came to visit me, they read the Bible and prayed with me. It was very nice to have their encouragement and to know that people were praying and caring for me.
The Overcomer Singers: Beauty, Charity, Evelyn, and Leonard
On the 26th of May, Clara and I went to do some shopping in Kitwe. We had finished most of our shopping. In fact, we were at the check-out, when I realized that I was feeling very strange. I asked Clara to get the bags because I needed to sit down. I barely made it to a stool before I became sicker than I have ever been in my life. I could not hear or see. My whole body hurt. I felt like I was falling. I was sweating, but Clara says that my skin was very cold. After about 15 minutes, I could hear Clara asking me if she should get a taxi to take us home. I decided that the taxi should take me to a clinic. We went to a nearby clinic, but since it was Saturday, they were not really open to the public. The nurses realized that I was quite sick though so they gave me some juice and had me lay in a cot. I laid there for over 3 hours while they called in someone to give me a blood test. It was found that I still had malaria. They gave me Co-Arinate to take this time. I came home and then did nothing for the next few days.
On the 31st of May, I returned to the clinic for a review. This time, the test came back negative. Since then, my strength has been quickly returning. I want to thank all of you for your prayers at this time. God has been with me during all of this. It has been a blessed time with Him as I could do very little besides commune with Him.
Praise Be To God,
Jennifer