We finally left Sani Lodge after waiting for the heavy rainfall to end! We spent some time at The Grind for breakfast and internet, when Sami realized he may have a tick-related disease. Sami found a tick in his nether regions during our stay in St Lucia. It was likely a former passenger of our mangy dog-friend Nicholson! He didn't think anything of it and simply pulled it off. It wasn't until almost a week later that he suffered from bad headaches, back and neck pain, sore throat, fever, chills, swollen glands, and an enlarged upper groin area (which would have looked quite impressive at the beach!).
It wasn't until now that Sami realized all these symptoms could be connected to his tick. We went to a nearby clinic and quickly found out Sami has Tick-Bite Fever and would need to take daily anti-biotics and pain relievers! It turns out that ticks can really mess you up, so beware - about half of all ticks are infected with this disease (at least in this region). The incubation period is 7-10 days, so you won't know if you are sick until long after the bite, but the surest sign is the enlargement of the nearest lymphatic glands to the bite. The good news is, the doctor says only a few people actually die from it... It is quite curable, and takes only a few days of medication.
Anyways, with Sami out of commission and the bad weather (unable to camp out!), we opted to skip our trip through Lesotho.Instead, we decided to drive down to the South Coast.
Gen became so frustrated with the driving that she nearly killed us when she steered off the road to let someone else overtake us!
It wasn't until now that Sami realized all these symptoms could be connected to his tick. We went to a nearby clinic and quickly found out Sami has Tick-Bite Fever and would need to take daily anti-biotics and pain relievers! It turns out that ticks can really mess you up, so beware - about half of all ticks are infected with this disease (at least in this region). The incubation period is 7-10 days, so you won't know if you are sick until long after the bite, but the surest sign is the enlargement of the nearest lymphatic glands to the bite. The good news is, the doctor says only a few people actually die from it... It is quite curable, and takes only a few days of medication.
Anyways, with Sami out of commission and the bad weather (unable to camp out!), we opted to skip our trip through Lesotho.Instead, we decided to drive down to the South Coast.
Gen became so frustrated with the driving that she nearly killed us when she steered off the road to let someone else overtake us!
Needless to say, it was time to switch drivers, and appease Gen's demons with some Nando's peri-peri chicken. It works every time. :)
We stayed at Irie Lodge, which had a beautiful deck and view of the Indian Ocean.
No comments:
Post a Comment