In over a collective 3 years of living in India, I’ve only heard about malaria and dengue. They seemed like these far flung diseases that only someone traversing through the jungles of India could ever contract. I knew of people who had dengue, but never personally witnessed it.
All of that changed when I needed to do the most traveling in the year. In November 2019, I was to travel in Rajasthan for a few work days before departing for a work meeting China. The China trip would be rounded out with some personal travel to Chengdu. I was beyond excited to see some Giant Pandas! I had been to China before during a summer study abroad program in university. It had been over four years since I went back. I was excited to practice my Mandarin and eat some really good Chinese food.
Then, the early morning before departing for Rajasthan, I came down with a pretty bad fever. Sometimes this happened when I had to travel for work. After a day of rest, I usually felt much better. However, this fever stayed on for a few days. I continued to sleep when I could between the 3-4 hour drives in between sites and took ibuprofen to keep the fever down. Then I had a full day in Delhi before departing for China that night at 8pm.
I decided to make a visit to the doctor. Upon describing my symptoms, the doctor scolded me harshly for even taking ibuprofen to keep a fever down. If it had been dengue, ibuprofen can really lower the blood count. It couldn’t have been dengue. I heard about dengue- chills, body aches, and having to be hospitalized. I took some blood tests that would let me know if there was anything wrong an hour before my flight departed.
That night, I sat down in my plane seat and received a message: Blood tests for dengue- positive.
I was on my way to China with dengue, but that’s all I really knew. After a few quick calls with people, I knew I needed to keep the fluids up and rest as much as possible. If anything was needed, then I would have a whole group of people who deal with medical issues in China as part of their job.
The fever kept coming back and all I could do was weather the storm until I arrived in China.
We arrived in China and all I did that day was sleep and drink a combination of water and orange juice. I had to miss the first optional group dinner. If I kept resting that day I thought, I could make it for the different sessions I wanted to attend.
The next morning, I realized I wasn’t getting much better. While the fever was starting to break, I was nauseous. After puking a few times, I knew that this needed more medical attention. I talked with a few of the local Shanghai staff and before I knew it, I was on my way to the only hospital in Shanghai that was legally able to treat dengue. This was almost two hours away from the hotel.
I have never been admitted into the hospital overnight since I started working abroad. I was worried that they would keep me in the hospital. The big thing I wanted to know was how my blood count was. It had been over 5 days since the fever started and I felt the fever break when I got there.
I was admitted for only one day after strongly suggesting that I return to India.
Waking up that morning, I realized I was waking up in my hospital bed on my birthday. Obviously this was not the birthday I had planned. All I wanted was to have some good Chinese food, learn from colleagues working around Asia, and then travel to Chengdu for some fun.
That was the plan. The plan had changed.
After I was discharged from the hospital, I was driven back to the hotel with the help of a local Chinese buddy, changed my flight, and began to pack. I rested as much as I could before my early flight back to India. This would include an eight hour layover in Bangkok. (I had all this time in Bangkok, and could do nothing but wait and rest.
Thankfully, I made it back to Delhi and was able to take time off to rest and recover. Dengue is no joke. After hearing others’ experiences with dengue, I’m lucky that I was able to do all the traveling and work that I did without having serious medical repercussions. Remember to always wear bug spray and cover your body if possible!
Being sick with traveling really put a wrench in my plans and I have yet to see any pandas. Thanks to the current pandemic, who knows when I’ll be abroad again. However, I am grateful to all the support and help I received through the entire process and that I am in good health. My hopes for you all is that you never have to be sick when traveling- especially with Dengue!