Leukemia or Typhoid?

The doctor just called with the test results.

Since October 24th we have had this gy-normous question hanging over our heads:
                Does Jeff have leukemia or some other sort of blood cancer?
                Or . . . Did he merely have typhoid fever?

We got our wish!!  It was TYPHOID !!

His leukocytes and other blood numbers are now back to normal - PLUS the Ecuadorian doctor even did the test for typhoid fever but he apparently didn't notice the positive result.  He just told us to see a hematologist ASAP, that leukemia can progress quickly.

So at 2pm on that memorable day in Otavalo, Ecuador I immediately went to an internet cafe and began researching possible causes of his abnormal lab results.

In the meantime Jeff was in our hostel room, doing his best to connect to the airlines on Skype to see about flying back home immediately.

What I found in the course of my jet-speed research was that his symptoms directly matched the first week of typhoid fever.

What I had to get my brain wrapped around was this:  He didn't have ANY intestinal symptoms at all, and I've always thought that typhoid was an intestinal disease.  Yes, it does involve massive and even fatal intestinal symptoms - but NOT until after the first week of infection.  

By my calculations, Jeff was in his 4th day of high fever, severe headache and fatigue.  My research sources told me that many people don't have intestinal issues at this point of infection, while others may.

Everything fit together.  But if we were to run off to find a hematologist, it would be many more days or even weeks before getting treated (for the wrong disease), during which time the typhoid fever would progress into the life threatening stages.

So I ran upstairs at the hostel, convinced Jeff to get off of Skype, and explained my new theory of his condition.  We researched cures for typhoid, left the hostel to go to a pharmacy, and purchased the agreed-upon antibiotic AND lots more Tylenol for the fever.

By 4pm the same day as he'd seen the doctor and had the lab work done, he took his first dose of antibiotic.

Though he actually felt somewhat better the next day, it took well over a week for the fever to finally stop.  And we haven't known how his white and red blood cell counts have been doing after taking the antibiotic - until this morning.

We voted for TYPHOID!  And thank God, we won.

(Please do not attempt to do this trick in your own home.)

Now we can again finally enter the planning phase for our future life in Colombia.
Stay tuned for The Escape.

Loja High

(Loja is the name of Ecuador's southern state and it's capital city)

Directly behind us in the bus we heard laughing and rapid, loud talk - quite unusual behavior here.  Amidst a stream of garbled Spanish came the word "coca" several times.

Then a little pharmaceutical bottle about 3" high was passed from behind us to the man across the isle.  He opened the bottle, sniffed the ingredients several times, chuckled, nodded affirmatively and passed it back.

Curious about what was really happening, Jeff propped himself up to peer back and saw what appeared to be a daypack stuffed with coca leaves.  

Later when the group exited the bus we saw one man had 30-40 of the little bottles, 2 sizes, stacked up in a clear plastic bag for display as he walked down streets hawking his wares.  And there was the other man with the daypack that appeared to be full of coca leaves.

After we arrived in Cuenca we were eating dinner when we began talking with the man next to us.  We learned that he is a lawyer who used to be a prosecuting attorney in Ecuador, prosecuting those accused of money laundering and drug sales.  He only did this for a year and a half because of threats on his life.  This gentleman explained to us that there is a LOT of drug trafficing in the southern state of Loja, Ecuador.

And that´s where Vilcabamba´s located - where tons of tourists collect - way too many tourists, actually.  So Mr. Ecuadorian Lawyer, is there any connection between the tourists hanging out there and the availability of drugs?

Yes, but not just tourists; Ecuadorians too, according to him.

For real?  That explains a lot.  
Adios Loja.  Heading on.

Starr