Malaria and Snake Season

Someone recently commented "How soon until 2026?" A mere two months into 2025 and we certainly feel like we've had enough "adventure" to fill an entire year. 

This was going to just be a story of a valiant dog killing a nasty snake, but I felt I had to backtrack. 'Cause one story always reminds me of another and life is all connected like that.

In early February, I came down with malaria. I did the usual presumptive treatment at home with Coartem (a course of 3 days of pills) but by the last dose, nothing had changed. I still had a stubborn fever that maximum dose of Tylenol (paracetamol) would hardly budge, plus accompanying aches, chills, headache etc. Shannon had JUST had malaria as well and her fever only broke after the last dose of Coartem. There's usually a more brisk response, so I knew we were dealing with resistant malaria which has increasingly become more common.

Dwight took me to our friend's clinic (he's a doctor) in Chimoio and the malaria test (smear) was positive for Falciparum malaria. The nastiest strain and most common by far here. I was admitted for intravenous treatment with the current gold standard, Artesunate. The place was lovely and the care was good, but two days later the parasite count had hardly budged, my blood count had taken a knock, and fever only broke for brief periods then shot back up. The doctor was optimistic "In a few days, the malaria test will be clear. You need an extended course. We see this quite often."

Well, after three days and two nights away from home, I decided to go home and continue administering my own IV Artesunate. I am a nurse after all and have done it for others to reduce medical costs. We did reach out to our nurse and doctor friends in South Africa for their advice. 

A shot of my room to satisfy my worried daughter.

So off we went home with our stash of injectable meds. 

3 ampules for 1 dose intravenously once a day.
First mix liquid bicarb into the powder then dilute and inject, slowly.

I was also coughing quite a bit (common with malaria) but had a nebulizer and the needed meds which helped. But I was admittedly feeling pretty rough so with the encouragement from family and friends, decided to head to South Africa for medical follow up. 

It took us more than 12 hours to drive/fly to our destination in South Africa---exhausting for us both! We are forever grateful for our haven there; Roger and Katy's place complete with a vehicle that they graciously always make accessible to us. The Lord has placed many angels of mercy in our lives!

On arrival blood tests showed malaria was clear but liver enzymes were elevated, likely partly due to malaria, partly due to my reaction to Artesunate. A chest xray revealed I also had pneumonia so I was put on treatment for that! 

As things turned out, Ron and Barb Wayner (founders of Mercy Air) were in South Africa on a visit. They have been close friends for over 30 years so we had a few chances to get together with "the old gang"! 

I was still getting chills and muscle aches at this point but being together was priceless.
(John, Anne, Barb, Ron and us). 

Since my recovery extended into a 2 week stay down south, we joined Ron and Barb on a 3 day visit to Kruger Park. There are golden moments in life one must seize. This was one of those.

On about day 4 in South Africa and many days of feeling like garbage, on follow up appointment my Dr agreed I wasn't looking so great even though labs and vital signs were fine. So I got a Vitamin B infusion and a chocolate bar while Dwight carried on with our planned lunch date with friends. I did walk out feeling better and steadier on my feet.

We had booked to return to Moz in 2 weeks and by then my liver enzymes were trending remarkably well toward normal levels, so I had the "ok" to return. On malaria prophylaxis of course. I was still feeling a lot of fatigue so returned with the plan to still rest as much as possible and do low key work as I could tolerate. 

The day after we returned home, while I was having my needed daily rest in bed, I heard a huge commotion in the yard. Dwight was shouting to our dog, "Come Ruger! No...leave it! Come! etc" It didn't sound the normal case of Ruger being on the loose and not obeying, so I got up to see what was up. Turns out Ruger decided to take out a large Mozambique Spitting Cobra that was cruising through our yard (species confirmed by African Snakebite Institute). These snakes are nasty...first they spit venom with deadly accuracy into the eyes of any assailant, then as a last resort, will bite. Their venom causes local swelling, pain, tissue and organ damage and has some neurotoxic effects. 

Here's Ruger, immediately after executing his a-bit-too-daring deed, feeling the effects of a bite we didn't notice until the swelling started hours later. (Guess he could have used that bootcamp training.)

We rinsed his eyes immediately but his cheek only swelled 3 hours later. So that confirmed he'd been bitten. Until he swelled, we wondered how he'd managed not to get bitten. Obviously he didn't. Snakes are faster than most dogs. 

Here's Ruger's victim who made the poor life choice that day of venturing through our yard:

When Ruger was done snapping its neck and shaking it, he wanted to bring it onto the veranda. Dwight and Mario stopped him and made sure the snake was dead. 

1.2+ meters long

The last thing I felt I needed was a sick dog to deal with! There was no antivenin on hand at the nearest clinic that may have sold us some, so with guidance from our friend who is a Brazilian vet, we monitored and managed his symptoms at home. His first few days were rough, he quit eating and drinking so we gave Normal Saline subcutaneously each day. It takes time to flush all the toxins out of the body. It's a good thing he's a huge dog.

We are now on day 6 post snake bite and though he's lethargic, it looks like he may pull through. Yesterday he wanted to walk with us (we made it super short) and he ate.

Oh, and I should add that last night, Belle got into our compost heap and ate some used coffee grounds, raw green beans, lettuce and goodness knows what else. Turns out coffee grounds are toxic to dogs, worse than chocolate. Thankfully what had gone down didn't stay down but we gave her some activated charcoal mixed with water anyway. If you ever want to experience the messiest job ever, try giving a dog activated charcoal. Black liquid ends up down their throat but everywhere else they drool and shake too!

Ruger and Belle (our other Boerboel) on "their" veranda. She also got spat in one eye but was more cautious during the attack and stayed by the snake's tail so wasn't bitten.

 

I feel like I rounded a bit of a corner yesterday and got more wind in my sails after my malaria/pneumonia/drug reaction whammy. Thank you all for your prayers on my behalf. It's good to have a bit more energy and feel more normal again, and just in time for the weekend. It's a beautiful day and I'm doing the best to savour the moments--in between nursing Mr. Snakebite that is.