Delirious with Jerusalem Fever, and flashbacks of Chan Yoo.
Recently my nephew Will in Alabama passed on three items of travel advice about jet lag that he obtained from my late Grandma "Maw" Hester:
I haven't taken any drugs. I haven't found many restaurants that serve large portions of anything besides vegetables, yet.
But you've got to brush your teeth sometime, right?
I fear that I've broken the third rule of Grandma Hester, and tonight has come the reckoning.
I woke up in the middle of the night with a high fever. If you remember from the start of the trip, I had taken several precautions against contracting any serious diseases or virus, by getting a variety of vaccinations from the Palo Alto Medical Clinic's Travel Nurse. While I was there, she had told me to expect possible flu-like symptoms in about 10 days, due to the measles shot that she administered.
Well this is no little sniffy-nose flu -- this is full-blown Jerusalem Fever. I don't know if there really is anything called "Jerusalem Fever" -- but if there is, I've sure got it, and if there isn't, there ought to be.
My symptoms are as follows:
In my delirium, I had some unusual thoughts, not suitable for those with weak stomachs. If you're interested, take a sidetour to my musings on fever.
The only other time I remember being this sick was during my freshman year in college. I had joined the rowing team, and our practices took place early every morning on the cold Charles River, which runs between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Practices continue on the water until chunks of ice start to appear in the winter. After living for years in balmy South Carolina, a few weeks of hard training in that cold damp environment weakened my resistance, and I caught mono.
I was living in a fraternity in the Back Bay area of Boston, and since mono is a highly contagious thing, I was quarantined to a dinky little guest room on the top floor of the 5 story brownstone. I barely had enough energy to sit up, and I don't know what I would have done if not for the help of my "big brother", Chan Yoo. Chan took complete care of me, bringing assignments from school, and food since I couldn't eat with the others. He even did the dishes, which actually put him at risk of catching my illness.
When I recovered after two weeks, he would accept no repayment except my thanks, and asked instead that I pass along the favor when I met someone that needed the same.
I wonder where he is nowadays.
If this fever continues, I think I'll go to a hospital in the morning. Otherwise I think my brain will cook.
I wonder if my Blue Cross Card works here?
Lying awake at 4AM I heard a a distant explosion. It was very deep and resonant. Then I heard another one, about 6 seconds later. I don't know what it was.