So many bugs, so little time

Now that I am living back in Canada and have regular email access, I can't seem to post any blog entries. Hmmm. Time seems to go by at warp speed here, unlike in India where weeks can seem like months (and vice versa at times). Coming back to the western world, living in Heather's spare room for 2 weeks, moving into a new home, and getting to know a new roommate took a lot more energy than I had been counting on. Seems like I just managed to pull it together enough to do what needed to be done for the two classes I am TAing: Land Food and Community III and Nutrition Education in the Community. That's been really fun, but a steep learning curve and pretty time consuming, especially the first time around.

Still, TAing 2 courses, which can be expected to take more than the 15 hours per week I'm getting paid for, shouldn't be a full time job. So why was I so exhausted and not even able to think about my thesis? I couldn't still have jetlag after a month, could I? And fatigue, as it turns out, is even more tiring when you are struck with waves of nausea every couple of hours combined with the occasional bit of vomiting. Memories of eating and drinking questionable foods and walking barefoot in the jungle sent me to the doctor for a checkup.

After spending a fun Saturday morning mixing my poo in little vials containing formaldehyde, I learned that my body was riddled with parasites. Not just one kind, but three little critters had been sqatting in my body for who knows how long. I was the proud host to Giardia lamblia,

Entamoeba histolytica (you may have heard of amoebic dysentary?),

and my personal favourite, Blastocystis hominis.


so it's amazing I was walking around at all.

On the up side, I got some Flagil, a nasty drug that turned the skin on my face to leather and made me itch all over, I started to feel better just in time to go to Paris. I think I've said a final goodbye to my unwanted guests, but will get the confirmation in a week or so. Hopefully I can stop feeding the parasites and start feeding my brain so I can finally get some writing done!