An Unplanned "Vacation"

Looking down on Rabat, Morroco's capital city, from the Kasbah of the Udayas.

I never envisioned that I’d get an all-expenses paid trip to Morocco within my first two months of Peace Corps service, but it happened! Here’s what it took:

It should come as no surprise that I experienced an acute case of food poisoning or something like that. I’m definitely not the first in my cohort to succumb and I certainly won’t be the last. But it was unusual in a couple respects. First, the culprit was food I brought from the US! I acquired some dried peanut butter before leaving the states, thinking it would be a convenient protein supplement to bring along. I opened the package to try it out before leaving the US and then left it in my suitcase in my training village for six weeks before reconstituting some to have with my breakfast bread one morning. My troubles started later that day.

The second unusual thing was that the symptoms, which included fever, headache and diarrhea, were accompanied by a few “fainting spells.” They felt like fainting spells to me but bystanders observed me having a seizure. The first one took place at the very outset of the episode and was the most pronounced. I’m told I was out for 30-40 seconds. A few others took place at different times during the next 16 hours, each time while I was standing in place. Fainting and seizures could result from an electrolyte imbalance caused by severe diarrhea. But it’s hard to explain how/why it occurred at the very onset.

I was transported to the medical facility near Banjul (Gambia’s capital) that is “certified” to treat Peace Corps patients. It is a very nice small private clinic with great doctors and nurses and I had a PC staff person staying with me 24/7, per PC policy. They put me on IVs right away to replace fluids but my blood pressure was quite low (as low as 81/50 at one point) and wasn’t responding to the fluids so they started me on three different antibiotics. Things started improving soon after that.

The fever and diarrhea resolved within 48 hours and I felt ready to go back into the field. But Peace Corps was very concerned about the seizures and wanted to do some further testing including an MRI. This equipment does not exist in The Gambia so they needed to fly me to their regional hub in Rabat, Morocco.

Rabat is a beautiful modern city! Much cooler than Gambia, with highs in the hi 60s/low 70s. I spent my first day here giving blood, urine and stool samples, seeing a neurologist and having a brain MRI and EEG done. Everything looked just fine and within 2.5 days of arriving I was fully cleared to return to service. They can’t explain the specific cause of the seizures – perhaps low blood pressure, high fever, bacterial toxins or some combination – but they and I feel confident that there is no reason to expect them to recur. 

From start to finish my “vacation” lasted two weeks – about a week longer than necessary due to scheduling issues and weekends/holidays. I’ve been spending the last four days bumming around Rabat, exploring the city on foot and seeking out good cheap food.

A tasty beef and prune tagine

I’ll be returning to The Gambia late tonight, just in time for our swearing-in ceremony tomorrow (Wednesday, Dec 5). Since I missed the last two weeks of training and have some catching up to do they’ll allow me to “sit” for the swearing-in but I will probably need to wrap up a few assignments before they can officially convert me from a PC Trainee to a PC Volunteer. Details TBD.  

Typical scene in Old Town Medina, Rabat.

Across the river in Sale, looking back on Rabat. 

Fishing boats on the river, looking down toward the mouth.