Today I learnt how foolish it is to ignore the good advice of my friend Laura. “Anne” she said, “don’t forget your flip flops, and never walk around in bare feet.”
In the middle of the night, my sister got out of bed to go to the toilet, so I thought I might as well go as well, as I knew I wouldn’t be disturbing her. I walked over to the door in the dark, and felt something wet under my foot, and a sharp sting on my heel. On with the light, and there was the culprit – a little scorpion, only about an inch long. My first reaction, slightly to my shame, was to beat the little creature to death with my sister’s shoe. Then Mari and I were looking at each other, wondering whether or not to panic. A quick analysis of the damage; nothing much to be seen, and a feeling rather like a bee sting. It didn’t seem too bad. Mari suggested I take an anti-histamine, which I did, and we waited a few moments to see if I swelled up or not. I didn’t, so we decided the best thing was just to go back to bed.
I lay in the dark, wondering how worried I should be, and occasionally checking my leg to see if had swollen up or not. As it didn’t, I put into practice my recent stress and worry course, did some deep breathing, and went back to sleep.
When I woke up at 6.30, my foot still looked normal, but the tingling, tender feeling had moved up my leg to about half way up my calf. I also felt a bit queasy, and had a rather upset stomach. I wasn’t sure if this was to do with the scorpion, or something I had eaten. I managed a bit of breakfast, and we set off in the back of Brian’s landrover to assembly. By the time we arrived I was feeling distinctly green about the gills, but determined not to miss my big moment of introducing myself to 200 people in Chichewa – I had been planning this for weeks!
Luckily our introductions came early on in the assembly, and I was able to introduce myself, and say “I am Marian’s sister” which brought me a round of applause. I wasn’t in the best state to appreciate it, and about 5 minutes later had to run to the toilet to be sick!
After assembly, as I was rather shaky, and still nauseous, we decided it would be best to visit a doctor, just to check there was nothing to worry too much about. Mari knew of a GP nearby, so she carried out a complicated negotiation for a vehicle (trip to doctor trumps reporting lost driving licence to the police, or visiting a school) and we drove halfway into Blantyre. The doctor’s surgery could have been anywhere in the world; rows of chairs with people looking a bit miserable, and a TV on the wall that no-one was really watching. We were handed a yellow piece of card with a number on it and waited our turn. Actually, it didn’t take too long.
The doctor was an Indian woman who looked at my foot, listened to my story and commented that “you people are not used to these insects”. She told me the vomiting was connected to the scorpion poison, and I should take more anti-histamine, and drink lots of fluids. She also commented, reassuringly, that the thing you had to watch out for with scorpion bites was if people started foaming at the mouth and choking! It seems I had a lucky escape.
After the doctors, Lin and Mari took me home and I spent the rest of the day in bed, just waking up every hour or so for another drink. The only person I saw was Ida, the maid, who popped in to do a bit of cleaning. I lay there listening to all the different birds, people shouting across the valley, and two maids (who probably didn’t know I was there) sitting on the step under my window talking and laughing. I didn’t understand anything they were saying, but it was strangely comforting.
Lin and Mari came home about 4.30 and we had more tea, and some popcorn. By this time I had also managed to eat some toast and honey, without any ill effects. I went down to dinner at the big house, but only managed a tiny bit of rice and had to head back up the hill to bed. Mari and Lin kept me company, and I fell asleep as they were chatting, and woke up at about 10 o’clock feeling much better.
From now on, I’m wearing my shoes all the time – even in bed!
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