Live the same

This is probably a long story with a few other stories intertwined. It all started when a friend called me out of the blue and for some reason started asking about my blood type. When he found out, he simply said, “I’m going to pick you up, I need your help.”

I was off work that day, and while it all seemed a little weird, I didn’t argue. Pretty soon, he showed up with another guy, and we hopped in his old Chrysler Sebring convertible and drove off — to somewhere. Turns out, we were headed to Santo Domingo because his friend was in the ICU and needed a specific blood type — the same one that the guy and I had.

I didn’t find out why the guy was in the ICU until a few days later… and I didn’t find out what we were doing or where we were going until halfway there. The thing is, I already had malaria, which meant my blood couldn't be used for transfusion. But we were already on the way, and anyway, blood is checked before transfusion.

I've been asked about my malaria experience, so I'll digress. By the time I got malaria, I'd been in hospital twice with other tropical fevers, and honestly, they all (including malaria) felt the same - fever over 40°C, weakness, dizziness, occasional vomiting, and general pain everywhere

So when I was back in hospital with the same symptoms, I thought, "Oh well, another day or two and they'll let me go." But this time, they said, "Don't worry, we'll do a full blood transfusion." Don't worry... A FULL blood transfusion... hahaha.

In the end, they didn't do the transfusion - I have no idea why. No one at the hospital could explain anything properly in English. I spent four days on IVs, getting shots, and some guy would come over and give me pills and watch me take them to make sure I took them.

And that's pretty much it. Oh, and they also told me I was the first white guy to get malaria there in six years. Hahaha. Lucky me! What an accomplishment. 😆

500 $DEGEN very interesting, like it 👍