no.68 - Beaver Feaver

Imagine my surprise when my doctor called to tell me I have Beaver Fever. While this may sound like an unsavory addiction to internet porn, it is, instead, a microscopic parasite that has taken up residence in my body.

It's called Giardia and I don't like it. For five weeks my stomach has felt like it's been filled with restless, gassy chipmunks. There is no fever.

In order to identify what my illness is, I have been prodded and poked (in that order, thank you), blood was taken, I underwent an ultrasound, and I had to assemble "samples" that were sort of like making nine kid-size fudge sundaes for the medical lab.

The only problem with the process is that the life-cycle of Giardia in a healthy adult is about six weeks. It took five weeks to identify because modern health care certainly wouldn't want to do two tests at the same time. So, when my course of antibiotics is complete next week, the Giardia will already be dead of old age.

Bravo health care, bravo.