Malaria Scare

No, I most likely do NOT have malaria. I took Malarone while in Africa. I took precautions (long sleeves and pants, deet, mosquito nets) and only got 6 bites (5 of them in Botswana).

So why did I get tested today for malaria? Well, I got a sore throat Thursday night - bad enough that I thought about cancelling my trip to Berlin with Neue Digitale for an agency party. I did go though since I promised Roanne. We had lots of fun on the 7 hour bus ride there, the boat tour on the Spree and the cookout and party at the Berlin office. We even lucked out and got one of 3 double rooms in the hostel so we didn't have to share dorm rooms with people coming in really late. We did get caught in the rain, which I am sure didn't help my condition. On Saturday morning, we walked around the Ku'damm (main shopping drag where I introduced Roanne to the wonders of Benefit brand make-up) and got a donut at Dunkin' Donuts (we were seriously excited about this as there are none in Frankfurt) before catching a train back to Frankfurt. Saturday evening, Kelly came over and we had dinner downstairs at the Greek restaurant and later Daniel and Chris joined us. My throat wasn't feeling any better, and I started to lose my voice. By the time I went to bed, I was feeling bad - stuffed up and weak.
But once Sunday rolled around, I felt well enough to join Kelly and Daniel for brunch, and Daniel and I finished up the last 2 eps of Prision Break season 1 (great show!!). By evening, it was clear that I was getting worse. I kept waking up with chills and fever all night and this morning, I suddenly remembered something I had read about Malaria in my travel book: "Within a year after travel to a malaria area, if you have flu symptoms, you should get tested for malaria."
I called Daniel at work, had him drive me to my dr. and had my blood drawn for tests. I stayed in bed all day, taking my temperature in 20 min intervals (at one point it was 104 F) and trying to bring the fever down with ice packs. I couldn't concentrate on anything, not even the old Reader's Digest I got from Kelly last week (she's throwing out a lot of stuff in preparation for her move).
Anyway, the Dr. called at 5 pm and said it probably isn't malaria and had me send Daniel to pick up a prescription for antibiotics. And now I feel good enough to write in my blog (forgive me any mistakes that this post may contain).
I should also mention that our dishwasher broke so we are getting a new one delivered this week. It's the one we bought from our neighbors, and is probably a lot older than they say it was.