Mistaken Identity

When you are a Peace corps volunteer, you often prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario & work backwards from there so that when the situation isn't as bad as you imagine, you feel better.  This happened to me today.
In the tropics worms/parasites and other strange things are relatively common.  The Ministry of Health periodically gives out Filariasis tablets to kill whatever is inside of you.  One of the ladies I work with had been suggesting that I take the pills because of the number of mosquito bites I get during the day.  These mosquitoes can carry dengue or elephantiasis & I didn't want that to happen.
I took the pills Friday night before I went to bed & didn't think about it again.  Sunday I went to the bathroom and found this thing wiggling around:

I immediately starting saying "oh no, oh no!" and ran for my phone to call the Peace Corps doctors.  I am so thankful that we have doctors who we can call at any time.  She told me to scoop it out, send her some pictures & then freeze it to send to her in a few days.  So I did all of that, and of course posted it to facebook because its a hilarious freak of nature.

The whole night I was looking up pictures and signs and symptoms of having worms or parasites.  google images can be a dangerous thing. I started tricking myself into thinking it may be true, looking at the symptoms & correlating it to things I have experienced recently (all in my head).  I'm pretty sure there is some DSM-IV diagnosis for this...

This morning I woke up with stomach pains and feeling pretty sick.  So I call the doctor & she sends me to the hospital.  I imagined I had this HUGE worm inside of me & then again went through worst case scenario...I wouldn't be able to touch anyone or anything & my sister would ban me from the wedding when I go home in a few weeks, they would have to cut out this huge thing out & I would be a Peace Corps freak show!

I took my alien with me to be examined.  Just before the doc was going to take a stool sample, I took the thing to microbiology, they told me that it was not a worm of any kind - it was a GECKO TAIL!!

There was probably a gecko on the ceiling of my bathroom & the tail dropped down just as I was about to flush. I can't stop laughing!!!  The peace corps doc was preparing to send me to NZ if we couldn't figure it out. I am very thankful for the fast-action doctors here & their good sense of humor. Man, that would've been an awkward stool sample!

Thankfully I am fine, just a little embarrassed!

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