Today, the doctor pulled a half inch maggot out of my body. It was still wiggling, as he produced it like a trophy, the source of my intense pain for the past 5 days. Oh, so that was the problem, a maggot was growing inside of me, eating me from the inside out. Good to know. And by the way, thank you for the pain medication, which makes me just loopy enough to find this funny, and keep me from vomiting.
The doctor was in a similar frame of mind, and kindly suggested that I might want to keep the maggot, in order to show it to my husband and kids. I agreed that this was a marvelous idea, and after we wrapped the still writhing maggot in gauze, I brought it out to show the family. Joel named her Maggie. After all, she did live with us for a week.
If you are still reading this, you may be wondering how it came to be that I housed a maggot for a week, without knowing that there was an animal growing inside me. The answer is: The Putzi Fly. Now, before today, I had no idea what a Putzi Fly was. After today, I am pretty sure I will never forget.
So, the Putzi Fly likes to lay eggs in damp places, and an ideal place for laying eggs is on laundry that is hung out to dry. We hang all of our clothing outside, and let it dry in the warm Zambian sun. Who needs a dryer in this sunny, beautiful place? Well, the Putzi Fly goes ahead and lays eggs on the damp clothing. And then, when the clothing dries, and we put it on our bodies, the egg hatches and the larvae burrow into the skin. And then, the larvae grows into a nice, big maggot. Like our houseguest, Maggie.
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| Not an image of the actual Maggie, just one of her friends |
The solution appears to be that we must iron all our clothing, including underwear. We don’t even own an iron, so perhaps, this will be an upcoming purchase. In any case, I never thought I would get dressed with as much trepidation as I did today, wondering if any of my nice, clean clothes, might contain Maggie’s little sister.
That is the news for today; thanks for praying for us, and really, I am so grateful to not be in pain anymore!
See, I always say you don't get ANY perspective if you never live outside the sheltering boundaries of America. Even our worst poisonous creatures are not that numerous, rampant, aggressive or DISGUSTING. Africa and Australia can give you a real appreciate for that, as well as South America, I believe. So glad it was only 5 days and I hope you iron the bejeezus, or the eggs!, out of all that laundry! Can you have someone help you with that? That is one heck of an additional household chore (although I imagine no one is going to complain - leave the iron out. I can see Frankie and Johnny fighting over who gets to iron their underwear first :) my goodness. Still loving Lusaka, just taking notes?? lol
ReplyDeleteOh so sorry you had this happen! Yuck. But I do love the name...you won't forget Maggie. :)
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