Passport in hand!

So happy - the "mail-lady" (her words, when she called to check I was home) just brought me my passport back. Woo hoo! When I sent it in for my Ghana visa (all visas are glued into the passport, making it necessary to mail it away, making me so nervous), I expressed my concern that their 3-month visa wasn't long enough for me, so could they please make it a year?

Instead, they made it for three years! Woo hoo! I love the Ghanaians today. They gave me a B-2 visa ... I don't know what that means, but according to their webpage, it looks like an "official" visa instead of a tourist visa. I'm official? That's entertaining. I hope the disease-carrying mosquitos recognize my official status and keep their blood-sucking away from my vicinity. Chris, who leaves for India next week (woo hoo for him!), was telling me of an acquaintance who went to Guinea, quite near Ghana, and died quickly of malaria. Yes, I have anti-malarial medication which I will take according to directions, but I hear the West African mosquitos are particularly dangerous.

Ah crap. I just looked up my malarial medication - doxycycline - it's an antibiotic, which I always have reactions to ... crap. This sucks. "Side effects of doxycycline therapy include photosensitivity (which necessitates the wearing of hats and sunscreen preparations), nausea, esophagitis and monilial vaginitis. With care, most of these side effects can be minimized. Consequently, the daily doxycycline regimen, although cumbersome, is still feasible. Doxycycline therapy is contraindicated in pregnant women and children less than nine years old."

I guess it's still better than death. Or, I remember in college seeing my friend Deanna with a recurrence of malaria - very nasty stuff.