16-02-2010
Chère Mémé et Pépé,
Comment ça va ?
Je voulais vous dire que j’avais vu le spécialiste des maladies tropicales.
Il été très serviable. Il m’a dit que mes symptômes ne sont pas assez
développés, alors avec seulement une petite fièvre le soir, c’est difficile
de détecter quelle sorte de maladie je peux avoir. C’est un peu inutile à
cette étape de faire plusieurs examens. Mais ça explique un peu pourquoi le
dernier examen que j’avais fait pour la malaria, était totalement négatif.
Il m’a dit que si un jour je recommence à avoir une grosse fièvre, avec les
mêmes symptômes comme avant, de revenir le voir et de refaire tous les
examens.
Pour le moment, il pense que j’ai toujours la malaria ovale, et que c’est ça
dans mon foie qui continue à me donner de petites fièvres, mais qui ne sont
pas détectables dans les examens de sang. Je n’ai pas de symptôme de
typhoide et il n’est pas sûr que j’ai eu la typhoide avant, ça peut être une
des erreurs des laboratoires congolais. Il y a un médicament spécial pour
éliminer la malaria ovale, qui est plus facile de trouver au Congo, alors
mes parents vont le faire envoyer pour moi avec un collègue, qui vient en
Afrique du Sud dans deux semaines. Je vais d’abord faire un examen de sang
pour voir seulement que je ne suis pas allergique à ce médicament. Si tout
va bien, cette longue histoire devrait être bientôt terminée !
Bisous,
Natalie
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| My parents and Stephy came for a visit |
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| Mari |
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| Pretoria sunset |
My mom came and took me back to the specialist of tropical disease, as I continued to have daily fevers. First he ordered this medicine to totally rid my liver of the malaria, which took 6 weeks to reach. Then as I continued to feel weak, he concluded I must have parasites, and prescribed two different kinds of medication. My mom also had me do a liver detox. I started to feel much better afterwards, slowly but surely. Then, just as i was scheduled to take my SATs, guess what happened? Someone came to visit who happened to have measles. I went right away to get a shot against it, but I still came down with it. I was devastated.
The good news is... well, let me just post the article i wrote about this whole ordeal...
Measles.
Of all the things that could sabotage the big day of the SATs, I’ll bet
coming down with this childhood illness just days before the test doesn’t
commonly appear on survey lists or in test prep books. While practically
eradicated in America and Europe, measles is still rampant in South Africa,
spread by many who have never been vaccinated. A “many” which I unfortunately
happened to be a part of.
It seemed bitterly unfair. I wanted to blame everyone and everything.
Why wasn’t I vaccinated as a child? Why now? Why me? I had just come out of a
long sickness that had claimed many other opportunities time and time again.
Now I was doomed to see all my hard work of re-learning forgotten algebra,
memorizing vocabulary words, and drilling myself with practice tests at 7:00 AM
expended for nothing.
Yet, there was nothing for it. While half squinting my eyes to shut out
the light, I phoned and postponed my exam. The worst part I knew was that by
not testing on my original date, my SAT scores wouldn’t make the universities
deadlines which I had applied for. Without my SAT scores, it meant my
applications were also cancelled. Which meant college was postponed for…another
year.
Friends sympathized with me. Undoubtedly, I had the worst luck in the
world. Someone sarcastically joked about “an invisible force, existing in
another realm, attempting to derail my happiness, but take heart, as it’s all
for my own good—“obviously”. No matter how right they seemed under the
circumstances, the joke was that it did play out for the best.
Once I recovered, I realized that I now had an extra month to prepare
for the exam. During that time I improved my practice tests score by nearly 100
points each. I know my math scores definitely improved. My practice essays went
from a 5 to a perfect 6. I passed my SATs with a combined score of 2100, the
exact score I had been aiming for, but had thought I was unlikely to get.
Reapplying made me realize ways to improve my applications. There were
things I had included in my portfolio that were dated, and didn’t show me at my
best, I realize now. I think having those applications go through after all
would have been disastrous, I might not have gotten in, which would have
demoralized me a lot more than postponing did. I have more confidence now as I finalize
my applications for next year. It also helped me broaden my horizons. I’m now
spending my year studying art in France. A new path opened from the one
that seemed irreparably blocked.
Last but not least, I also gained a story to tell. Thank you for reading
it.
--Natalie Volpe
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| My SATs score report |
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