For those who want TMI (ONLY!)...
So two out of three trips to Indonesia I've gotten giardia - fortunately easily cured with a one-dose shot of antibiotics (although that first time when I thought it was just some normal gastro that I'd get over in a couple of days or less, as had happened in other developing countries, could've been a lot shorter). But this time...
But this time - oh it itches... I think I can pick the exact moment - I was at a bloody conservation centre combined with garden nursery combined with farm, next to a lake which provides a substantial fraction of Jakarta's water. I was wearing thongs/flipflops, it had been raining, I squelched ankle deep into the mud, rinsed my foot off in the nearby (now-that-i-think-of-it-very-warm) puddle. A couple of days later back in Melbs, I had a blister on a toe on my left foot, which I thought was just from shoes rubbing in unseasonably warm and humid Melb weather, but then it was So Itchy. And then more blisters on my left foot. I went to the doctor! Reasonably promptly I thought! the doc instantly diagnosed it as a fungal infection. Ew. He wrote a prescription and dismissed me. Then hives on my legs. May or may not be related to the cream prescribed (think it may have started before I started on the cream/drug although OMG google-diagnosing is so bad, lots of ppl have similar reactions to this cream/drug). More hives and now blisters on my right foot. Argh I ITCH. Hives on all limbs now. Will try to make another appointment tomorrow. Was hoping feet would resolve quickly and I could just tolerate the hives until; things settled...but...I really don't know if it's resolving. I don't think it is (4 days after seeing doc, if was simple should resolve in a week, should be seeing signs by now?)... And am actually supposed to go to Vietnam on Monday. Another tropical country, heat, humidity, obligations to wear long pants and closed shoes and long days of meetings...I don't know if I'll manage...