Matacenha

I never thought I would be more grossed out than I was when I found a leech on my foot while showering. This happened a little over ten years ago and I still remember it clearly. However, a few weeks ago I had found something even worse than a leech on my toe...

During my trip in Malawi I noticed a small bump on the bottom of my big toe. I joked with my friends that it was probably a parasite (they didn't find that funny). I thought maybe it was a small wart or bug bite and didn't think anything of it the rest of the trip. A week after I got back it had gotten bigger and now had a small brown dot in the middle of the bump. I figured it was probably time to call PCMO and figure out what I should do.

When I emailed them the pictures I figured it was probably some infection or a wart. I was not expecting to hear that they thought it was a worm that had gotten in my toe somehow and had burrowed in there. That night I felt truly disgusted and grossed out. My toe itched and I was nervous to put my foot on my bed thinking the worm might magically come out.

The next morning I went to the local health center to have a nurse look at it (our health center doesn't have any doctors) and talk to my PCMO doctor. Sure enough they were correct...I had Matacenha, a worm, in there and it had laid eggs. They had to dig it out of my toe and get all the eggs out. While the nurse was getting my worm out one of my colleagues at the school came in and decided to sit and watch the whole thing. It was pretty embarrassing. I left the hospital with a hole in my toe where the worm had burrowed itself and some anti-parasitic medicine to take for the next few days. When I got home I made sure to put on socks and shoes instead of the sandals and flip flops I had been wearing.

The next day my toe was sore but what was worse was that everyone knew about it. The priest and nuns at my school, the teachers at the primary school, and some of my students and colleagues. They got a good laugh out of the worm in my foot and they still are laughing now when I wear socks and shoes everyday even weeks later. I do not want to relive that experience so I think I'll just continue to wear shoes instead of sandals for the next 3 months. I think I'll remember this more than the leech.

At least now I'm worm free...or so I hope.