Eduardo N. Cordoví Hernández, a Havana resident, details in his diary how chikungunya struck him with intense pains that prevented even shifting position to sleep. Unable to see a doctor, he faced symptoms like joint inflammation and no high fever, using an improvised thermometer to monitor himself. He shares his daily routine for managing pain amid Cuba's constraints.
In a diary entry published on Havana Times, Eduardo N. Cordoví Hernández recounts his bout with chikungunya, a disease he respects but does not like. The ailment started with sharp pains that immobilized him from the outset, making any doctor visit impossible. "It struck me from the start with pains that didn’t even allow me to change position in order to fall asleep," he writes.
Joint inflammation prevented aspirin use, contraindicated due to similarities with dengue, where risks are deadly. With no thermometers in Havana pharmacies for years, he used a nearly 60-centimeter industrial thermometer. He placed it behind his knee, lighting it with an LED flashlight in his mouth to estimate readings, as it did not hold body temperature. His levels never exceeded 38 degrees Celsius, though others endured fevers above 39 degrees.
In his second week, he could not close his hands or clench fists, and climbed stairs cautiously due to ankle and knee pain. Still, he walked briskly, holding back shoulder, neck, and sternum aches. His routine involved ascending to his workshop in the morning, sitting shirtless in the sun for an hour, and afternoon walks for relief. By seven or eight at night, amid power outages, he went to bed, waking several times from pain until dawn.
Cordoví contrasts his situation with neighborhood friends who faced nighttime diarrhea without electricity, candles, or running water, noting that pain can last over a year per some reports. Living alone in Havana, such shortages worsen the ordeal, though he feels fortunate it was not worse.