Travel used to be such a significant part of my job. I consider myself very fortunate to have experienced so many places and cultures around the globe.
Christine and I have a running joke. Most people think travel is champagne wishes and caviar dreams and oh so glamourous. We always say “GLAMOUR” to each other when we are on the road and have a super glamourous moment with delayed flights, crammed buses, a taxi driver getting us lost in Paris, awake for 35 hours straight…just to name a few.
This is the story of one of my many memorable glamourous experiences.
It was my first time to South America. I consider myself travel savvy after numerous trips to Asia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Europe, to name a few. Having a stash of Imodium and emergency antibiotics was a common practice after a couple of experiences…should I say WOMENTS?
The business trip was great. After some time in Peru, we went on to Arequipa, back to Peru, then home. I never drank the water, followed all the rules, but something was brewing. By the time we landed in the US, the first twelve hours were fine. Then, it hit! With a vengeance. I told my husband I was a bit dizzy, so I drove myself to urgent care. Yes, I write that sentence now, and it makes no sense, I know! We were juggling who was going to watch kids before the other went down.
I arrived at urgent care thinking I was fine until the nurse brought in an EKG machines.
The doctor said, ” Your pulse is the lowest I have ever seen next to a dead person.”
I laughed it off, he told me I had a choice to have someone take me to the nearest hospital or get in an ambulance. I was in disbelief. I’m fine! I’ve got this, no worries, in my mind and ambulance was not happening.
My husband managed a babysitter and drove me to the hospital at warp speed while I told him to take it down a notch. One unpleasant exam and about 30 minutes later, I was being asked about my living will and told that a blood transfusion was on its way. WHAT?! I’m just tired, really really tired, I’m fine!
Reality hits in when you have an alarm set on your hospital bed so you don’t get up on your own and there’s a belt around your waist to be led to the toilet like a little kid at a carnival. I was told to hit a button, but if someone couldn’t get there, just do what I had to do IN BED…uh…NO! I set that alarm off so many times that night, my nurses were probably ready to tie me to the bed. God bless nurses by the way, they see EVERYTHING!
After a week-long stay in the hospital, I avoided a blood transfusion, had a slow recovery, and was finally able to find out what monster was inside me. Blastocystis Hominis with a bacterial infection, from fecal/oral contact, YUCK!. Hmm, could it have been inadvertently getting water on my toothbrush or the meal shared by my colleagues and I at the Peru airport? I’ll never know.
So whenever you get to take your next adventure, remember, people aren’t joking when they say “Don’t drink the water!”
