Getting sick at any time is a miserable experience, even under the best of circumstances. Getting sick while on vacation, on the other hand, kicks the miserableness up to a whole new level. Some might say it sucks. And, in my case, getting sick while on my quinquennial girls' trip with my best friend earlier this month to celebrate our 45th birthdays totally blew. Honestly, it blew chunks and I mean that both figuratively and literally.
Within 12 hours of arriving at our resort in Runaway Bay along Jamaica's north coast, I found myself heaving up the contents of my digestive system. I should mention that I hate, and I mean HATE, throwing up. I'm one of those people who will go to great lengths to avoid throwing up, even when I know it will make me feel better. Well, even had I tried, there would've been no stopping the forceful expulsion that hit me around 4 a.m. the first morning and the same goes for the two additional times I threw up within the next 10 hours. I'm not sure what I caused my illness - E. coli, salmonella, Norovirus... All I know is that whatever it was, it was nasty.
I'd love to say that whatever I had passed quickly, that I rebounded and was able to fully enjoy the reminder of my highly anticipated vacation with my best friend, but it didn't. The worst, in my opinion, was the vomiting, and it was, thankfully, over within 24 hours. However, I dealt with other issues (rolling waves of nausea, fatigue, lack of appetite, and intermittent diarrhea) the rest of the week. Although I wasn't completely sidelined, for I learned how to manage and keep my symptoms at bay (i.e. consume only toast, rolls, soup, water, Gatorade, and Pepto), I wasn't my optimal traveling self.
In life, I try to look at every event, even the most difficult and the most inopportune, as an experience to learn something. Here are four things I learned from getting sick while abroad.
Know That It Can Happen To Anyone
Anyone who eats is susceptible to coming down with some foodborne illness. Anyone. And, having said that, it can strike anywhere at any time. Yes, there are many things we can do to prevent from getting sick while traveling, but let's be honest, there are many factors that are simply out of our control. Although the timing of me getting sick sucked, I know in the grand scheme of things that I've been very fortunate. I've traveled to a lot of places in my lifetime and this is the first time I've ever found myself sick while traveling.
Know Your Options
Know Your Options
After I threw up the third and final time, I went to the resort's medical center. There I spoke with a nurse who helped me decide my course of action based on my symptoms. In lieu of a having a doctor come to the resort or me going to a local clinic, I opted to try some over the counter medicine first and see how things went from there. It was nice knowing what options I had if my condition didn't improve, which they thankfully did.
Always Pack Pepto
I spent nearly $30 on two travel-sized bottles of Pepto Bismol at the resort. The same amount would have cost me around $10 or less here at home. I've always been one to pack Imodium when I travel, but not Pepto. I truly believe that pink liquid was instrumental in helping me manage the second round of symptoms as well as I did. Lesson learned - always pack Pepto.
Salvage What You Can of Your Trip
I'm very thankful that C and I didn't have an overly active vacation planned. If we had, I doubt I could've participated in some of the activities and that would've made me feel even worse because at that point my illness would've negatively impacted C's trip, too. Fortunately, our plans primarily involved lying by the pool, lying by the beach, drinking fruity drinks, and spending uninterrupted time together catching up - all of which I was still able to do (minus the drinking fruity drinks). In fact, as long as I ate a strict diet of toast, rolls, soup, Gatorade, water, and Pepto, I faired rather well. I even managed to snorkel, kayak for about 20 minutes, and climb Dunn's River Falls. Most importantly, C and I got to spend a lot of uninterrupted time together catching up. Although it wasn't necessarily the trip I imagined, I salvaged what I could.
Although I would've preferred not getting sick while in Jamaica, I did. Life happens and when it does, all you can do is the best you can under the circumstances. I do hope to return to Jamaica one day for a proper do-over.
Have you ever been ill while traveling out of the country? What did the experience teach you?
UGH. We had the Norovirus while on a cruise and this was when we were docked in Mexico for the day. We had to stay on the ship and there wasn't even pepto to buy. I just remember throwing up all over the bathroom (and my shoes). I've never been that sick in my life and Scott says (to this day) that he legitimately thought he was going to die.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest packing a full arsenal of meds for any trip because you never know what you will need.
I'm so sorry you were sick while you were away. It sounds like you made the best of it though.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were kids, my sister and I went to Malta with my grandparents and my dad, and my sister ended up in hospital after vomiting everywhere and then passing out - we were near the police station and a kind policeman organised an ambulance for her. The eventual diagnosis was "gastroenteritis" (so stomach bug - helpful) and she was fine after a day in hospital on IV fluids. Six years later we went to Malta again, this time with my mum, step-dad and our younger brother. That time I got sunstroke and spent an entire day in bed feeling absolutely terrible, unable to eat at all or drink anything other than water. It's almost like Malta is a jinx ;-) In fairness I am susceptible to sunstroke and have managed to make myself ill from too much sun in Germany as well, which I guess says the experience taught me absolutely nothing? I mean, I do wear a hat whenever it's sunny and try to drink lots of water but it doesn't always work.
So sorry you got sick. I got sick in China a few years ago and it was horrible. took three weeks before I was better, but of course I was back in the states by this time. Doctor still has no clue, but I think it was food poisoning. I was scaraed they weren't going to let me come home. Have a great weekend. Kelley
ReplyDeleteOh I have so been there, not fun at all and so much worse away from home. #Ablogginggoodtime
ReplyDeleteOh dear, that sounds awful! I've never really been that sick when we've been on holiday, but our little girl usually (by which I mean EVERY TIME) manages to contract something that requires a visit to a doctor. A virus, bronchitis, general vomiting....The only good thing is that we now just wait for it to happen! #ablogginggoodtime
ReplyDeleteSorry you got sick on your trip. I hope you're fully recovered by now - sometimes these things take time. I had a nasty bout of gastro enteritus as a child and was very ill at the time but it seems to have given me some immunity to tummy bugs. I rarely get them but occasionally I still do and much better to have them while at home and not in a strange place.
ReplyDeleteoh gosh that really really sucks! I have spent the past week sick and still am, but at least I am at home with no exciting plans. Being sick is awful at any time, it always feels like such a waste of time to when there is so much to do in life, but on vacation that is cruel, hope you get that do over! Thanks for joining in with #ABloggingGoodTime
ReplyDeleteOh, that sounds like a miserable experience. I'm glad you were able to manage your illness without seeing the resort's doctor.
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