sick on vacation?

Anyone ever experienced illness and hospitalization while on vacation?

A friend was just in the British Virgin ISlands and had to have abdominal surgery. After spending 5 days in a hospital that beds 15 people with one bathroom, she was never happier to get home in her life!

When my kids were young, my mother was coming to visit. We were so excited. We hadn't seen her in several years and she was excited to see our daughters. Well, the day she came, my girls were both sick. The next day, they started breaking out in pox. They had the chicken pox the whole week my mom was there. We couldn't go anywhere or do anything except sit and talk. My mom didn't mind, but it really put a damper on her visit as she'd never been to Utah before either.

There is nothing worse then being sick on vacation. I was in the hospital in Spetember in Paris for what I know now was probably related to the Chrohn's disease and not food poisoning. Anyway, it was very scary, especially in a foriegn country. The big thing is that once they know you have insurance, they want to keep you there to milk for all it's worth. It was't until I asked to call my insurance company that they came with my discharge papers.

The worst is being in a hotel though. It's hard to be sick in unfamiliar places, espeically ones where there is no way to keep food or watre around. Thank God I was't alone and it was business trip for my husband. There were lots of people around watching out for us.

I've been blessed not to have been ill on a trip. But one of the physicians who worked for me traveled abroad often after his retirement. His wife had a hip replacement that came unglued in Spain and she flew home to the U.S. in tremendous pain to have it repaired.

A year later, her husband (the physician who retired from my company) had a heart attack and died aboard a plane over the Atlantic. She had a lot of problems with the legalities of transporting the body, etc.
She has stopped traveling now, but is comforted by the wonderful memories she made with her husband before his death.
smile

[ May 10, 2004, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: smilinize ]

Once when I was only 11 years old, my family went to Riverview Amusement park about a 2 hour drive from our home. We were spending the week-end. I had only been on a merry-go-round at the local park, and here they had all the big park rides. We went on several rides, spinning coffee cups, tilt-a-whirl, and the ferris wheel. I was feeling pretty cocky after all those so opted to ride the BIG roller coaster. No one would go with me, so my poor father not to appear indestructable before his children said, he'd go. On the first big down run, I lost my lunch and then on the second, lost my breakfast on the third and steepest of them all, I'm not sure what I lost but my dad wished it had been him. He and I had to go straight to the motel for showers. I spent the next day in the motel sipping warm soup and praying to go home. I have never gone to an amusement park since, never.

About 15 years ago on a trip home from the Far East, we planned to stop in Hawaii for a three days to break up the flight. Unfortunately I got a real bad migraine on the way there and spent my first 4 hours in Hawaii puking my guts out. Then we went to a hospital and I was still puking. They gave me some meds to knock me out. I slept the rest of the night and my husband just hung out by the hotel pool.

The next day he decided he wanted to visit the volcano. I spent an hour walking uphill and almost passed out. My husband didn't understand what the problem was, because the migraine was "better." This, and 5000 other stories, are why I hate going on vacations with him, and increasingly travel by myself.

Chatty,
I had to laugh at your story abut the amusement park. I too, hate rides. They have always scared me to death. As a youngster, I have a really mean cousin named Martin. He and I went on a ferris-wheel. We stopped at the top and he swang that chair and had me screaming my guts out. I've never forgotten that feeling and it upsets me to think of it.

Well, years later, when I met my husband, he took me on a date to a fair. He asked me to ride the wild rabbit with him. I didn't want him to not want to date me anymore, so I said yes. I was almost crying even before the ride started. Well, when we were zooming a billion miles an hour up and down, I reached over and grabbed the knee of his jeans. The cart flew over a big loop and started plunging down. I got a good grip and screamed and pulled his pant-leg. It ripped and when we got off the ride,he was wearing jeans with only 1 1/2 leg material left. He was in shock and guess what? He didn't break up with me, we got married and that was 27 years ago.

betty-boop, that is such a cute story. I too have an aversion to amusementpark rides. There's just something about t hat quesy feeling in your stomach that makes it all unenjoyable.