BEFORE YOU READ THIS – Please know that I am a travel advocate. My story is intended to help you make a plan for something like this. NOT TO SCARE YOU! This happened to me and I still travel ALL THE TIME!
Shortly after my mother passed away (see Part 1 of the worst year of my life for this story), my father-in-law suffered a heart attack. He, thankfully, survived. These two events changed me. How could they not?! How could I not appreciate every single day that I have? It made me realize that life is so incredibly short and it can change in the blink of an eye. I want to live. I want to see the world. I want to spend as much time as I can with my husband. I wish I could say that my story ends here but it definitely does NOT. Isn’t there some saying about bad things happening in threes? Well, my three was coming for me and it was a doozy.
With my newfound take on life, my husband and I planned a trip to Mexico for July (2013). My mother passed in November, my father-in-law survived his heart attack in January, and, now, we are trying to get some much-needed rest in July. We were going to the most beautiful, all-inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Our trip there was easy. No issues. We got settled into our room and I plopped on the bed. My feet were cold so I stuck them under a cover that was on the edge of the bed. I felt something sting my foot close to my ankle. I threw the cover off the bed and dusted it off. I saw something small and black scurry away. I didn’t think anything about it.
We went to dinner about an hour later. Shortly after ordering our dinner I started to get really hot and dizzy. I looked around to see if anyone else was extremely hot. No one seemed to be fanning themselves or sweating (I was doing both). I started to get nauseous so I went to the bathroom. I started pouring sweat and almost passed out. I made it back to the table. I started to feel worse so I tried to stand up to go back to the bathroom. I couldn’t feel my legs. I looked over at my husband and said, “I’m going to pass out.” He responded with, “wait…what?” That’s the last thing I remember for a while. Here is a weird part….I don’t know if this is normal (and debated on sharing it) but I had a weird dream while I was passed out. I dreamed that I was in a pasture. A pasture with really tall, green grass that was moving around in waves. My mother was there. She had a dog with her. A giant brown dog that was smiling at me. My mother was also smiling. She didn’t say anything. She just stayed with me. I guess it was a dream but is that normal to dream when you pass out? I don’t know. Anyway, I remember hearing my name being shouted and opening my eyes. I was outside and could smell something really strong. It was something someone was holding over my nose. Then I passed back out. This part of the story is repeated per my husband.
After I passed out, he called for help. A couple ran over to help him. They carried me outside and called for a doctor. My husband said I had lost all of my coloring. I was extremely pale. He said I turned “white”. The doctor arrived and recommended that they call an ambulance. I was loaded into the ambulance. I’m still unconscious at this point. The paramedics asked my husband for our passports and asked if he had his money with him. He did not because we were at an all-inclusive resort. This was our first mistake. He had to run back to our rooms which were across the resort to get our credit cards and passports. Our room was close to the beach in a large resort. He said it took him a bit.
We get to the hospital and they ask my husband to pay $2500 before they will unload me from the ambulance. My husband tried multiple credit cards before he finally got one to work. I’m still unconscious at this point. Once he pays, they unload me and take me to their “Emergency Room” area. The nurses didn’t speak English. The doctor was the only one that spoke English. I woke up while I was in the Emergency Room and I was alone. I freaked out. I couldn’t move from the neck down. I could move my head side to side but I couldn’t speak. All I could do was cry. I didn’t know where my husband was. I didn’t know where I was or how I had gotten there. A million thoughts were racing through my mind. Finally, my husband came back into the room. His cell phone wouldn’t work so he had been trying to find a phone in the hospital he could use to let someone in the U.S. know what was happening. He was finally able to get a call out after multiple attempts.
They began running tests to try to figure out what was going on. I had eaten some fish at dinner (maybe Grouper) that was high in mercury so they thought it could be that. They were running bloodwork and other stuff (that I also can’t remember). My husband remembered that something had bit me and told the doctor. Immediately she responded with, “scorpion bite”. She knew right away that I was reacting to a poisonous scorpion common in their area that can cause paralysis. I think it’s important to mention here that I have extreme reactions to bug bites. A common mosquito bite can turn into a golfball size welp that itches for weeks. I was recently stung by a bee on my hand. Within minutes, my hand looked like a baseball glove. So if something “can cause”, it will for sure “cause” with me.
I was admitted into the hospital in Mexico where they began pumping me full of antivenom. This bag of antivenom was bigger than any fluid bag I have ever seen. The room we were put in had two hospital beds and Jared was allowed to stay in the other one. I remember being hooked up to IV bags and when the fluid would run out Jared would have to run to find a nurse. They didn’t have any machines hooked up. It was just fluid bags hanging on a pole pouring into my veins. Each time the fluid bags would run out there would be significant air in the lines so they had to start a new IV.
None of the nurses spoke English so it was difficult to communicate. I do remember lying in bed staring at the ceiling. There were trails of ants all over the ceiling. Jared stressed out over this because we were so afraid of what would happen to me if I got bit by one of those ants. After 24 hours in the hospital I could feel my fingers and toes. I made a lot of progress after this. After 48 hours in the hospital I could move all of my body and I could speak again. I was just extremely weak. I was too weak to travel back to the United States so we had stay at our resort for another week. The resort was very accommodating. They moved us to a room on a higher floor. They frequently checked on me. We checked every surface when we got back to the room, shoved towels under the door so nothing could crawl in, and shoved towels around the windows so nothing could fly in. We didn’t leave the room for a couple days. After about 3 days I felt good enough to lay by the pool. I was laying by the pool when a couple walked up to me and said, “oh my god you’re alive.” I was so confused because I didn’t know them but apparently they were the couple that helped my husband the night I passed out.
A week after I got out of the hospital we flew home. My allergy doctor had told me to get on steroids while we were in Mexico. When we got back to the U.S. I tapered off of the steroids. As soon as I got off of the steroids all of the symptoms started to return. I was at the doctor doing blood work when the symptoms started to come back. I called my husband to come up there and my doctor wheeled me over to the ER. My doctor’s office is in the same building as the main hospital in my town. I was admitted into the ICU. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong and I kept getting progressively worse. I developed a facial tic and a stutter. I couldn’t remember certain words. They couldn’t get my heartbeat stabilized. I was having trouble breathing and my lungs were beginning to collapse. I had extreme pain everywhere but especially in my spine. My skin tingled, burned and hurt to be touched. All of this and so much more was happening. The first night in the ICU I thought I was going to die. Truly, I was fighting but I didn’t think I would make it. The ICU didn’t allow visitors overnight so I was alone…..well, not quite. At this point, I had a “team” of doctors working on my case: neurology, infectious disease, cardiology, and a ICU doctor. Before anything could be done, they all had to agree. After a few days of tests (lumbar punctures, MRIs, bloodwork, etc) and no improvement, my husband mentioned how much better I had gotten when I got on steroids in Mexico. All the doctors agreed that it couldn’t hurt to try giving me steroids because nothing else was working. They started me on 1000 mg a day. If you know anything about steroids, you know this is a large dose. They would administer it intravenously in doses of 125 mg . After 24 hours on steroids, almost all of my symptoms had gone away. I was responding to steroids which made them think that it had to be something autoimmune. The doctors recommendation was that I go to the Mayo Clinic but I really didn’t want to travel after everything I had just experienced.
Unfortunately, at that time the hospital did not have a rheumatologist on staff. My father-in-law sees a rheumatologist and he was able to convince his rheumatologist to see me immediately. There was a 6 month wait at the time to see him. My rheumatologist is Dr. Vasandani and I adore him. He had his staff stay late one night to see me. They ran tests, did X-rays, heard my story, and showed so much compassion. He immediately started me on some meds for what he thought it might be. After a few months went by, it was confirmed. I have Lupus, antiphospholipid syndrome, and Sjogren’s disease. All autoimmune disease that were either triggered by the scorpion bite or triggered by the antivenom that I was pumped full of. I spent years adjusting to this new reality. I was really sick for a long time but I’m doing so much better now. I won’t live in fear. I won’t live my life worried about the “what if” but I will live my life more prepared. Here are some things we do differently now and want to share with you:
- Know what the healthcare system is like in any country that you travel to. Make a plan for something like this. Make sure you take your medications with you and know where you can get medication once there.
- Always have multiple forms of payment with you. Have at least 2-3 different credit cards and currency for that country.
- Always have a working cell phone with you. We have AT&T and they have something called a Day Pass. It’s $10/day and you can use your phone just like normal. I believe this works for Europe, the Carribbean, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Check with your carrier to see what they offer. Most have something!
- Always keep your passports on you when in a foreign country. I know this is hard but I cannot stress this enough. There are so many things that could happen and you don’t want to be stuck somewhere and not have it with you.
- Don’t be afraid! I know my story is scary but don’t let it stop you from doing anything. Just be aware of your surroundings (always) and research the country before you travel. Go explore! My experience has not stopped me from traveling. It’s something I’m passionate about!
P.S. I have intentionally left out name of the resort because I do not want to give them any “bad press”. I do not blame them for this incident. It was a freak thing. They were nothing but accommodating. It was a beautiful resort that I would recommend. Email me if you would like to know the name of it.
My Traveling Appetite 