Random Thursday. Worst travel experience.

Hallo meine Lieben,

welcome to another Random Thursday and thanks for reading and participating! I hope you are having a fantastic week!

I have to say that one of my worst travel experiences is connected to one of the best vacations I ever had....if that makes any sense. 

David and I decided to go for a road trip to Colorado and Utah. We drove all the way from Ohio and things were fine the first 1,5 days. The evening of the second day I started to feel really bad but I thought it would be better the next day and there is no reason to worry. 

I climbed an arch. Surprisingly,  I did not fell down. 

I spent a pretty painful night in a hotel room but was positive that I would wake up feeling fine. At that point I did not know what was wrong yet.

The next morning I woke up feeling even worse than the day before but I did not want to say anything since I did not want to ruin the vacation. Plus it was my birthday. 

We got ready to drive to our next destination and I felt so miserable in the car....still pretending that things are fine. 

We wanted to camp the following night and David was excited to do some hiking and see some fantastic places. When we arrived at the camp site I felt as miserable as never before but I thought that I had to be brave and fight against the pain so I helped setting up the tent and collecting fire wood. I could barely walk but as I said, I did not want to admit that anything was wrong. It was our first real vacation together and I wanted it to be memorable.

I already had a feeling of what was wrong because I had these problems before...but I think I wanted to suppress the thoughts of it because that would definitely ruin the vacation. 

I tried to look completely healthy. Sunglasses help.

But yeah, the next day I woke up even worse and I was not able to deny it anymore. I admitted how bad I felt...I guess it was obvious. But I did not admit how terrible I really felt. David had planned a hiking trip for that day but there was no way I could participate. But I told him he has to go anyway and I would stay there and read. I am sure that was really disappointing for him (and I am sure he thought that I was a pussy but as I said, I never felt so bad I my entire life and that means something because I already had some really nasty and painful stuff). I wanted to be brave...to not ruin the trip. I did not think about ruining my health at that point. Which was probably stupid...

But yeah, when David came back in the evening I knew that I needed some help. I knew that something was wrong with my kidneys again. But I did not say anything about it. In case you don't know, I have a stupid kidney disease so I have problems with my kidneys all the time. Infections, kidney stones and so on. 

So we went to a pharmacy and I tried to explain my problems to the pharmacist without saying anything about my kidneys (stupid, I know). He thought I have altitude sickness and some other diseases I did not have. He told me to see a doctor but as I said, I did not want to go to not ruin the vacation.

So I got all kinds of stuff you don't need a prescription for. Herbal teas, cranberry pills and so on. I also bought a thermometer....I took my temperature and was shocked to see what it was more than 104 degrees but did not admit it. 

I have to admit that it was kind of relieving to have to crawl trough tiny holes since it gave me a reason to spend some time on the ground which made me feel better. 

So yeah, I still don't know how I managed to survive this vacation but I went to all the places we wanted to see...even when I had to sit down every 100 meters and it took forever to get to places. I stayed in the hotel rooms when David went for an adventure that I could not take part in....I refused to go to a doctor and I just thought that I have to be brave. I even went rafting. I just had to sit there and try not to fell into the water.

As I said, I have never felt so sick in my whole life. But I made it. Is it stupid to feel proud? I guess it is. It was definitely stupid not to admit how bad I feel. I risked my health. 

(If kidney infection is not treated promptly, there is a risk of serious complications, including kidney damage and blood poisoning (sepsis). It is usually treated with antibiotics. In many cases, patients with kidney infection are hospitalized. Found here.)

I mean, I know my health problems. 

When we got back from vacation I finally went to see a doctor and of course, I had a really nasty kidney infection. If you ever had a kidney infection that you know how that feels. If not, I read on the internet that people describe it as the worst pain they ever felt. I agree. And I had a whole in my eye once. 

So yeah, I finally got treatment and it took me a while to recover but gladly I did.

I know that I will never be so stupid again and will run to the doctor as soon as I experience that pain again. 

But yeah, the vacation was fantastic because I saw some awesome places I had never seen before. But I do admit that it would have been even better without the nasty kidney infection.

How can you get sick at such a fantastic place?

(And a recent one: the stupid Parisian woman who decided to crash into my car definitely helped me to have another bad travel experience. You can read about it here.)

So now tell me....what was your worst travel experience?