Howdy all. Well, I had to get to this blog post at some point and so here I am today. The story of the worst moment of the adventure I took last year. When last I left you in my writings of this round the world adventure, I was in Suceava. I had spent a rough day in 35 degree heat exploring and vlogging the city, got back to my Air BnB, packed and readied myself for moving on to Moldova the next day. READ ABOUT my day of sight seeing in Suceava HERE leading into this post.

THEN – woke up much sicker in the morning than I had been for any of the previous two and a half weeks. I had a fever. Somehow I kept packing, I had a midday or just before train to catch, but as I finished the last of the packing (most was done in the previous evening) I realised that it would be worse than foolish to catch that train. I was sick and rest was what was desperately needed.

So. I used all my time in the apartment until checkout (I contacted my host who gave me an extra hour) to sort everything out. Firstly I found a hotel I had seen on my walks about Suceava called ‘My Continental’ and booked three or four nights at it, and then booked a flight with Wizz Air who just happened to have a direct flight to London Luton.

I moved on out of the apartment and stupidly tried to walk to the hotel, I figured it was only 15 mins walk away and so I got myself all muddled. I was lost so quickly I resorted to Uber which in the end did the trick. I checked in at the hotel, the staff there were okay, but depending on the individual and the day I found them a bit prickly. I asked about seeing a doctor and they said I would need to go to hospital (this was on check in). I was not really up for that and it seemed a bit of an overreaction so I decided I would get some rest and see if I began to recover.

I slept quite a bit through the afternoon, and I ate a decent meal at the hotel restaurant. I was pretty blocked up and I was starting to think I had a sinus infection, something that has started happening to me in recent years. I had had anti biotics once for one that didn’t clear up. Otherwise I could see them through and out the other side.

I still had a fever, but with some paracetamol that was controlled and went to bed that night. I slept okay but woke at 4am and wasn’t feeling great in the stomach. I ran to the loo and well, I vomited. A lot. I realised here that hospital was going to have to be visited.

At ten or eight, not sure, a few hours later, I was vomiting again this time it was just water coming back (sorry for the gory details) I couldn’t hold water or indeed anything down. Once the vomiting subsided I dressed and went to reception to ask for an ambulance. They then questioned whether I was really sick (!) but reluctantly called one for me – a different receptionist was working the previous day and he had offered when I refused.

The paramedics were great and did a whole bunch of tests on the spot and had no hesitation in taking me to the local hospital. I was pretty weak and walking unsteadily and just felt incredibly sick. The hospital experience was a mixture really. The hospital was basic, but they were very thorough. Bedside manner didn’t exist, and the nurse trying to take blood said ‘Did you leave your veins in Australia’ which was rather amusing. Not a lot of English was spoken but there were one or two. For reference I speak about one word of Romanian.

They ran an IV through me and immediately I felt so much better. They did all manner of tests including loads of blood and urine tests. They got one back that confirmed I had sinusitis. The worst thing about the hospital was that the A/C wasn’t working and it was well into the 30s outside and not much cooler on the inside. The blood tests revealed another condition I needed to deal with once I got to the UK and back home to Australia.

I received scripts for a range of stuff, some of it was basically just more paracetamol. But there was anti-nausea medication and anti-biotics, as well as pro-biotics. A doctor asked me if I wanted to stay the night at the hospital, I asked if I had to. She advised it but said I was free to go if I wanted to. My hotel room was comfortable, air conditioned and had a TV and privacy, so I knew what I was going to do.

I had to visit to pharmacies first to get the medication, they did not provide it at the hospital. The first had some but not all of what I needed and most importantly didn’t have the anti-biotics so I had to use Uber to get to another pharmacy, and then back to the hotel where the same receptionist was very concerned about my health now and very kind.

I rested up for the remainder of the stay there. I was happy that I was well enough to fly a few days later and didn’t need to cancel THAT flight. I lost the flight from Moldova to the UK and also the money spent on the trains and buses to get to Moldova which I had pre-booked, but none of that was serious money so I wasn’t concerned.

I felt much better the next day, a bit flat the day after but better again the one after that which was the day I was leaving. I certainly wasn’t 100% – I had been sick for three weeks, I suspect at first it was a cold or flu, and that it had turned into sinusitis which can and does happen. I have never had either so bad – the vomiting was very unexpected. But apparently can happen.

The flight to the UK was blessedly direct, and I was staying in Northampton with my friend Graham and his wife, so once I got to the UK I was able to get a bus to Northampton from Luton Airport which was great. Just to make it there where I knew people and could speak the language was a weight off. I was slowly getting back to normal foods as had been advised to eat plain food for a few days too, concern there was a gastro bug in there somewhere as well (didn’t turn out to be the case).

And yes, a few deep breaths to regroup, but soon it was time to continue on with my plans, tentatively that is, and the rest of my round the world adventure! Thanks for popping by! Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!