ADMITTED

Alyece Says:

Hello Everyone! So we're a little overdue for a blog, but we have a legitimate excuse, I promise... oh, and due to the mature subject matter of the following entry, view discretion is advised ;)

We left you last in San Ignacio, where unfortunately, we also had to leave San Ignacio sooner than expected. The beauty of traveling in the low season is that adventure tours, which take you through rivers in the jungles and cave systems, are at the mercy of tropical storms and hurricanes. With our cave tour cancelled, Erin and I only spent one night in town, however this was enough time for Erin to get a small bug bite right below her bottom lip. Why am I mentioning this you ask? It's a little something I like to call foreshadowing... (insert scary musical tune here).

We headed for Belize City and hopped on a boat to a little paradise island off the coast of Belize called Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is small (you can walk around the island in about 20 minutes), very laid back, and is filled with friendly people. Everyone walks the white-sandy roads barefoot, and if you walk to quickly, you get stopped by the locals who want to know what the hurry is. It's the kind of place where the only internet cafe/library has a happy hour, or "sip and surf" as they prefer to call it.

(Erin says: Jade, this picture reminds me of a little place called Bandon, Oregon)

When we settled into our bungalow/cabin on the island, Erin's lip was becoming fairly swollen and sore, but could still be pulled off as an Angelina Jolie kind of sexy, so it was only logical to go to a bar on the beach that night for happy hour (a 7 hour time span), where we met our English friend Simon. All the seats at the bar and the tables were swings, which made for a more interesting night with the hurricane-force winds coming off the water that night.

(thought this was an impressive level of swelling at the time ha ha)

Over the next few days, Erin and I relaxed on the beach, swam, and got to know a lot of the local Rasta people (which doesn't take long in such a small community). But her lip continued to grow and the pain was getting worse. One local man, who made his utter despise for western medicine very clear during a drunken rant in the street, tried to fix Erin's lip with an Aloe Vera plant from his garden.

(On our way to pick up Aloe Vera, please excuse this drunken man's state)

Another Rasta man claimed all Erin's lip needed was "the saliva of a Belizian man..."

The pharmacist gave us a few different medications and pain-killers to try to help, but with no doctor on the island and despite local efforts, Erin's infected lip became an emergency situation on Saturday night. The pain was so unmanageable, even 2 double doses of pain meds, two doses of Valium, and topical freezing couldn't stop her from convulsing with pain. We hit a low point on this night. Erin and I sat up in bed trying to calm her body down and eventually all the narcotics in her body put her out and we were able to sleep for a little while.

First thing in the morning we jumped on a boat to Belize City to a small private hospital to see a real doctor. After the entire medical staff got a good look at Erin's lip, a man wearing blue jeans, airwalk sneakers, and a red t-shirt walked into the room and said "hi, I'm George, the surgeon..." I swear all he was missing was a beer in his hand. Without another word, George proceeded to take a scalpel to Erin's face and the nurses had to hold her down. Apparently medical practices in Belize are like the toilets in Australia: backwards. First they pin you down and cut incisions in your body, THEN they sedate you with a comforting needle in the ass so you don't feel the pain of blade piercing your skin... seems logical. Due to the seriousness of Erin's infection, George told us "you'll be staying with me for a few days." So on Sunday afternoon we checked into the luxury hotel of "Belize Medical Associates," where we probably had the nicest room we will encounter on this trip: satellite TV, couch, fridge, private bathroom, room service... but not exactly an ideal situation.

(Hey, at least the sheets are clean)

(we apologize for the explicitness of this picture, HOWEVER.... this wasn't even the worst day... We will spare you.)

Our week in the hospital was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. The first few days were extremely difficult as Erin struggled through the pain and even had to resort to writing instead of talking. George wanted to hit the infection rapidly with what he called a "machine gun" approach -- rapid and heavy doses of several different kinds of antibiotics (because he didn't know what it was and there was no time to wait 3 days for a test to find out) and a lot of pain killers. Erin's family and friends back in Canada encouraged us to come home and for a few days we actually had to discuss aborting our trip. We had nurses constantly coming in and out of the room running tests, injecting Erin with more drugs, and some just coming to look. But after a few days the antibiotics started taking effect and we could actually see improvement in her lip. The pain also became tolerable and the infection was under control. Erin started feeling much better and things were finally turning in our favour.

The next four days in the hospital were a little more enjoyable, if you don't count the constant pumping of antibiotics into Erin's body and certain nurses poking her veins FIVE different times just to find a good spot for the IV (and for those keeping records, Erin had 7 different IV's in total and her veins are totally shot now). Confined to our nice little room, Erin and I watched way too many bad movies and classic 90's programming to pass the time. We even had Simon, our friend, come over from the island to visit. Surprisingly, the hospital food was good. We were really lucky to have such an amazing hospital staff as well. Because it was a very small private hospital, the staff to patient ratio was like 5 to 1 and all of the nurses were so friendly and accommodating. One nurse in particular stood out above the others, though. Sheila, a young, beautiful, and exceptional nurse, took extra care for Erin and I. Sheila only needed to puncture Erin's skin ONCE to find a good vein, she took the time to specially dilute Erin's meds to ease the pain, and she was very caring and always made sure we had everything we needed. Sheila was able to turn a sterile hospital environment into a friendly home for us. On Sheila's last day working with us things got a little emotional when she came in the room in tears to thank us for the card we made her... which got Erin going. This was the second stage of waterworks for Erin after her friend Alison had called earlier that day and put her little twins on the phone...

(Sheila giving Erin her 6th injection of the day...)

George the doctor also was extremely good to us. He came to check on Erin several times a day and went over and above what was expected of him to make sure Erin's infection healed and also to make sure everything was OK with the insurance company. He also provided some well needed comic relief. We really knew he was a special guy when he told us he would remain our doctor for the rest of our trip via e-mail and will look after us wherever we are.

(Erin and George)

( [almost] All better! last morning in the hospital)

Erin and I were discharged from the hospital this morning and her lip is almost completely back to normal (besides the little holes George left in her, but those are closing up as well). Her body is pretty run-down and sore from all the poking, prodding, and insane amount of narcotics that have been pumped through her veins over the past week, but we are both in good spirits. We are heading back to Caye Caulker to hide out and lay low for the next week as Erin takes the rest of meds orally, and for some serious relaxation and recuperation. We figured the island would be a good place to do that, plus we're only a boat ride away from George. It's only a matter of a few more days now before we're back on our travel track and updating the blog with adventures rather than hospital admittances.

Erin says:

Just wanted to say how extremely grateful I am to have so many amazing people at home caring about me. I can't even believe how many people called me and how many docs were looking over my pics and trying to help out. Not to mention the people here, who are crazy amazing and gave me over the top good treatment. I definitely don't feel like I deserve all of it, but I'm crazy grateful and super pumped to be free from the hospital and ready to adventure more....in a few days. thank you thank you thank you.