Don't Worry Mom, This Ends Well 06-25-07

By 1:00am I would have loved to be feeling the way I felt when I went to bed. It would have been 100 times better than I felt. I awoke to a wave of nausea, dizziness and a head so heavy I could barely move it or speak.

Freaked out by my condition, Mike went to find the Guest Services Manager, Jan. Jan inspected me for the signs of diver-related illness and malaria and ruling them out, she asked if I would be okay until morning when we could have a doctor from Dangrigia come out to assist me.

After Jan left, I proceeded to vomit for the next 4-5 hours, my empty stomach heaving, and my wonderful husband holding back my hair and wiping my face with a damp cloth. I had hoped “For better and worse” and “In sickness and in health” wouldn’t be challenged so soon, but I have picked the right man for the job. I feel as though I would have died last night without him around.

Once the nausea ceased, I stayed in bed, sipping water and trying to hydrate myself, dosing in and out of sleep. We had planned on doing an intense hike through the Mayflower Rainforest today including a rigorous climb to the top of a waterfall, but unfortunately I was in no shape to attend. Instead the staff sent me up a cup of tea and some fruit and I spent the entire morning in bed.

Feeling a bit better, Mike took me down for some lunch at around 2:00pm. The staff came to see how I was doing and offered their help to me in any way. They are all so sweet here that I will miss them when we go home. I ate a bowl of white rice to get my stomach going and shared a slice of pizza with Mike. After lunch I headed straight back to bed where I remained for the rest of the day, weak and tired, but relived not to be nauseous.

We never did ask the doctor to come out so I’m not exactly sure of the cause of my illness. The thing that makes the most sense to me is sunstroke and dehydration due to my 6+ hours directly in the Belizean sun yesterday. I sweat more than I drank I guess. A rookie traveler’s error and a lesson I will not soon forget.

My wonderful husband, who was up with me all night, spent the day in as tired a state as I did, he lazed around, napping a lot, listening to his ipod and just relaxing. I felt as though I had taken a day of vacation away from him, but he insists he didn’t mind.

Around 5:00pm I knew I was feeling better because I started singing. That was a really good sign! By 6:00 I was well enough to go for a dip in the pool and by 7:30 I was ravenous for dinner.

The starter was another incredible soup. It was a light broth of coconut, not the cream, but the milk. It contained pieces of snapper, a fish I am a huge fan of now, and two balls that looked like matzo balls but were actually made of plantain. They were sweet and delicious but I couldn’t eat it all, I was saving room for the main, which was lamb chops, cooked perfectly rare ad topped with what I think was a carrot confite. My first bite of lamb made me say “Oh shit, that’s good” out loud and melted in my mouth. Served with the lamb were two potato balls. They used mashed potatoes, rolled them and then dipped them into what most resembles the batter for Chinese chicken balls or a corn dog and fried them up. Mmmm. A yummy, sweet cob of corn, some cauliflower and carrots and I felt completely nourished and well on the road to recovery.

Mike had a banana cream pie slice and I had a key lime pie slice and then we returned to our tree-house with a bottle of wine, full and feeling great.