sickness Archives - A Wanderful Life

Ah yes, the getting older thing — a few more vitamins here and there, supplements like fish oil and garlic tablets, and all the while you hope that the aches and pains don’t increase.

But what if they do increase? And what if you are suddenly in a whirlwind of medical tests for all sorts of scary things whilst you never have a full night of sleep for months on end and you struggle to even rise from the bed some days due to pain? THAT, my dear readers, is exactly why I have been ‘missing in action’ for the last several months.

It was a huge relief to find out that the Big C was not a scary addition to my life and there were a few other things to deal with that I don’t think are worth mentioning. But then my lovely woman doctor told me that in all of her years in medical practice, she had never seen anyone with a Vitamin D level as low as mine. If 50 and above is normal, mine was a 1 — seriously — a ONE! That charming woman and another one that I met at the hospital the following week said that I must have been walking around under sheer force of will. And of COURSE, they assured me, you were in bone-shattering pain and had brain fog! A vitamin D deficiency will do all of that and more.

I’ve had to have a major rethink about several issues including where we are living, the fact that being on the 3rd floor of a building with no elevator might NOT be a fabbo cardio workout if I am getting sciatic leg lock-up again and again, and there’s also the sheer volume of noise in a major city like Melbourne all day and all night. Add to that the fact that if I have a project in the works, I simply don’t remember to eat in the middle of the day or get enough sleep at night. I’m like a little engine in one of two modes — fully on and ZOOM or almost completely shut down. That doesn’t strike me as a balanced approach and I need to sort that out.

Long story short and so I don’t bore you into a state of glazed eyes, I am now on massive liquid D supplements each day along with D capsules and something called Krill Oil and I’ve been urged to occasionally expose my lily-white skin to the sun. And all of that is in addition to the regular handful of daily vitamins that should have me sounding like a baby’s rattle when I walk. Nothing has shifted dramatically in the last 10 days but, fingers crossed, the charming lady doc assures me that I’ll be on the comeback trail by the end of 6-7 weeks. I certainly hope so.

It was quite astonishing to hear how many of my girlfriends or family members had been through similar issues with vitamin D at a much less intense level than my latest episode of ‘medical surprises’ — so I would urge any of you who are tired, aching, a bit blue, and brain foggy to get your own vitamin D levels tested with a simple blood test from your family doctor. Who knows what long term damage to your body you might be preventing.

On a happy note, I’ll be making a rather splendid announcement tomorrow about something that has kept me quite focused over the last few weeks — some new work to share with the world that I am quite proud of.

Tune in tomorrow for the really GOOD news!

Whether it’s a long trip or a weekend getaway, no one wants it to happen and no one really ever thinks that it could be ever be them that is inconvenienced that way. But getting sick whilst travelling is something that simply must be taken into account when you are planning your trip, booking your tickets, and doing those last pre-trip errands.

A long trip of several weeks or several months will require even more planning ahead, and that means one thing above all else — a good travel insurance policy to cover all of the contingencies including illness, hospitalization, routine but unexpected trips to the doctor or dentist, and (a worst case scenario if there ever was one!), medical evacuation back to your home country.

French medication for severe bronchitis

We are currently in France and one of those unanticipated situations arose just as we arrived in Normandy. I was sick with what I thought was a routine cold picked up from the child of friends in another part of France, but things went from bad to worse in a mere few days and suddenly I had such a severe bronchial infection that I was on the verge of pneumonia.

I am very fortunate that we have friends here in Normandy who could send me to their own GP in the next village, but I would not have hesitated to go to a local hospital if we had been on the road between stops. I felt completely fine about doing that since I knew that my outpatient care or even a full hospitalization would have been covered by the excellent travel insurance policy that we purchased from Travel Insurance Direct in Australia prior to our departure at the end of 2010. We knew that we would be travelling for at least a year, so we purchased a very inclusive policy that covered everything from lost luggage to damage to a rental car to unexpected delays to the all-important medical care.

As ill as I was, it was an office visit that I shall never forget as we tried to bridge the language barrier. I speak schoolgirl French and the doctor spoke no English! But I had written down all of my symptoms, swished them into Google Translate, and then printed that out for him. He understood completely and guess what — bronchitis means bronchitis even in France. I also had to giggle when he complimented me on my splendidly low blood pressure.

My sincere advice to all of you who are still in the planning and prep stages before departure is to do an internet search for travel policies that you can purchase online. They cost a lot less and seem to include rather a lot more than insurance policies offered by travel agents or your local insurance agent. This is their specialty and the coverage is excellent in most cases as long as you read all of the fine print and choose what suits your individual trip or lifestyle.

One of my sisters, Cynthia Hatton, lives in California and she has been either a nurse or nursing administrator for all of her adult life. She offered the following additional information to share with you — and I thank her for that.
“You might also add that it is important to consult a travel medicine clinician and check the locations that you are traveling. They will check the CDC and the International Institute of Travel Medicine tells you what is going on in the area …… TB, Influenza, hepatitis etc.”

Also — make sure you have adequate coverage for all of the areas that are important to you and consider adding ‘riders’ for additional protection on items such as expensive laptops and digital SLR cameras with lenses. I did exactly that prior to leaving Australia and have travelled for six months with an amazing peace of mind.

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Tag Archives: sickness

Do You Do D?

Getting Sick While Travelling