The trip had been booked a month prior to coincide with a 1-day school holiday to allow a 3-day weekend. The resort had been chosen for its range of activities and the fact that it was just an hour south of Vienna. All was set for a ski weekend in Austria.
On the Thursday afternoon, I began to feel some stomach cramps. They were mild and I put it down to a change in antibiotic that I was taking. I did send an email to Gabriela sort of joking that it would be just my luck to get sick……
As we crossed the border into Austria, my stomach cramps were so strong that I was in agony at the height of each. I was yawing and tired and shivery like I had a fever. I handed over the drive to Gabriela and to be honest, I don’t remember much of the trip from there. I do remember arriving at the hotel and quickly going to the restaurant where I had a bowl of onion soup. What was I thinking? Sitting there, feeling miserable, I discovered that My Haunted Life Too was number 1 on amazon’s UK site in two categories. Typical, I thought, this happens when I can’t actually get to a computer to even get a screen print and while I am feeling as sick as a dog! Simply wonderful timing. I managed to get a screen print on my phone and email a friend to take some as well in the end.
How long the book remained at #1 I have no idea. I was in bed by 9:30pm and slept fitfully until the early hours when the pain of the cramps and acid woke me up. I was shivering in the warm room feeling cold, yawning, aching and tired and every minute or so feeling as if my stomach was tying itself in tight little knots. I alternated between sitting up draped with blankets and lying down as I was so tired. The next 12-hours took on that strange quality of endlessness that sometimes happens when you are quite sick. You fall asleep and wake up again thinking several hours must have passed by to discover it was a matter of seconds and on it goes painfully through the night and into the next day. Six times, I ran for the bathroom where, for the first time in decades, I was actually physically sick. It felt as if I was vomiting my stomach and bowels out to be honest.
The morning came and was simply a blur. I told the girls to go skiing and with some concern they went. The morning lasted for days it seemed to me and every time I managed to fall asleep, the phone rang and Gabriela was checking to see how I was. The skied, came home, changed, ate lunch, went out again and I was simply in my own world of pain and tiredness. Eventually, I sat on the floor and rested my head on the bed. That way the acid in my stomach stayed there and I did sleep. I don’t know how long I slept but when I woke up, I felt much better. It was over after 24 or so hours.
I ate a little dinner that night but for the next two days, everything I ate or drank had to pass over the sore burned part of whatever tube it was inside of me. Not a lot of fun.
On the Saturday, I put on the gear and I went skiing, determined to have some fun. Of course, skiing is hard work for me and is sort of maniacal terror and fun all mixed together, but I managed. After lunch, we went sledging. Now that was fun but bumpy so add in a sore back and bruised bum! It turned out to be a good day though. I slept like a log that night I was so tired.
On the Sunday, we scrapped plans to ski as we were all bruised and sore from the sledging. Instead, we went tubing – also super fun. Just after lunch, we headed back to Brno. It hadn’t been quite what I expected but then again, nothing ever really is is it?