when traveling sucks (The Hague)

I left for New York on Saturday the 22th for a bit of professional training and to practice Aikido at a super duper local school. A routine trip.

On Monday evening I begin to develop an annoying stomach ache that keeps pestering me for the next few days. I don't go practice, but I attend the course and it's all fun and smiles.

By Wednesday, the pain is becoming almost unbearable and I am beginning to assume that this is more than a bad NY deli. I am thinking this could be appendicitis.

So on Thursday - when I am supposed to fly back to Amsterdam - I decide to go to a local walk in clinic. There a kind doctor tells me that hell no I won't be flying and that I have to get my highly infected appendix into the nearest ER.

Sigh. So, here I am in a NY hospital minus my crappy appendix. there have been some complications (more infections, yeay!) and I am being treated with high doses of morphine and antibiotics. I am not afraid of pain, but this pain is truly crippling.

The good thing is that my wife flew out here and she is taking care me of. And an ever better thing is that I am completely insured for all of this. After day one the hospital bill had already crept up to $14,000, and that almost gave me a secondary infection.

My advice: check your travel insurance, and make sure it covers you both when you travel for business and for pleasure. It's healthier that way.

Now, I am back to my meds. Morphine anyone?