Spectacular service, snorkeling, scholarship and ... Serbia?

[k_sheep]

Been a while since I've done a trip report so I'm a bit overdue. To be fair it feels like a while since I had a holiday ... then I remember I was actually off work for most of February and March ... oops!

This trip came about as an excuse to avoid a cousins wedding we reallllly didn't want to go to. Love the cousin but the rest of the family is hard work and it's located in my least favourite town. I would have preferred to go in August (by far the worst month for weather in SE QLD ... turns out not so much this year though!) but another cousin who wanted to come and avoid the wedding couldn't get leave then so September it was!

This lined up nicely with some conferences I wanted to attend, as well as a consensus meeting so that's what the route is based on (well, that and cheap flights ha!). So off went I, Mr k_sheep and k_sheep cousin (kcuz?)

Itinerary:
1 night in Melbourne
A week in Jakarta and surrounds
2 nights in Rome
5 nights in Florence
1 night in Bologna
2 nights in Malta
3 nights in Belgrade
1 night in Bar
6 nights in Dubrovnik
1 night in Rome
1 night in Abu Dhabi
1 night in Jakarta

 

[k_sheep]

First stop: Melbourne.

Overnight stop booked mainly because mr sheep and kcuz are very time-anxious when it comes to flights. So an overnight stop helps alleviate that anxiety. The fact I found a Red Hot Room at the Novotel airport helped greatly ($184 for 3 people) so we would not have to rely on public transport.

I dropped kcuz and Mr sheep off at BNE very early while I had to get to work for a 7:30 meeting (groan). Managed to do most of a days' work, which mainly involved running around like a chook with a severed head - a couple days priorI had gotten notification I was required to submit a huge amount of paperwork for a further certification I was undertaking. I had thought it would be due in November but ... apparently not, so panic ensued. Managed to get what I needed done with about 5 minutes to spare, where I ran to the train station.

Thanks to the obvious vote-grab from the QLD goverment, I caught the AirTrain for the first time (has been reduced to $10.50 or something). Also thanks to my panic and apparent olympic-worthy athleticism when faced with missing a flight, I arrived 11 minutes early for the train. Whoops again!

Typical QF flight in Y, snagged row 4 at T-24. Got a nice view of a P&O cruise leaving BNE port.

Met up with a MEL based friend who was separately travelling to Italy to compete in the world dragonboat championship! Went to Howler for quick drinkies.

Before retiring to the Novotel for the night. The gym at this place is EXCELLENT. 25m pool attached and every piece of equipment you could ever want.

 

[k_sheep]

Apologies all - I'm trying to upload photos but keep getting errors. May or may not get time to copy photos onto laptop.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Tagging along with you @k_sheep

Looking forward to your activities especially in Florence and Bologna.
You and kcuz ( or mr sheep) must play tourist and share a secret at the Whispering wall.

Exchange a Secret with Bologna's Whispering Walls

In the heart of Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore lies a vaulted archway that has been whispering secrets for centuries La Dotta, La Grassa, La Rossa—Bologna’s motto (meaning “the educated, the fat, the red”) points to the city’s robust university tradition, decadent food scene, and gorgeous medieval...

giadzy.com

 

[k_sheep]

Well this thread came to a standstill for a reason which will soon become clear: add Surgery to the list of Ss!

Skipping ahead, we are at Malta airport awaiting our flight to Belgrade. I have some leftover sandwich while waiting in the crowded terminal. Start to get some stomach pain. Whatever. Board the plane uneventfully. But sometime in the short hop, the stomach pain gets worse and worse to the point mr ksheep alerts the FAs. Since we are not far from Belgrade I manage to say keep flying but can I please be directed to the ground medical crew on landing. FA keeps saying I must have eaten something bad, can't blame her, I didn't 'fess up I was a doctor there. She said to please wait until everyone else had disembarked before leaving, okie dokie.

Ambos were waiting at the airbridge who barged on heh. I said I was okay to walk off so we did directly to an ambulance, full lights and sirens. If you want to avoid long immigration queues this was a handy way to do it - an officer came onto the ambulance and stamped me while they were checking obs. They have a reasonable first aid room setup at the airport where the medic and I quickly agree that I appear to be having some kind of gallbladder issue (RUQ pain with positive Murphys' for the medicos). Never had before and I was suddenly feeling bad for all the biliary colics I've treated throughout the years.

They arranged a further ambulance to take me to the closest hospital. This ended up being the government hospital where to everyone's credit, I was quickly ushered in and examined. There was some broken English spoken; on the plane having sensed this issue I had written up my own admission note with full medical history etc and used google translate heh. However everyone ignored this, and all my paperwork said is I suffer from migraines (I do not). The ED doc wasn't great in their examination and couldn't elicit any particular pain (didn't really get in under the ribs). Obs were normal (well, my heart rate was 80 which given my resting is 45bpm is relative tachycardia, but I couldn't really express that). Bloods mild neutrophilia, otherwise plum normal. Got into an ultrasound pretty quickly which showed no gallstones or any abnormality. Was given IV PPI and buscopan.

I was sent back to the waiting room. I could see the writing on the wall at this stage; indeed I would be suspecting I was a drug seeker if the shoe was on the other foot. I did eventually ask for pain relief but they said I had already gotten some (nope). I was in so much pain at this stage and was so tired that I asked if I could discharge, go to the hotel so at least I could have some paracetamol and try to sleep. So off to the Hilton Belgrade we went (points stay).

 

[k_sheep]

Overnight had fitful sleep, counting down the hours until I could have my next dose of paracetamol. I was feeling rubbish and guilty for 'wasting' medical resources when clearly I was fine (according to bloods and obs). I was just being a sook and probably just had gastro or something is what my brain decided. Next morning I realised I'd max out my paracetamol dose at 11am and that just wasn't gonna cut it so I called my travel insurance and asked where they would recommend I present to. They didn't have Belgrade on their list, so said they would ask local contacts and get back to me. I waited patiently, but no answer was forthcoming and I couldn't wait so I googled away and found a list of places the UK government recommended and chose one that was a quick tram ride away. Yes despite all this I am still a cheap cough, and when taxis are 15+ euros even for a small trip you bet I'll take the ~80 cent tram fare. Incidentally mrksheep and kcuz took a taxi from the airport to the hospital, and the taxi drivers said surely they are not taking her to the government hospital, and told them they should take me to a different hospital.

But I digress. I hobble to the new hospital, get to reception and plead where is their emergency department .... and they say no they don't have one. My distress clearly showed through, and they took a brief history and sent me into surgical outpatients where I was seen very quickly. Surgeon was lovely and spoke reasonable english - quick exam and he said I think you've got a perforated peptic ulcer. Very quick abdo Xray showed no sign of perforation, but small bowel obstruction. Again, very quickly got me into ultrasound and surgeon did the annoying surgical thing of standing over the sonographers shoulder telling him what to do! Ahh it's the same the world over. Anyway, that showed small gallstones but more importantly that the gallbladder was necrotic and the inflammatory mass had caused the SBO and also was involving the transverse colon.

Apologies for the medical jargon but there's enough docs on here who probably want to know

Anyway it was very quickly ascertained I needed surgery urgently. I asked again for some pain relief and told no, not before surgery. Surgeon reassured me he'd try to do laproscopically but I had my doubts given the extend of surrounding organ involvement.

Fair credit to the Serbians though - I walked into the reception at about 11am, and at about 5pm I was coming out of anaesthetic.

 

[VPS]

Safe recovery. Always a nightmare when you get sick when you're travelling.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Wishing you a speedy recovery @k_sheep and agree with @VPS , it is no picnic ever getting crook, let alone away from home base.

When you are up to it, out of interest, was TI eventually helpful?
Take care.