Pre-travel mishaps

I have had 3 mishaps that were dramatic to me at least.
The night before I was flying to England, I was talking to my Mother on the phone and I said, oh no, I have a sore throat! And, sure enough, I had a full-blown cold for the entire trip, 11 days. I had done all the planning and made the arrangements, etc. I assured my friend that no matter how miserable I felt, we were going to do everything planned. And we did. Every night I crashed into bed and I ate lots of chicken soup and ate cough drops and took cold medicine. Wouldn't you know it, I was almost over my cold by the time we got home.

The day of my flight to Istanbul, as I was eating my breakfast at my office desk, a crown popped off a back molar tooth. Thank goodness it was a weekday so I called the dentist and rushed over to have her cement it back on.

About 10 days before my flight to Tel Aviv this March, I had an infected big toe nail. Luckily, I saw a doctor immediately who treated it and by the day of my departure, the toe nail was nicely healed.

Hope your injuries heal nicely before you leave. When do you leave for Europe?

At the suggestion of my nurse practitioner daughter, I took a low dose of aspirin two days ahead of flying to Europe for the purposes of preventing deep vein thrombosis. I was to continue taking the low dose over the next few days. Within 30 minutes of the first dose, I had an allergic reaction to the aspirin. I was in bed the whole next day. I did not think I would be able to fly out the following day. I managed to go on the trip but my limbs were covered with red spots. From the way I looked I was concerned the airline would think I had some contagious illness and I would be barred from flying.

Sorry both you and your husband are injured for your trip. It will be the trip to remember. Get well soon.
My injury wasn't horrid, just annoying. Three weeks before my long anticipated trip to Italy, I felt something pull in my knee when climbing through the fence, as in why would I walk all the way around to the gate to feed the horse's hay when I can just crawl through the fence. It's an old injury that occasionally acts up (horse related of course) but never this severe or this long. It felt a little better by trip time, OK on hills but the stairs in Italy were rough. I walked down and up them like the little old lady I've convinced myself I'm not. Fortunately I packed both a knee brace and an ankle brace (didn't wear the latter) and lots of Advil.

I was chasing my 2 year old nephew, you know the "I'm gonna get you"
routine.

What would have happened if you had gotten him?

The day before flying to Ireland, I was walking my (80-lb) dog, who got spooked by a loud noise and pulled me off my feet. I landed hard on the pavement. After being x-rayed, I toured Ireland with a purple/yellow/green eye, multiple scrapes, and an almost-broken hand. I got used to saying "You should see the other guy!" and wincing every time someone shook my hand. It was worth every twinge and quizzical look. Plus, I discovered very useful finger bandaids at the chemists' in Ireland! They wrap around your finger twice so they won't fall off. I still have a few (just in case).

Well, my mother sure looked a mess when she was all bitten up by bed bugs. (In a nice enough hotel in St. Louis!) Good thing that was our last stop. Now I wonder what people do when the bed bugs are in the middle of a multiple hotel trip??

I actually removed my daughter's stitches from a minor procedure when we were in Lauterbrunnen! We double checked with our doctor before we left, had the right "tools", and emailed the dr a picture of the area before removal. A few medical professionals have told me that with sterile equipment, for the most part, stitches from minor procedures don't really need a dr to remove them. Given its a lip, I'd check for your dr.'s opinion.

Well my incident isn't medical. I'm always nervous as we near a trip about dental problems or small injuries, then worry that it could become a self fulfilling prophecy.

This is our non medical incident.

I had the day off of our night flight to France in 2011. My husband was working a half day. I was packing my things, and had newly hemmed pants, still in cellophane from the tailor. I ripped open the wrap to put them in my case only to find they weren't my pants. I zoomed back to the tailor and luckily the other person hadn't picked up my pants.

Same trip, earlier that day, took the car for an oil change. Guy told me my one tire was so low I was heading for a flat. Would we have noticed if we hadn't had an oil change? Maybe yes, maybe no, but I still get edgy thinking of us stuck on the highway with a flat missing our flight.

Needless to say we were pretty tense heading out for the airport for that one.

Oh my goodness! Your stories!

@Jules m- that’s a great idea- we’ll check with his doctor.

Well, my sister texted me, and I hope she’s right, “You got the bad stuff out of the way so now you’re going to have a fantastic trip!”

The ducklings were at fault, my husband carpels (hand and wrist) were in a cast prior to an organized cycle trip. The organization said "We do not know if our insurance will let you cycle?" Next moment, my medically trained hubby had cut his cast off! We cycled! His carpels are fine!

I will hear no horns for this one: I am beginning to depend on my cell phone for files, it is two days prior to travel, my internal cell battery is dying. Oh, no! Turned out to be the charging cable.

I feel for those who have had serious "black and blue" incidents.

Clean stitches are easy to remove. See if urgent care can give you a removal kit and show you how to do it.

https://m.wikihow.com/Remove-Stitches

We used a clean tweezer and fingernail scissors (boiled and swabbed with alcohol), cut the knots and then pulled on the threads. She said it tickled.

I used to do the stitch removal for the surgeon I once worked for. Easy enough to do but lips may stay swollen and tender longer than some regions, so ask how to assess 'readiness' and if it can be delayed a day if seems swollen.
Give it a try.
Alternatively, I wonder if a Pharmacist would do it? They are handy and do a lot more doctoring than they do here.

Don’t cut the knots. Cut near the knot.

Well, many years ago I fell against a doorknob and not only had a split lip I also lost a tooth and cracked my jawbone. I was a mess. Now, this wasn't right before a trip but when it came time to get the stitches out I declined to go back to the doctor and took them out myself. I just needed a sharp little embroidery scissors and a tweezers (both of which I sterilized before using) - it's not that hard. You just have to make sure they are loose and easily pulled out. If you have to force them in any way then you would need to have a doctor or nurse do it.

Years ago, I had an allergic reaction in my eye the night before a trip to Italy. I saw the eye doctor right before leaving and besides prescribing drops, he told me not to wear my contact lenses for several days. I was mortified because my glasses were thick, old and very ugly! I ended up switching back to the contacts earlier than I should have which fortunately was OK! Lesson learned, I make sure I have a stylish pair of glasses just in case!

Last fall we were going on a 10 day Panama Canal journey cruise. On the afternoon before we were to leave the next morning, I had a sudden onset of pain that I knew immediately was kidney stones. At first, I thought I would try to tough it out but within 10 minutes the pain was so intense I was throwing up and screaming in pain. (If you have ever had them, you know what I mean.) We went to the ER but the doc said he thought I would soon pass it, so gave me pain meds to take with me.

The stone, now nick named "Adolph" after Hitler because of the pain he caused, stayed around the entire trip. Some days were not bad, but twice I had to go to the ships infirmary for additional shots. Luckily the bad days were at sea days, so we did not miss any tours. But there were nights of intense night sweats and just plain agony.

We are going to Europe in 31 days. PLEASE, no mishaps!!!!

Thanks for clarifying Diane. I did not cut on the knot, I cut at the knot, right before it.

Those toddlers will get you every time! Before leaving for NYC I was playing with my 2 yr old nephew and he head bumped my mouth, at the time it just really hurt...about a week later flying home I had a tremendous tooth ache and my lips start swelling, turns out the trauma had reached the root, caused a nasty infection and I landed up needing major dental work, and eventually lost my two front teeth (funny when you tell people your front teeth are fake they also confess to having fake front teeth)..Oh and I was only 22.

Two years ago had a trip planned to Europe and 6 months before developed another case of Planters Factitious, knowing my last case took about a year to completely heal. I threw the book at it, physical therapy, icing, wore the brace to bed...you name it and I was healed about two weeks before the trip, but during the trip made sure to hang my heel off any curb I found to stretch that calf.

Sitting here in Chicago, after a 28 day trip to Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Romania. 2 weeks before the trip, I tripped on a cord in my office, Banged the knee pretty good. Took acetominophen throughout the trip, and went into a couple of hot tubs. I was and remain gimpy.

Also - my husband is going to need the stitches removed when we are in
Lauterbrunnen Valley. Anyone visited the urgent care, or a doctor
there? Expensive? Should we wait til we are in Munich?

I have seen a doctor in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were staying in Wengen with my parents when I got a bug bite that started to spread, which made my mother panicky, so I saw a local doctor. I will always remember the incredible view of the mountains out his office window, and how he paused while speaking to us to watch a helicopter (which was bringing supplies to the village). It wasn't expensive at all, but then I had Swiss health insurance. He was very professional, and I doubt a visit would break the bank, but I wouldn't know for sure. I do know that our village doctor was quite happy to make house calls to remove stitches from my Caesarean; he even came when my husband and I both had the flu. It was so nice not having to haul our sick selves to his office.

And yes! we had a pre-travel mishap! It all worked out, but ... we had arranged to have lessons in tower-bell ringing at an old church in England last December. I had emailed the tower captain, blithely saying that my husband and I were fit, with no problems climbing ladders and stairs (reaching the ringing chamber often involves a vertical climb up a tall ladder clinging to the side of an ancient tower, and then through a trap door; or up a narrow circular staircase) or waving our arms about (ringing a bell that can weigh up to two tons or more does require some strength and full range of motion of one's arms). Well ... a few days before our trip my husband got a weird cramp or pulled a muscle and he was limping about and even considered canceling our trip (b/c an 11-hour flight would have been agony), AND I slept funny one night and when I woke up I could NOT move one of my arms to save my life! We emailed the tower captain and we decided to meet as planned and see how things went. My husband got an exit-row seat (and was already on the mend) for our long flight, and my arm got better and better, such that we were able to proceed as planned. My husband was able to climb the ladders up to the ringing chamber and then to the bell chamber, but declined to go onto the church's roof to see the view; and it turned out that between our trips up the bell tower and our holiday flat which had a staircase to the bedrooms and loo, my husband got "free" physical therapy and that hastened his return to normal functioning. A few days later for the start of his leg problem and he might not have even survived the plane flight, though. Luckily it all worked out, but there were a few anxious moments.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

I was on the same trip as horsewoofie. Three weeks before our trip I got up too quickly to get something for my granddaughter and launched myself across the room (only time I’ve been fast) and landed knee first on their kitchen floor. The trip was a must do because we were traveling with my daughter’s father-in-law. So I got conscientious about Advil, tart cherry juice, turmeric and vitamin D, threw on an elastic knee brace and crossed my fingers. I found myself watching my step on the cobblestones and uneven surfaces, but other than the Spanish Steps in Rome, I managed pretty well.

The day before our first trip to Paris, my back tooth hurt something fierce. Went to the dentist, who sent me ASAP to the root canal doctor (forget the medical title). Best doctor in the world. After the procedure, and learning about my pending trip, he loaded me up with pain meds and prescribed lots of soft pastries and wine. A few years later, same thing happened again before a trip to Vienna. Because of these emergency procedures the day before a European vacation, I am better at having things ready to go a few days in advance... just in case.