Awoke in the morning early. Had a shower and started to get more and more dizzy. When it was time to go down to breakfast, I started throwing up from being motion sick.
We had tickets for the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel for 230 pm. We hung out at the convent and I rested in the hopes that I would feel better. I was really unwell and struggling to walk from the dizziness, but was determined to carry on, and would not hear of anyone missing out on the experience. So off we went.
At the bus stop, I threw up. Got on the bus, I threw up. Got off the bus and got a soda before staggering to the museum. Lots of queuing and feeling awful, it was quite hot. Becky was trying to catch up to the guys to tell them to wait for me, and got yelled at by an tour guide. “You are a guest in this country!”
Got to security inside and was going to throw up again so they let me through and I raced to the toilets, but did not make it = threw up on the stairs 10 feet from the toilet. Very kind people helped me. I feel like the people we met in Rome redeemed my first impression of Italian people.
Managed to clean myself up a bit and headed into the museum. Not long into it though and I felt like I needed some help. We asked and they sent for a doctor. The doctor and nurse arrived. Took my blood pressure, low. They took my temp, my blood glucose, oxygen, pulse. They gave me some rehydration powder and some anti nausea meds and offered for us to have a wheelchair. Colin asked them if the Pope could just come and pray for me, but apparently he wasn’t feeling well himself. So, I spent the day in a wheelchair getting wheeled around by Jude and Zane. Everyone was so kind and gracious. I felt so sick and felt bad about all the bother. Apparently what I had was called, mal de debarquement syndrome, which is basically reverse sea sickness. It means you can’t get your land legs back.
We got to go into the Sistine Chapel a secret back way and skipped the queue which was an advantage of being in a wheelchair. We saw so many sculptures and works of art. What an incredible collection of art – some of it amazing, some of it incredibly odd. I gave up control of taking photos while we were there and I wasn’t able to enjoy the art as much as I would have liked, but was feeling a bit better at the end.
Gave up the wheelchair and headed to St Peters’ Basilica. I sat down in the square while everyone else went to see if they could get inside. Sadly they couldn’t. After that, we split up and G&B went to a restaurant that a friend recommended and we ended up at McDonalds! I didn’t eat anything.
Made it back to the convent and I took some Aleve PM, put on a sleep mask and proceeded to sleep for nearly 10 hours. Felt much better in the morning, though not completely dizzy-free.
Lamppostings 