The ophthalmologist stared into my one good eye and said, “I don’t think you have a sinus infection at all. I believe you have Shingles of the Eye.”
“But I leave for St. Maarten in five days,” I exclaimed.
“Well, that could be a problem.”
That began 24 frenetic hours of visits to my optometrist and family doctor that sent me to the Emergency room to get accelerated to an Eye Specialist. In all, five medical professionals weighed in on my dilemma and it didn’t look good at all. Shingles can cause vision loss and blindness, something I wasn’t willing to gamble on. But the decision was made to take the meds, control my stress (yeah, right) and hope for the best. The day before departure I went back to the specialist for the final decision. It was determined I had a mild case, but it hadn’t peaked yet. I was still a swollen, blistery mess but the shingles hadn’t yet invaded my eyeball and better yet, the retina. After some thoughtful consideration and finding out I had located an ophthalmologist on St. Maarten plus the fact I could get back to Toronto either directly or with connections any day of the week in an emergency, the Specialist said, “It’s up to you but I think you can go.” I was willing to throw in the towel and call the insurance company but after a discussion with my ever-optimistic husband and the fact I had the green light from my doctor, I decided to pack.
We flew on Westjet from Toronto and the flight attendants were happy and wonderful making the 4-hour trip pleasant and quick. We landed in a rainstorm that had quit by the time we boarded the bus to the terminal. We had just beat the big KLM to the gate, so we all breezed through customs (no EHAS – yay! No vaccination certificate check – Woo-hoo!) and because we had only packed Carry-on (for the first time in my life) we had no luggage to pick up and rolled right to William from Triple A car rental outside the door. Paperwork done in a flash, we went for our arrival ritual; a quick stop at Driftwood for a Carib and to watch our plane take off for Toronto – without us. (Insert happy dance emoji here). After stocking up on a few groceries at Maho Market we parked in front of Mary’s Boon, hugged each other, and yelled, “We’re home!”
Dinner was at Mary’s restaurant because we were bushed, and the food was as wonderful as ever. I opted for the Thai curry with shrimp. It had a mouth-watering earthy flavour that ran deep, and it was the kind of sauce that you just couldn’t get enough of. The shrimp were fresh and so tasty along with the al dente vegetables that were drenched in the sauce. I almost licked my plate. Gary had the fish and chips which he gave two thumbs up for its light crispy batter, crunchy fries, and good taste. As we sat there gratefully watching the waves crash up on the shore, I was reminded of TTOL Pat’s message to us all…even when faced with a few challenges, “Just do it! Get on the plane and go – with your doctor’s blessing of course”. Nothing in life is perfect and the start of our getaway was pretty challenging but thanks for being on my shoulder Pat. I owe you one.
I’ve been working on posting pictures (thanks for the advice Fabila) Hope it works!!!!
