Sick at the Beach
We made it to Hilton Head. It has been a whirlwind 48 hours and I am thankful to finally have enough energy to write.
You see, I have strep throat.
UGH.
Let me start at the beginning.
Friday morning I woke up and said, gosh my throat hurts a little. I took some ibuprofen and moved on.
Mama doesn’t have time to be sick where there is packing to do and a roadtrip to go on.
Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to get on the road and my throat was on fire. We left at 7:30 am and shortly after, I looked at my throat in the mirror, saw how inflamed it was and said, I think I have strep throat.
By mid-day I was really not feeling great, so we stopped at a Wal-Mart to get me some cough drops and more ibuprofen.
We got to our condo provided by ResortQuest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals at 7 pm, with groceries and tired kids in tow. With as awful as I was feeling, I was so thankful to be in such a beautiful condo, with separate rooms for the kids to sleep and a big bed for me to crash in. I can’t imagine if we had been in a hotel – on top of one another, with me really not feeling like my normal self. The condo was already such a gift.
I went to bed shortly after the kids, with plans to go to The Minute Clinic the next day.
We woke up Sunday feeling refreshed after our long drive – though my throat was still really bothing me. Since the clinic didn’t open until 10, we decided to go to the beach first thing, then go into town for lunch and to visit the clinic. We had a leisurely morning in the condo, enjoying cheerios for breakfast and Doc McStuffins on Disney. Then we lathered on some sunscreen and off we went to the beach. Elias was sooo excited.
It was a perfect first morning in Hilton Head. Not a lot of people were at the beach, the ocean water was warm and the sun was hot. We had a blast. I was even able to forget about the pain of swallowing for a bit. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.
We came back to the condo to get cleaned up, Adeline took a little nap and then we headed to town. We had lunch at a local restaurant, Captain Woody’s, which had lots of great reviews, but we thought was a bit overrated. 🙂
We then headed to The Minute Clinic where I was diagnosed with strep throat (just like I thought!). We filled my prescription for penicillin, I took one immediately and we headed back to the condo for naps. I was again so thankful to be staying in a condo where we could really spread out and be comfortable. I went back to the bedroom to sleep and Matthew took care of putting the kids to bed.
At dinner that night, my legs started itching. At first I thought they were some bug bites, but on further inspection we realized they were hives. I seemed to be having an allergic reaction to the medicine. I called my mom and she said that she is allergic to penicillin, and so was her mom.
Are you kidding me??
We left the restaurant and headed back to the condo. Matthew left to go get me some Benadryl and cortisone, and I nursed Adeline and got both kids ready for bed. I went to bed with the chills at 8:30.
Today I am hive free and ready to start feeling better. My throat is still killing me, but I am headed back to The Minute Clinic when they open at 8:30. I’m sure with some new antibiotics I will be well on my way to enjoying the rest of our vacation!
Have you ever been sick on vacation? What did you do?
Disclosure: ResortQuest® by Wyndham Vacation Rentals generously provided the accommodations at our amazing Sea Pines condo and inspired this week’s Hilton Head vacation series.All sight-seeing adventures, opinions and cases of strep throat are my own!
Oh, darling! Take care of yourself. Antibiotic allergies can be serious, so I’m glad you’re getting back to the clinic. Enjoy Hilton Head!
Thanks friend!
Sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well! Stare at these pictures of your cuties and they should help. They look so happy!
They are having a blast, that is for sure. 🙂
Jessica, If you feel like trying a natural remedy ( it works as I have tried this several times ) try to gargle with salted water ( like 2-3 times) a day. Make it REALLY salty. It will HURT your throat white you do it but it will cure the soreness. I get those nasty sore throats almost twice each year and it really works. Hope you will get to enjoy the vacation 🙂
Thanks for the tip. Matthew had me do it!
I had the stomach bug for 24 hrs on our cruise last December. The only time in 5 cruises that I got sick. After an entire day in bed, an $8 bottle of generic awful-tasting pepto bismol from the infirmary, and a lot of Sprite, I felt better. However, I was not able to eat normally for the rest of the trip, nothing tasted good anymore. Feel better soon!! 🙂
I’m so sorry! Isn’t it true that the minute we have a chance to relax, we get sick? I’m praying for you, that you’re able to rest and enjoy the rest of your trip!
Also, just one thing – if they give you another antibiotic, try to get something that doesn’t end in -cillin. 🙂 I have a penicillin allergy, and amoxicillin does the same thing too. Found that out the hard way one time, with three trips to the doctor and a second round of hives on top of the first. Avoid the -cillin’s at all costs! Praying for you!
Yep! I did get a non cillin 🙂
I use to get strep throat all the time until I found cough drops with zinc. At the first sign of strep throat I start popping Cold Eeze Zinc Lozenges and within a day I’m back to normal. Hope this helps!
Great tip. I haven’t had strep in about 20 years and am hoping this is a one time occurrence.
Aww HHi that is where I grew up! Feel better soon!
Oh, Jessica … what a bummer – being sick as a mama is the WORST. And on vacation adds extra insult to injury … I’ve actually been sick on vacation often. i think it has something to do with the mad frenzy to get all the work done, packed and ready to go that once we get there I just … crash with the flu, barfing my brains out at Christmas or whatever … oddly they are still good memories 🙂 What did I do? Sleep. 🙂
Being sick is the worst while you are on vacation!! Hope you start to feel better soon and that you are able to enjoy the remaining time you have at the beach. Thank you for sharing the pictures of your kids. They are soooo cute and precious!! I love the matching sun bonnet and swimsuit:) My first grandbaby is due in August and I am looking forward to being able to take her/him to our cabin next summer and spend time on the beach. God bless and I will be praying for you!
I got her suit and hat from Zulily. Love all the fun and unique stuff they offer.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. Strep’s miserable but hives are horrible too. I’m deathly allergic to penicillan. I get the worst hives, even in my throat. We found that out when I was about 4 years old. It’s tough because everytime I get sick and need antibodies, that’s the go to one. And, oh yes! It reminds me of my honeymoon when I found out I was allergic to Calamari. We were eating tons of it considering we were honeymooning in Hawaii. Sure enough, I broke out with a horrible case of hives the last two days we were there. Luckily the benedyrl took care of it. Get better soon!
I’m so sorry! I had a sinus infection and went to the doctor the Sat. morning we were supposed to be leaving for vacation. It put us behind a couple of hours and he was so mad at me! But sometimes you just can’t tell what it will turn out to be! I had a daughter who got poison ivy and had to go to the quick clinic. It is certainly no fun! Your condo sounds amazing!
That is no fun – glad you were able to get diagnosed before you left!
Yes, our condo is amazing. We are so grateful to have so much space to relax in. It is so enjoyable.
I’ve been sick on vaca, but more importantly, my son was super sick on vaca 2 years ago. The best advice is try to roll with it rather than fight against it. You can still have a great time – but maybe not according to all your original plans. However, fighting against it takes all the fun away. We may go on vacation from our home and daily routines, but we do not go on vacation from ourselves….meaning we are still moms and we are still in mom-mode – FLEXIBLE!! You will still have a great time….and with the right anti-biotics, you should be feeling better soon. Good luck and enjoy!!
Yes, roll with it has been our motto.
Make sure the antibiotic can’t pass through your breast milk since the females in your family have a history of being allergic.
So, so sorry this has happened, Jessica! And now I’m going to fly into mom-grandmom-mode (and mom of a doctor, too!)
I hope you stopped the penicillin immediately and will now get some keflex or cipro or other non-cillin antibiotic. And please be sure to take it all, once you’ve found one that works. We’ve really hampered the good effects of antibiotics in this world by stopping the meds when we feel better instead of when the course of it is over. Okay, end of lecture!
YOUR PICTURES ARE ADORABLE. Love the hat/swimsuit duo. And condos are the only way to fly – room to spread out, ability to make your own meals if you want, lots of places to stick stuff – feels like home.
Which really helps when you’re sick. Be better soon!
Oh Jessica, I am so sorry to hear that you are sick while on vacation. I have been there & know how you feel…I developed a double ear infection while at Disney with my family 3 years ago & it was not fun…couldn’t do anything about it as we couldn’t find a nearby clinic. I made the best of it, as best as I could & got myself to the dr. as soon as we got home…flying with a double ear infection was not fun, thought my ears would blow out, but I survived! lol! HANG IN THERE!!! And feel better SOON!!!!
My throat hurts from just reading this! 🙁 SO sorry this happened while you’re on vacation! I just found out a couple months ago that I am also allergic to penicillin. (I’m 36, so I thought I’d know this by now?!) My face swelled up, eyes almost swelled shut. My mom then told me that both she and my grandma are allergic too. I never knew, either. Thankfully there are lots of other antibiotics and I pray one works for you soon so you can fully enjoy your vacation.
PS: Your kids are SO adorable. 🙂
I’m so sorry you’re sick! That just downright stinks. In college I spent a month traveling through South Africa & Zimbabwe; in Zimbabwe I accidentally drank some tap water (a big no-no!) and had a queasy, churning stomach for a few days on top of a really bad head cold. Basically, I didn’t eat for a couple of days and my cold medicine did nothing to help. There was nothing to do but tough it out, but I figured at least I was having an adventure! 🙂 Hope you feel better soon! The kids are so stinkin’ cute!
Getting sick on a vacation is the WORST! I hope you feel better soon 🙂 We were in the ER a week ago for the same thing, and you probably already know it, but I wanted to remind you that strep is contagious. There’s a good chance your kids and husband may get it too 🙁 Hopefully not.
Oh Jess.
Well.
Yes — tomorrow. And I will pray for grace for today. His all sufficient grace.
Got my eucharisteo bracelet on — you and me together, sister.
I love you so much.
Jessica, I pray you heal soon. My kids and I used to get sore throats often. I found a wonderful spray liquid version of purified silver. Silver helps fight viruses, bacteria and yeast. As soon as I begin sneezing from the weather changing or feel swollen glands, I spray the silver in my mouth (non-toxic and safe to ingest) seven times, approx. 2-3 times a day. This keeps the virus or bacteria from becoming anything more. It even works if you already have a sore throat. My family has not been on any medication (prescription or OTC) in years.
I got sick the last time we went to Virginia Beach. I was fine the first day. But the second day after getting back from the beach, I felt off. I said I would just skip dinner, but my cousin convinced me to go out. Started getting the chills at the restaurant and it went down hill from there. I didn’t see the beach again. I spent most of the week in bed. My cousin wanted to take me to the ER because she was so scared because I was so sick, but having never been to the ER before I was not about to go in a completely different state. (I have since been to the ER) They even left a day early to get me home sooner, bless their hearts. I’m glad you are feeling better! Pray the rest of your trip is uneventful!!
I got strep on vacation to California several years ago. It was NOT fun. Hope you start to feel better soon!
Oh no girl! Take care of yourself…not too much sun or heat. Take advantage of having that condo to relax in! My mom is allergic to penicillin, too.
I’ve had food poisoning en route to Florida (boy that was fun…NOT) many years ago prekids but I recovered fairly quickly after feeling puny the first full day of vacation.
Take care!
p.s. adorable pics!
I’m sorry!!! Yes, I’ve been sick on vacation. A beach trip to Amelia Island, with a 2 year old while pregnant, and husband was attending an all-day conference, including receptions and dinners. I went to an urgent care center, got antibiotics, a cortisone shot, prescription antihistamines and nasal spray. I’m not entirely sure what I technically had, but it ended up being a major sinus issue, with bleeding behind one of my eardrums (hence the cortisone shot). As miserable as I felt, it was so nice to be away from home in a lovely resort villa (with lots of extra bedrooms!) near the beach, etc. So, I just went with it. What else can you do? 😉
Getting sick on holidays is horrible. Unfortunately, it seems like one or all of us gets sick every time we go away. We usually head back to the US (we live in Australia) for several weeks at Christmas, and is like the jetlag and finally “relaxing” all culminate and my husband ALWAYS gets sick and one or the other three of us does as well.
Our worst experience, however, was with our daughter when we were moving back to Australia from Texas. We stopped in Los Angeles for four days of family R&R before heading back to Aus. We just crashed, literally, at our family beach house – so run down and exhausted from getting the house packed for our third huge international move in as many years, saying goodbyes, not wanting to leave, etc. So my hubby and I broke open a good bottle of red wine on the first night, enjoyed the whole thing together, and as we were going to bed our daughter woke up with croup! We knew exactly what it was because she’d had it several times before.
So we were sitting on our bed with our little girl crying, looking up local ERs if we needed to go, and lamenting the fact that I’d left our medicine kit at my grandmother’s house (30 minutes drive away). And then it hit us – neither of us could drive as we’d had more than 2 glasses of wine a piece. We felt like the worst parents in the world. We managed to get her cough under control with cool air and hot shower steam rooms. We certainly learnt out lesson, however, and even when we’re at home now we never have it where at least one of us can’t drive.
I share this not because we’re alcoholics (far, far from it, we just like a nice glass of wine sometimes) but to let others know about our experience – we were so in the moment of “yeah, no packing, we can relax” that we didn’t think about the consequences of “worse case scenario”.
oh dear
do rest up and i hope that you are feeling loads better soon. So glad that you managed to get some great pictures at the beach.
it might have been your bodies way of telling your to rest up. when i was teaching full times i used to get migraines on friday afternoons!
once on holiday in italy my husband (pre kids thankfully) got sick with what we thought was heartburn but the pain was so intense we ended up at the hospital in the middle of the night. it was terrifying as we spoke no italian and they admitted him and i had to go back to the hotel. he had miopericarditis (sp?) and spent a week in a florence hospital but being away from loved ones was the hardest part!
rest up , julie
I’m so sorry to hear that you are sick! Strep is terrible as an adult especially.
One time we were going to visit my sister who had just moved into her new home and was hosting us for Thanksgiving. The day before we were to leave I became very ill and was diagnosed with pnemonia and bronchitus. I had a terrible fever, and was on antibiatics, steriods and a multitude of other stuff. I could barely move. My husband said that we needed to stay home but I didn’t want to let my sister down as it was her first time away from home and we were the closest family to her, so we traveled the 6 hours to see her.
When we got to her house I got on her couch and passed out! Later I kept her company as she prepared dinner while the guys took all the kids to the local zoo so I could rest in peace.
We stayed for a few days and by the time we were ready to leave I was feeling better. I was and still am glad that we went because it made my sister so happy. The good thing is that you will probably be feeling better within a day or two at the most. Good luck!
Sick on vacation? That stinks. Hope you are feeling better. And I must say the pictures are stinkin’ adorable.
just catching up on your blog and saw that you have strep! Ohhhh…ugh!! And on vacation too – the.worst. I can now sympathize, because I am waiting for the minutes to tick down on the clock until my husband can get home from work so I can go to an urgent care — my throat is on fire & neck hurts to touch, swallowing is agony, achy joints, and my head is pounding….all pointing to the obvious, strep, a first for me (I realize the clinic will diagnose, so maybe something else? but still, miserable!). What mama has time, right?! and my husband leaves for week-long business trip on Sunday! Argh!!
anyway, sending you love & lots of sympathy from Michigan.
PS – I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pics of your babies on the beach. Gorgeous!!!
I am so sorry you got sick! Hope you are continuing to feel better!
It was not until you asked your question at the end that I realized just how many vacations I have been sick on. Even to go as far as ER visits, ugh! So I’ll just tell you about the worst one. I went to England as a senior in HS and noticed my eye getting red throughout the day. One of my classmates even made a comment at the airport but even my parents thought nothing of it. By the time we got to England I could barely open my eyes. It was horrible. Stupidly I got no medical attention while I was there and just gritted through the pain. I didn’t want to miss anything! By the time I got home, the worst was over but not only did I have conjunctivitis in both eyes but a double eye infection as well. Ugh!