Clearly Alive: Our Last Weekend In Malaysia: Part One

Exactly one year ago, I was hospitalized in Malaysia for an Adrenal Crisis triggered by food poisoning. Although I alluded to the adventure on my facebook page shortly after it happened, I never wrote about it on this blog. I believe I finally have the strength to document that adventure. Please note that this is an incredibly difficult experience for me to recall.

To give some background, my company sent several of us on a six month international work assignment scattered throughout several different countries. For our last weekend in Malaysia, one of my coworkers decided to visit us from his work assignment in the Philippines. This gave us an excuse to do all of the tourist things that we had previously neglected to complete.

Friday night, we went to the Kuala Lumpur night market. I found it hilarious as the hawkers attempted to sell me noticeably fake jewelry and purses because "Every girl needs this." Actually, I don't. Please leave me alone and please do not shout things directly at my face.

On Saturday, we went to Central Market to finish up our Christmas shopping. We decided to eat lunch in their food court. I have mentioned previously how incredibly difficult it was to find gluten free food in Malaysia. It was a large guessing game in which I just hoped I did not get sick. I was excited to see Chicken Rice because for the most part that is a safe meal for me. I decided to eat at a different restaurant than both my husband and my co-worker. In hind-sight, this turned out to be a very bad move.

After we finished up our lunch, we headed to a butterfly garden. It was incredibly hot outside and we were doing a great deal of walking. I began to develop a slight headache. This should have been a warning sign to me, but I chose to ignore it.

We continued walking all around this out door park. We found another flower garden and eventually discovered the National Planetarium. I welcomed the air conditioned break, as my headache was approaching a migraine status. I tried to take more medicine and drink more water, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect.

After we finished up at the planetarium, I requested that we headed back towards our home. We could take the monorail back to the Pavilions mall where I knew of a safe restaurant to eat at for dinner. That monorail ride was incredibly difficult for me as my migraine continued to worsen. I somehow made it to the restaurant.

My co-worker, husband, and I all ordered food. When my food came I was only able to swallow two bites. I was scared that I would instantly vomit it all back up. I asked the waiter to immediately box up my meal and told my husband that I had to return home. It was only a ten minute walk and I assured him that I could do it by myself. He should continue dinner with my co-worker. I might have down played how horrible I was feeling because I did not want to worry my visiting co-worker.

I somehow managed to walk home even though my migraine was getting progressively worse and I was having a difficult time seeing things. As soon as I was back in the safety of our hotel room, I took a zofran, increased my cortisol pump rates, and even swallowed some oral HC in an attempt to avoid a full out adrenal crisis.

My husband soon returned with my co-worker who had plans to meet up with another one of our co-workers to experience some Kuala Lumpur night life. I kindly requested my husband to remain with me because I knew I was in bad shape and I was scared. I was incredibly dizzy, horribly nauseated, and extremely sensitive to any form of sensory input, be it lights, sounds, or smells. I could not see straight and my migraine made it near impossible for me to move.