FAYE BRENNER
  • Home
  • PHOTOS of the TALES
  • A Chronology of Globetrotting
  • A Wandering Jew
  • SPEAKER
  • Reviews

CobblYwobbles:
​Tales of Travel, LifE, and Anxiety

Photo gallery of tales

Chapter Twelve: Illness

5/1/2020

0 Comments

 
"My psychiatrist diagnosed me as a Hypochondriac. I said, "Okay, can you prescribe me a placebo?"
"Not for Type-2 Hypochondria," he said. "Your type would just fake faking. Then we would have a real problem."

Brian Spellman, If the Mind Fits, Shrink It

1960-1967: Elementary School


​My collywobbles in elementary school led to a great number of absences, ​as evidenced by
my ​report cards. I have no idea what the half day was, but it was a good second quarter!
Picture


1972: First International Trip


​Despite a trip to the emergency room and a return trip to my doctor for what I ​thought was appendicitis, but was actually the collywobbles. I made it to the airport to join my friends, Felice and Karen. 
Picture


2002: London, England


​I was alone in London with a terrible head cold, but I didn't let it stop me. ​I crossed the
​Millennium Bridge for the first time, two years after its opening, ​on my way to the Tate Modern.
Picture
Picture


2002: Athens, Greece

I woke up with vertigo in the middle of my first night in Athens.  It lasted the entire time
I was in Athens and then came back with a vengeance when we returned from a road trip
outside the city.  Still, I managed to see some sites on my own, thanks to medication for
the nausea. Doctor said it was the air conditioner. I say it was Athens. 
Picture
I was staying in the Philippos Hotel, 
conveniently located near the Plaka
​and the Parthenon. 
Picture


​I managed to take a walk along the Plaka, where umbrellas were already advertising the 2004 Olympics​.
Picture


Our Athens city tour later in the week was difficult for me due to the vertigo. Thirteen-year-old
​Zohar, pictured her with a feral cat, held my hand throughout our visit to the Acropolis. 
Picture

Picture


The first time I saw the Presidential Guards in Athens, it was drizzling, and they were in their
​khakis, not their iconic whites. I was excited to see them in their full glory on my return. 
Picture


2008: Scotland



​I had a severe case of the collywobbles on my tour of Scotland for reasons I never knew.  However,
not feeling well just made me more anxious, creating an uncomfortable cycle. I did my best to
​enjoy the land of castles, sheep, and grass. It helped to have some great people on tour with me. 
From the left are Mark; his mother-in-law, Nancy; wife, Jan, and me. We enjoyed excellent whisky at the mill in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. The whisky and new friends alleviated some of my collywobbles.​ ​
Picture

​
Ardoe House Hotel in Aberdeen offered traditional hospitality, food, and a lot of men in kilts.
​I spent a good deal of time on the internet waiting for a response from my doctor. 
Picture
Picture
Picture

​Dr. Christopher Ryan took care of me for over fifteen years, recognizing my anxiety well before I did. However, he couldn't help me from thousands of miles away in Scotland. 

Picture



​I wasn't too sick, however, to try
​the haggis on the last night.It was pretty tasty!



2012: Peru


​Altitude sickness and food poisoning were the culprits on our trip to Peru. Almost
everyone ordered the ceviche in Lima (left). Susan, like most everyone else who ate it,
got sick. I was very glad I ordered the loma saltado (right), avoiding the food poisoning. 
Picture
Picture


Despite a slow ascent along the tour, most of us still got altitude sickness. 
There
were four solutions: Diomax (altitude sickness medication, my doctor wouldn't
prescribe), 
oxygen in a can, oxygen in the hotel, and coca tea. 


Before entering Machu Picchu, we stopped at the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge (below left) to use
the rest rooms.  The entrance to the archeological site only had one toilet. Between the
altitude and the ceviche, people started falling sick soon after we entered Machu Picchu. 
Picture
Picture


​Me at Machu Picchu
Picture


2015: Washington, D.C.


​I wasn't feeling well during my summer and fall tours, but I stuck with them, ​seeing various
doctors when I was back in the DC area.  Drinking and eating were particularly difficult. 
I had to leave the chicken masala on the table and couldn't enjoy our farewell dinner in D.C.
Picture
Picture


​​Three doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. On December 7, 2015
I was diagnosed with a gangrenous gall bladder and had emergency surgery. 
Picture
Picture
Above: My daughter Rachel came to take care of me at home and cooked Jewish penicillin to help me feel better. 

Left: They allowed me to eat a bagel and cream cheese before leaving the hospital.


2020: Cuba


​I traveled to Cuba on March 10. 2020. On March 11, my birthday, the World Health Organization
declared Covid-19 a pandemic. On March 13th the United States government declared a national emergency. On March 15th they sent us home on a chartered flight.  ​I will travel again. 
Picture
Picture
People were just starting to wear masks. When we left there were only four cases of Covid in Cuba, three of them Italian tourists.
​
​Above is my last mojito in Cuba at the Hotel Nacional. 


​Our shortened stay in Cuba ended at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana. This was 
the view from my window. We didn't get to see much of Havana.  With new U.S. government 
sanctions on Cuba 
restricting Americans from staying in Cuban-government owned hotels 
​-- all of them -- it may be a long time until any of us can return. 
Picture


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    CONTENTS

    Preface
    Chapter 1: Flying Foibles
    Chapter 2: Heights and
    ​     Enclosed Spaces

    Chapter 3: Falling
    Chapter 4: Men
    Chapter 5: Penises
    Chapter 6: Women
    Chapter 7: Lost
    Chapter 8: Pickpockets
    Chapter 9: Phantom
         Killers

    Chapter 10: Calamities
    Chapter 11: Crossing the
         Street

    Chapter 12: Illness
    Chapter 13: Toilets
    Chapter 14: Food
    Chapter 15: A Diagnosis
    Afterword
    ​The Tour Directors
  • Home
  • PHOTOS of the TALES
  • A Chronology of Globetrotting
  • A Wandering Jew
  • SPEAKER
  • Reviews