Maybe this sounds silly but I dread holiday time. I should feel lucky that we can afford going abroad to a beautiful Croatian island for a week but I simply can't look forward to it. A few years ago, my son got a very bad stomach bug in Dalmatia and he needed an ambulance, it was horrible. He had such high fever that he had a seizure and was unconscious for a very long time, the ambulance driver kept shouting in English that he won't make it alive. Once in hospital they needed half an hour to find a doctor to check him, it was midnight. When they finally did, they sent him to the pediatrics ward without an explanation. We were far away from home, nobody spoke English or any other language (even doctors) and we had no clue what was going on. Thank god he got better but they kept us 5 days there without explaining why he needed so long. My husband was driving back to the resort but I stayed there the 5 days and they were pure torture. I didn't have access to food and water and couldn't leave my 5 year old alone, so my husband was bringing me things I needed. They didn't give us towels and there was no toilet or shower except for the toilet at the end of the hall, shared with 20 other rooms/patients with all sorts of infectious diseases. I can't describe how filthy the toilet and the shower were. I had to dry him with t-shirts and then let the t-shirts dry. The first two days, only one doctor came to the room (to sign a paper). Nurses came and went without talking to us, I mean, awful. 10 years later and I still cry when I think about it. After that experience I swore to never set foot in Croatia again, ever.
But... my son loves the country and my husband too. He is 15 now, healthy and stronger and I know he's almost an adult and I shouldn't worry so much but I can't help it. It's horrible to live with this fear and not being able to enjoy traveling. Some days I worry even when we leave home to walk to the center of the city, it's crazy. My doctor prescribed me alprazolam and it does help but it is addictive and I'm afraid of withdrawal so I try not to take it.
Please, tell me I'm crazy for worrying so much about the health of a 15 year old boy and also tell me your experiences when one of your kids got sick abroad, I know I will be called crazy but I'm really struggling. I suspect this is a consequence of the trauma we lived 10 years ago but I don't understand why this year is much much worse than the previous years....