We have been planning a trip to the Dominican Republic since December when my dear wife decided that we needed some reward for us for going through a few months of uncertainty.

This was well before the drama that unfolded in 2019 when many Americans mysteriously died in DR.

As the months and days grew closer to our own departure, we also grew in the level of nervousness. Would we be able to enjoy a week with bounty beaches without getting dragged into some mini bar scare?

Well, the day emerged and we flew out to DR. Kids excited. Adults were excited. We deserved this vacation.

Everything went rather smoothly all the way to opening the door to our hotel room. No incidents and friendly people.

Later that evening, on our first day at the resort, I suddenly developed severe pain in my lower back.

I had only had one caipirinha and nothing from the mini bar!

This was like giving birth, despite never actually done it myself of course, and the pain would go away.

After six hours of pain, I asked my wife to call the hotel doctor.

She was not able to do much and sent me to the emergency room. Slightly awkward as my Spanish was well below expectations of the local medical team and I was not family with the quality of DR hospitals.

One thing to note is, DR has a rather interesting take on time, and that carries through to their doctors too.

After almost two hours in the ER, and begging to get pain killers, my wishes were finally granted.

Getting drugs was heaven. The pain slowly floated away in a small purple unicorn, into cloud loco land. Wow, it was awesome to be rid of the pain.

I waited a few more hours and then the doctor informed me that I was about to give birth to a kidney stone and that I had a slight infection/inflammation as a result of this little stone.

The doctor admitted me to the hospital to get 24 hours of antibiotics, IV, and painkillers.

NOT my ideal start to our family vacation.

Nevertheless, I was delighted being treated and staff were friendly. Not timely but always smiling.

That evening DR was hit by a heavy thunderstorm and the power went in the hospital. Thankfully there was a fraction of electrical medical gear in the DR hospital, but anything that was connected to electricity started to beep.

Next morning I was discharged with a week’s worth of antibiotics and painkillers.

Now the vacation could start … again!

It was rather scary to go through this incident, especially as I was in hospital less than a year ago and also because my Spanish was well below their expectations.

I’ll visit my doctor when I get back home, just as a follow-up and make sure all is well internally.