Growing up with a food allergy can sometimes be
difficult. I am blessed with a food
allergy that is not in many regular foods.
I don’t have to deal with peanuts or wheat or anything else that is
typically in every day food. Instead, I
was blessed with a severe allergy to walnuts and pecans. I have only ended up in the hospital once and
have never been forced to use my epi-pen.
Yesterday was probably the scariest day of my life. Even now when I recount it, I get teary eyed
thinking about how serious the situation was and how if I didn’t have people
around me that acted fast and got me the help I needed, I may have died. Now that I’ve started on that bright note, I
can start from the beginning.
We had
to be up REALLY early that day. I woke
up at about 5:00 am so we could eat breakfast and get on the bus by 6:00
am. We then drove to Dachau, a
concentration camp in Germany. We were
only able to spend about two hours there, though I wanted to spend a lot more
time there. It was a very somber and
dark experience, but one I appreciated greatly.
I have a better understanding of exactly what these poor prisoners went
through and the atrocities that were committed on that hallowed ground. We saw a reconstruction of the barracks and
the foundations of all 30 barracks were still standing, though the buildings
were torn down shortly after the liberation of the camp in 1945. At the beginning, each prisoner had their own
bed and a small shelf for personal items, starting in 1940, the camp was
incredibly overcrowded and they modified the bunks to be one long bed and they
would shove many prisoners onto each row.
It hurts my heart so much to see how these people were forced to live.
We also
saw the crematorium and the gas chamber.
There is no evidence that the gas chamber was ever used to kill humans,
we were able to walk into the room and I definitely got goosebumps and tears
thinking about how it may not have been used at this camp, but was used at many
others. They actually had to build a
second crematorium, called barrack X, because their previous one was not
burning the bodies fast enough. The
experience at Dachau gave me a renewed sense of respect for all those forced to
live here. I’m appalled that something
like this would ever happen, but there is a sign in the camp that says, “Never
Again.” I hope to never hear of
something like this ever happening again.
Prague
We
boarded the bus for Prague and I took a small nap as I was really emotionally
drained after Dachau. We arrived in
Prague and had difficulties getting the coach to the hotel because we were
actually in the city instead of on the outskirts like we have been in the
past. We ended up just grabbing a few
things and walking to the hotel (only about a 10 minute walk). We got our room keys, dropped off our stuff
and headed into town. We knew we only
had a few hours in Prague because the next morning we needed to head off to
Berlin. Julia, a girl in my program,
mentioned there were these really amazing dessert cone things and that we
should all get one if we had a chance. I
had my eye out for a stand but was wanting to wait and go with her to the place
she went before. We visit the clock
tower but didn’t ever see it go off because we went on the half hour instead of
the hour and didn’t feel like coming back later. We then headed for the bridge, I got my
postcard (I’ve gotten one from every place we’ve visited). Finally, we found the place Julia had
mentioned and I was excited because I was rather hungry and they looked
delicious. Basically, it was dough
wrapped around a pole, deep fried, and then rolled in cinnamon, sugar, and
apparently walnuts. I picked one with
strawberries and whipped cream and it tasted amazing. I noticed the outside looked like it had
something besides cinnamon and sugar on it but I figured it was crumbs or
something to give it a little something extra.
We started eating and walked toward the bridge, which was right in front
of us. We’d made it onto the bridge, got
a picture, and I immediately knew something was wrong. I stopped eating and got Bailey’s attention
(another girl on my program) to tell I had definitely eaten something I shouldn’t
have. I guess I should mention there was
a man following our group and he started giving everyone a bad feeling, so me
starting to have a reaction actually gave everyone an excuse to go the opposite
direction and get away from him. I told
everyone I’d probably be fine and didn’t want to derail anyone’s plans. Julia insisted I take my Benadryl and we take
a cab back to the hotel. I didn’t want
to pay for it and said we could walk, Julia said she would pay for it and
shoved me in the first taxi we could find.
Bailey and Macie came with and helped keep me calm and breathing. I took both doses of Benadryl and texted my
mom. While in the taxi I noticed my eyes
were starting to swell. At least,
underneath my eyes did. I called my mom
as soon as I got wi-fi in the hotel and she tried her best to calm me down. She was surprised I had not taken my epi-pen
and gotten to a hospital and when she could hear how much I was having a hard
time breathing she started to cry. My
mom never really gets emotional in these situations, she stays calm and gets me
help. Being in a different country mean
she was completely helpless so I totally understand why she started crying and
once I heard her I knew I was in big trouble.
She demanded I take the epi-pen while on the phone with her. I always told myself I couldn’t stab myself
with it if the time ever came, but I actually did it despite shaking and crying
like crazy. Bailey and Macie said a
quick prayer for me and then Macie held my hand as I did it. It didn’t hurt at all but that is probably
because I had so much adrenaline running through me and was focusing on breathing.
The front desk people quickly saw how bad I was getting (my
lips and eyes were still swelling) and called me an ambulance. The ambulance came quickly but we sat outside
the hotel for about 40 minutes before actually going to the hospital. They hooked me up to an IV (not sure what it
was because we were having a hard time communicating with each other). The man knew a little English but had no idea
what my epi-pen was for and what I was actually allergic to as I don’t know how
to say walnut in Czech! That was
definitely my bad! Once I described tree
nuts they understood more. They
stabilized me and another lady came in to get all my information. Once all that had been done we headed to the
hospital. Now, being used to the great
medical care in the US, this hospital was really sketchy. Their ER was basically empty except for one
person. They sat me in a wheelchair and
I waited alone for someone to come help me.
The nurse waited a while and then brought me to a bed. She started an EKG on me (an ancient one with
suction cups and whatnot) and then just left me there, not really saying
anything. They brought in a girl that
spoke better English so I could explain what happened, I finally had my phone
so I could show them a picture of what I ate and they all finally
understood! This language barrier thing
really made everything so much more difficult.
Julia called the branch president and was able to get missionaries there
to give me a blessing. Dr. Taniguchi did
my blessing and I’ve never felt peace immediately come to me that quickly. He said I’d make a full recovery and be able
to finish the study abroad and to really pray about WHY I was on this program
and to be an example for others. I’m so
happy I was able to find worthy priesthood holders to give me that extra
strength I needed to get through my hospital visit. Afterwards, the nurse hooked me back up to an
IV and I laid there for a few hours while they observed me and I was able to go
back to the hotel. I got my Zyrtec and
my cute roommate Ashlee talked to me until I fell asleep.
We were
up super early the next day and I was exhausted. I didn’t really sleep on the bus or anything
and I still looked like an alien, but I was alive and breathing just fine. I’m so grateful that despite a language
barrier and my own stupid stubbornness, I had people around me that got me the
help I needed quickly and prayed countless times that I would be ok.
So
there you have it, possibly the scariest day of my life. I’m going to be extra careful the rest of the
trip and from now on if I have a walnut I’ll immediately use it and head for
the hospital, instead of waiting as long as I did. J Always something to learn in this crazy life
of mine! I just feel bad I gave my mom
quite a scare as she waiting for updates on me and talked me through it despite
being in a different country. I’m so
grateful for her. Wish me luck for the
rest of the trip! ;)
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