Unexpected 10 Year Anniversary Trip to Mexico

I knew I wanted to share the recap of our 10 Year Anniversary vacation to Puerto Vallarta on the blog, but I pictured this story being told a little differently.

Our trip was supposed to be everything we could ever want in a vacation—a beach side, all-inclusive paradise, with a view we could look at for days, side-by-side with the one we love, and a delicious Margarita in our hands.

It started off that way. But we never could have expected what happened 4 hours after making it to the resort.

The First Signs

I could tell that Brett wasn’t his usual “I’m on vacation” self when we headed to the swim-up bar and he was extremely quiet when we met a few fellow travelers. Looking back, I should have sensed something and asked him if he was ok.

When we eventually went up to the room to take a break from the sun and get ready for dinner, his slightly-there stomach pain was getting more noticeable. Then, the debilitating pain came on so extremely fast, he started making me nervous. He was in the bathroom, writhing in pain and eventually I had to call the resort doctor. There wasn’t even enough time for him to make it up to the room before Brett exclaimed that he needed to go to a hospital.

We rushed downstairs to the valet where they called us a cab and took us to the nearest hospital, which was about 5 minutes away.

The ironic thing about this whole situation, is that Brett had woken up one morning before our trip and decided to look into our health insurance policy for traveling abroad just in case “something were to happen.” It was a blessing and a curse at first, because when we got to the hospital and found out it wasn’t one of the two on his list that takes our insurance, it was all he could think about. Wishing I could do more for him, I spoke with the front desk to discuss our options and the insurance company assured me that we had the coverage to file for reimbursement. I promised Brett we were good to stay there and with much reluctance, he gave in to the reality of our situation. I gave a swipe of the ol’ credit card and the tests began.

Lots of what followed was a blur, with calls to the insurance company, blood work, and waiting on lab results for what seemed like hours. Still having no idea what was wrong, we were disappointed when the doctor told us she was keeping us there overnight. The only other thing I remember about that night was shivering on a hospital couch and poor Brett waking up throughout the night, still in a lot of pain.

Happy 10 Years

The next morning was our Anniversary.

There are only two things I remember about that morning. 1) On a more positive note, the most delicious cappuccino I’ve ever had from the cafeteria and 2) the doctor telling us Brett had to stay another night.

The gut-wrenching blow of those words hit us both so hard. I was holding back the tears from pouring down my face so badly that it hurt. But I couldn’t let them out because I knew Brett was feeling even worse. That was the last thing in the whole entire world he wanted.

He insisted that I go back to the resort and enjoy it as much as I could. I went back to gather some of his personal items, cell phone chargers, etc. and the property was kind enough to shuttle me back and forth.

I was in the most beautiful place I could imagine, but it felt so incomplete. So lonely. Brett and I were keeping each other posted throughout the day. He had more rounds of tests and a CT scan scheduled. I had joined in on water aerobics at the pool. Around 5pm, I decided to have a Margarita. It was Happy Hour after all, and that workout was hard! I didn’t bring my phone with me to the pool bar, and I will regret that decision forever.

During my time at the bar (when 1 Margarita turned into 4) the unthinkable happened.

I made it back to my chair in time to answer a phone call from Brett. He was heading into surgery to get his appendix removed.

I ran like a cheetah to the room to change and charged the car to get back to the hospital like I was attacking prey. We both never thought that Brett would be getting emergency surgery in a foreign country on our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Talk about a bucket list item right there.

Post-Op + First Full Day

Thankfully everything went really well and the surgeon did a great job. Take it from me, I saw the pictures of the inside of Brett’s abdomen. Now that is love. (By the way, that thing HAD to go!)

The best part about post-op was seeing Brett no longer in pain. I was so happy. He was, too.

We were finally released at around 3pm on Sunday. The only thing that kept us in good spirits was our Fantasy Football League and the hospital playing NFL GameDay Live.

When we got back to the resort it sunk in for both of us that this is what it should have been like—even with Brett on the mend, not being able to swim, drink or eat spicy Mexican food.

Our first and last full day at the resort was absolutely amazing. Brett and I packed it all in and tried to savor every second there and with each other. We ate breakfast at the buffet, spent the entire morning at the beautiful spa, had a unique lunch of ceviche and tacos, and laid by the pool admiring the ocean view and mountainous landscape. We had rescheduled our dinner at the Japanese restaurant and slept in our amazingly comfortable hotel bed.

The story I thought I was going to write was full of travel tips and vacation ideas, excursions, cute outfits, all the Mexican cuisine and beautiful photos in front of unique architecture. But instead, Brett and I proved that together we can conquer anything. We learned that it’s all about who you are with that makes any experience special. And to appreciate each other and love each other no matter the circumstances. It’s easy to get carried away with social media and what everyone else will think about your vacation. But we were reminded of what is truly important. Being with the one you love, because that is what is going to truly matter in the end.