I went to Sicily in October 2024. It was a long-delayed trip that Tony (my late husband) and I had wanted to take for our 20th anniversary, which was in 2020. We loved to travel and went to many places together. Our established pattern was to go on a big trip, then save for about five years or so, then go on another one, and so on. Some of the highlights were New Zealand, South Africa, Great Britain, Spain and Eastern Europe. Fantastic memories.
I had been to Italy with my family when I was in my 20s, but Tony had never been. When we saw Season 2 of “The White Lotus,” we knew we wanted to go to Sicily, especially since his family is from there. However, given that COVID put a stop to all international travel for months, the trip was tabled.
Once the travel ban was lifted, we started to revisit our plans, but that’s when I got sick, and he passed away. Nevertheless, after my transplant surgery, I booked the trip to celebrate my recovery and in tribute to him.
I stayed at “The White Lotus” hotel in Taormina. When I arrived, I was shocked that they upgraded me to a room with a terrace overlooking the Ionian Sea. They had asked me the purpose of my trip a few days prior, and I was honest and told them exactly why I was traveling there. They also treated me to a massage and a cooking class.
All of this sounds amazing, right? Well, it was, until I spiked a fever of 106 on my last day there. I was supposed to fly home that night but instead, I was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Turns out I had an infection common to kidney transplant patients, and needed drip antibiotics for 10 days. I couldn’t leave the hospital, and I couldn’t even get out of bed at first because I had also fallen and broke two toes! Murphy’s Law was trampling all over me that day. I was physically capable of walking since I had a cane and a boot for my foot, but it was very painful, and there’s not much you can do for broken toes.
Normally, being in a hospital isn’t so bad once the fever comes down and you start feeling better. But this hospital is in Sicily where there is a language barrier, and things are very different there than in the U.S. Very, very different. I speak a little Italian, but certainly not enough to fully understand medical terminology and have a real conversation. Thank goodness for Google Translate!
Between the time it took to diagnose me and then to fully complete the antibiotic treatment, I was there for two weeks. I was in a room with another patient, with no privacy curtain, no television (I wouldn’t have understood it anyway) and only my phone and iPad to keep me entertained, with one charger to alternate between them. Therefore, I wrote a soap opera set in a hospital and called it “The Sicilian Surgeons.” I posted a new story almost every day on Facebook purely for my own amusement and made things up as I went along. I had a lot of fun with it and my friends got a kick out of it. The characters were based on real people and the plots were outrageous and completely unrealistic. It made absolutely no sense but that’s what everyone liked about it.
Even though communicating was a challenge, everyone was so nice (except for one nurse, who became a villain in my story). We managed to have short conversations and make ourselves understood. Nurse Elinora came into my room each morning singing, and I sang with her and then we laughed. I did try and find the silver lining and although it wasn’t the way I wanted to spend my vacation, I do have good stories to tell!
Bottom line: although I don’t recommend being a hospital patient in any foreign country, at least the food was pretty good in an Italian one. I’m headed to Egypt in a few days, so let’s all collectively pray that I don’t end up in a hospital there.
Lisa Marchionda Fama is a retired attorney who has lived in Marblehead for seven years, loves this town, and hopes she never leaves. Visit her blog at TheSoberWidow.com.
