You just couldn’t make this stuff up could you?

After waiting months for her dream holiday to Las Vegas, we slowly watched the whole week crumble before our eyes. It was so disappointing for Sue and heartbreaking for me to watch. 

Let me explain.

You may recall I pulled a surprise trip to Vegas a few years ago for Sue’s birthday? Well ever since then I’ve known she wanted to go back, so we took the plunge last year, booked our flights using our Avios air miles, and after a lot of chopping and changing finally decided to return to the New York New York hotel, which is definitely our favourite spot on the strip.

I’ve got to say, we planned this trip with military precision. Sue knew exactly where she wanted to go, who and what she wanted to see. I had a couple of items on my own wish list, but this was primarily Sue’s trip and she got first dibs.

We managed to get her tickets to see her idol Donny Osmond at the Harrah, we also pushed the boat out and booked to see Barry Manilow (I just prayed for a whole year he would actually make it out on stage) and we filled one night in with a trip to see David Copperfield – mainly because he was in the hotel next door and within easy reach.

We planned some other trips, stuff we missed the first time round, and even got round to booking my treat – dinner at the top of the world on the Strat tower.

Until it started to all come undone.

It started the week before we flew. Sue felt unwell the weekend before, flu-like symptoms, and a rather red and large swelling appeared on her wrist. The next day, another one appeared on her other wrist. then one on her elbow.

We visited the hospital GP on the Sunday and they said it was some sort of infection and gave her antibiotics and booked her in to see our own GP.

On the Monday, the GP was lost for a diagnosis, assumed it was some sort of skin infection, and changed the type of antibiotic, but said if Sue felt well enough we were good to go on Sunday.

By Thursday, Sue was feeling really unwell and the three lumps didn’t appear to be going away – they were hot, looked really angry but at least they weren’t spreading. 

We made the decision on Friday that we would travel down to Heathrow, where we were staying over at the Premier Inn, and then on Sunday morning we would decide whether we chance it, or we cancel.

Saturday night was really bad, it was just like she had a really bad dose of flu, but come Sunday morning Sue was bright and cheery and felt fine again, so she decided she was well enough to travel.

We had an awful time in Special Assistance again in Heathrow, and we seriously doubt whether we will use them again for our flights. Sue had spells on the plane when she felt OK, then she would suddenly feel cold and generally unwell. But throughout, she put on a brave face.

We got to the hotel late on Sunday and we managed to get a snack before bed in the America restaurant, a particular favourite.

And then it all went downhill. Gradually, more of the hot swellings appeared, mostly on her arms but a couple on her legs. We managed to get out during the day and Sue was adamant we stick to our well planned out timetable, but by mid-afternoon each day Sue would be feeling drained and we would then spend the afternoon and sometimes the whole evening with her sleeping soundly in the room. 

We did go to see the three shows, but I’m not sure how much Sue enjoyed them as she was so ill. I can honestly say I have never seen her looking so under the weather, and it was a very worrying time. 

Thursday and Friday were probably the worse, and we did contemplate seeking out a doctor, but we were both worried that it might result in an enforced hospital stay in the States that neither of us really wanted.

Some of the planned visits didn’t happen at all, like the Pinball Museum, and some were unfortunately curtailed, including our visit to the Strat, where we had to abandon the very expensive dinner as the place was like a fridge and Sue just couldn’t stand it. And still she tried her best to smile for the camera.

All this time, Sue never had a raised temperature, yet she just felt increasingly lethargic and just couldn’t get warm – With the heating on full, our room was like an oven yet she was constantly complaining she was cold. We agreed that the second her temperature went up, we would be in the doctor’s surgery in a flash. Otherwise we would battle it out together and just fly home where we could get back to the GP.

That was the way it eventually panned out, she never got a temperature, and she bravely stuck it out until our planned flight home, by which time I had actually booked her into the GP before we took off on Saturday evening.

By now, Sue was really swollen up – her fingers were red and puffy and her wedding ring didn’t fit. Her feet had ballooned up so much she couldn’t get her shoes on, and the red swellings had progressed up her arms, down into her fingers and started appearing on her legs too.

The flight home was uneventful, but when we got home after the long drive back from Heathrow, Sue just didn’t have the strength to climb our stairs and at 10 o’clock at night we were knocking on my mum’s door, who lives in a bungalow nearby, where we bedded down for the night on my mum’s sofa and recliner and subsequently stayed there for a whole week until Sue was fit enough again to get back in the car for the short drive home.

Monday saw another visit to the GP, another stunned silence, and another round of antibiotics followed.

Except a hour later, the doctor called and said to stop taking the antibiotics, she was changing to an anti-inflamatory.

After a discussion with her colleague they had diagnosed Sue with a rare illness known as Erythema Nodosum – the easiest way for me to explain it is Sue had suffered a very minor streptococcal infection, like a sore throat maybe, but her body had over reacted and her immune system had started attacking the fatty tissues under her skin on her arms and legs.

The tablets took about three weeks to reduce the swelling, but months later and she’s still suffering the after effects, which apparently can last up to three months or more.

Vegas had been a huge disappointment, and Christmas was a shambles – but Sue has battled through it and we are just about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Since our return home in November Sue had been living predominantly downstairs which was inconvenient as our toilet and bathroom are upstairs, and when we finally managed to get her up the stairs in late December she then proceeded to live entirely upstairs for a similar length of time. Only in the last week has she managed to negotiate the stairs and now she is spending most of the week upstairs, coming downstairs at the weekend where I can assist her moving about.

So the overriding question has to be “Will we go back to Vegas”?

Sue is definitely off the idea of long haul for the moment thanks to the very poor service given at Heathrow, and we think that we have probably seen most of Vegas and there isn’t enough left to warrant a third visit. Although, if she wanted to give it one last try, I’m up for it.

The whole illness thing has also had an unfortunate knock on effect – we didn’t get to film as much as we had hoped while in Vegas for our vlogs on Youtube, and since our return we just haven’t had the time and energy to get all of our footage edited and uploaded – it’s been enough of a struggle just getting through each day.

Our thanks go out to my mum for stepping up at our moment of crisis, and to all of our readers and youtube subscribers who have stuck with us through these very difficult times, and we promise we DO intend to bounce back in the coming months.

Until then, keep an eye out both on here and on our Youtube Channel, things will keep popping up when you least expect it. As always, safe travels.

Robert and Sue