Hawke's Bay

The predominant reason I decided to visit Napier is that it is located in the Hawke's Bay wine region. And I took a wine tasting tour there. However, before we get to that I first must describe a terrible mistake I made while in Auckland. Because Charlie and I traveled in malaria-areas in India, Laos and Cambodia, we have have been taking anti-malarial medication - first Lariam and then, when we ran out of the Lariam and couldn't find it anywhere, doxicyclene. We had to continue to take the doxicyclene for 30 days after we left Laos. With the last 4 or 5 pills, I kept forgetting to take them. But, finally, when I was in Auckland, I was down to my last pill, and I again forgot to take it. And then the next day, I went all day again without taking it until I was lying in bed, teeth brushed, eyes closed, just about to fall asleep when I thought, "Shit! My malaria pill!" I reached over to my bag where I had the last pill and, not having any water within reach and not wanting to get out of bed, I just forced the pill down without any water, rolled over and quickly fell asleep. Big mistake. At about 4 am the next morning, I was awakened by the strong and painful sensation of burning in my chest. The doxicylcene pill got lodged in my esophagus and had burned a hole. It felt like someone was holding a car cigarette lighter into the center of my chest, behind my sternum. So, for the next few days, I had trouble eating and drinking anything. Even water hurt. Ice cream was the most tolerable. So, that was my first mistake.

By the time I got to Napier, it has been 2 days since the hole appeared, and I was definitely getting better. I ate a grilled veggie sandwich without too much discomfort. And so I booked a wine tour. This itself wasn't my second mistake. My second mistake was actually drinking wine. The first couple of sips burned, but strangely, the more wine I drank, the less pain I felt. (Isn't funny how wine will do that?) I then went the rest of the day feeling just fine. But, the next morning was hell. The wine had angered the esophagul ulcer. I was back to not being able to eat a thing. As I write this I am now at day 9, and I am just getting back to normal. I ate a pretty crunchy granola without thinking too much about it this morning. I am scared to drink any wine though.

The moral of the story is, when you are supposed to take medication with a full glass of water and/or a meal, follow the directions.