The Spanish Spider Story

My walking pilgrimage began on April 4th and I planned on arrving in Santiago de Compestella on the 19th. My entire hike was to be a total of 507 kilometers.


I hiked for nine days for a total of 380 kilometers. On day nine I began to have fever and instead of sleeping in one of the pilgrimage stops (fleas, bunkbeds, cold, dirty, sometimes no warm water) I decided to stay at a hotel to give my body a rest and to recover and continue my hike.

Since I still had fever another day and night I decided to stay an additional night which I should have not done because something bit me that night. When I woke up in the morning I had three tiny bites on my foot and a rash. But you know, who would think something of that.


Since I lost a full day I had to catch up by bus in order to finish my hike on time. When I arrived in the next village my foot was hurting and the sent me to a medical facility. This lady said it was an allergic reaction to the bite, gave me an injection and some creme and sent me on my way. For the first time in three days I had some really good sleep. When I woke up the next morning I felt rested and healthy, my foot was still swollen but no red rash or sign of infection so I decided to hike another 20 kilometers.

So I started hiking fresh in the morning, enjoyed the scenery getting more excited, just a happy little camper. Ten kilometers I decided to have breakfast since I hadn't eaten anything. While I was putting medication on my foot after breakfast an angel name Virginio showed up. Virginio is a good looking Italian guy assisting people in doing the pilgrimage in an easy way. He looked at me, looked at my foot and he said, "Girl I will take you to the next village, you are not walking anymore." Me being me said not thanks I can hike whilst taking a pain killer. But a true pilgrimage must be hiked the entire way...no driving. I already felt less than since I had already used a bus.

I hiked another five kilometers when the angel shows up another time. He says, "but now I take your backpack to make it easier for you." Of course I say no thanks, I can do it my own. Remember it weighs twenty pounds.

Two kilometers I stop to take another pain killer because now it is really painful. I am almost fainting. I finally arrived in the destination village for the day. I had to walk up 45 steps to get to the village. At the end of the steps I almost fainted and I made my move to stay focused and not faint and walked up to the pilgrimage hostel only to ask for the next doctor. I knew something was wrong.

I was driven to the med station and I got rid of my boot and sock only to be in total shock because now my foot shows big blisters on the toes and foot and a variety of colors, blue, yellow, red, etc. I was totally shocked and so was the doctor. She gave me another injection and said it is because you hiked with a rash and irritated it. She said I should keep the foot cool and elevated and everything will be better.

Back in the hostel my angel showed up again. I showed him my foot and he choked and said, "I told you". We had dinner together, wine together, he played the guitar and sang songs for me. It was a very nice evening. During dinner we decided since I cannot walk for the remaining four days he would just add me to his tourist drive. We would hang out, see the sites and talk about life. Being a trainer I had already asked him what his mission was and since he doesn't know we decided it was going part of our road trip. So I was looking forward to four fun days.

Little did I know the night would be so horrible. I had cold sweats, shivers, heat rushes, you name it. When it was finally morning and the lady also on the pilgrimage woke up she said we must get you to the hospital you look horrible. She packed my bag, woke up my angel and he drove me to the medics again. They immediately called the ambulance and within an hour I was in the hospital and another long day began.

Tests were started and I waited again. I laid in the hospital hallway because there were no rooms. I was sweating, feverish and was given no medication nor water. I was without water for six hours. Finally after six hours they moved me to a room and of course on the way to the room one of the nurses concidentally touches my foot which made me scream out loud, Jesus Christ in English, which silenced the hospital. Everyone was looking at me. So finally I am sharing a room with another Spanish lady (thank God I speak Spanish). She had within two hours twenty visitors. They all looked at me and my foot; no one touched it. Her visitors were very helpful, they brought me water, food and some diet coke.

Another two hours later (now 7 p.m.) the doctor shows up because I am with high fever again. He looks at me, looks at my foot and says okay you need to go into surgery now. From there on I don't remember much for the next 16 hours. When I woke up again the next day I saw my right foot cut open. I see raw flesh and bones. I was in Intensive Care. For the next three days I received cleaning and treatments. Thank God they put me on morphine and pencillin. I had many dreams on morphine. I still have no clue how serious it is. I think I can fly home tomorrow. On Day 3 I finally realize the infection continues and so do the doctors. The doctor being a surgeon wore as a piece of jewelry a razor blade. I was thinking what jerk, but the jerk saved my life.

On Friday I realized it was not going to be better and contacted a friend in Austria to check my credit card to see if travel insurance is included to get me a flight home. She called back immediately with a contact number for the flight ambulance. I called them, described my case with no clue of what I had and now the nightmare starts.

Spanish people don't speak English; Austrians don't speak Spanish. So the Spanish doctors refused to talk to the air ambulance because they didn't speak Spanish. A doctor arrives at my bedside to ask me what to write in the report for the air ambulance. She asks me??? Come on. I told her to talk to my surgeon; talk to my doctor and write everything down and send it to them. The next morning she finally finished the report, tried to fax it just to learn that there is no international line in the hospital. So I asked them if they could scan it in and email it. Four hours later, nothing. So I called the air ambulance and told them of the challenge. They said they knew and said they would find an alternative way. Another hour later the surgeon shows up at my bed, touches my wound, OUCH! but still on morphine and says you have to have surgery today. I say no way, he says yes you must. I call the air ambulance again and tell them of the surgery. They said we have good news we are going to get you out today.

At 11:30 p.m. an Austrian doctor and nurse show up at my bedside. I was never happier to see Austrians and I started crying tears of joy. So they took me out of the hospital and drove me for an hour in a Spanish ambulance. The ambulance driver, Juan, was another angel. There was another challenge. The airport closes 30 minutes after midnight. So if we don't make it we will not be able to fly out. So Juan was a race car driver and we made it just ten minutes before the closure of the airport. Two really good looking pilots picked me up from the ambulance and put me in the private jet and flew back to Vienna arriving at 4 a.m. just to learn the hospital I am was to be admitted to did not have a bed for me so I was taken to another hospital which did not specialize in my situation.

But still they did another surgery on Sunday night because it was critical. On Monday I was transferred to the largest hospital in Austria. I arrived at 10 a.m. finally at 7 p.m. the plastic surgeon shows up. We were still joking and I asked for full service while he was working on me (liposuction, facelift). He was up for some jokes. But suddenly, he stopped joking and he looked at me very serious and he says okay, here is the deal. You must undergo another surgery immediately or you will lose your foot. There are people dieing of this disease within one and a half days. My surgery was scheduled for 1:30 a.m. but already two hours later they picked me up because they could not wait any longer.

On that day in the afternoon I texted Gerry McKinney to ask him to pray for me. Later that day when I found out how serious the situation was I texted him again and while I was in surgery I believe he informed the entire world and had everyone praying for me. The surgery was complete at midnight and the doctor told me that he was very pleased that it was not as traumatic as he thought and said the foot would be saved probably. He never says 100% on anything.

The next morning at 6 a.m. my phone rang and Ariane was on the phone. I now learn the entire United States and Ireland are searching for me. I failed to mention to Gerry where I was. So Ariane begins to call the 43 hospitals in Vienna. No result. Tad Schinke remembers my friend Sabine owns a gasthaus in Limbach and passes the information on to Ariane. I can imagine the phone call asking for a girl by her first name, no last name that owns a gasthaus, again no name of the gasthaus. But alas, luck is on their side and Sabine is able to provide the inforamation needed to find me. The reason Gerry couldn't call me is when I went into surgery they locked my phone away.

When I woke up I had 230 text messages and tons of phone calls from around the world. That is when I knew I would be healed completely. I never realized how strong our support group really is and I am very happy and proud to be part of such an amazing group of people that is family to me.

Two days after the surgery the doctor opened my compress and was super happy with how everything looked. I am on the road to recovery. I plan to kick ass at leadership with this foot.
I think it will be even stronger.

Virginio, my angel, still keeps in touch with me. So does one of the male nurses from the Spanish hospital. He gifted me with a bunch of flowers when I left. Not to forget to mention that one of the friends of my fellow patient in the Spanish hospital visited me daily while I was in Intensive Care and even brought me a farewell gift.

I will keep you posted on the lessons, laughter and love I have learned so far.