Blog #12: I Passed Out In Paris

It’s Sunday, already? Jeeeeeeeez. I need to get a grip because time is passing me by waaaaaay too fast. This weekend was amazing, and honestly just what I needed.

It started off strong with some Garba on Friday night - I wore the most beautiful chaniya choli I think I’ve ever seen, huge special shoutout to Always Raas because they sent us matching fits in my favorite color - green! Absolutely stunning.

Saturday was somehow even better. We had a Haldi (engagement ceremony) for a friend from college in the morning that we took video for, followed by some much needed down time with Sylvie at home, then we had a second photoshoot for a friend and his family out on a gorgeous wooded lot with lots of fall colors. Then had some bangin’ pasta, and finished off the night with our lovely friends Alex and Katie at the LAST night of Garba, so sad. Of course, had to end the night right with some TACO BELL. Helllllzzzz yeah.

You might be saying to yourself, Hallie, what an odd title. Did that really happen? Well, unfortunately for me, yes, that did IN FACT happen. What a time! What a trip! And yes, I have talked about this lots on the podcast about my fainting experience while traveling back from India. But you know, after last week’s more serious blog post, I think we all deserve a fun story time.

The month was March, March of 2023. Your girl was living it UP in India in February and March of 2023. Let’s take a step back.

Alright, so… I’m not… the BEST at keeping myself hydrated, and fed, while flying. It’s not super easy to do anything but sit while you’re on 2 8.5-hour flights. If you know, you DEFINITELY know. So that was issue #1: on the way to India, I wasn’t doing the best at taking care of myself, because I also have this weird fear of using plane restrooms? Is that weird? Maybe I’m alone here, maybe I’m not. Pls make me feel less alone, thx.

Issue #2: It was much hotter than I anticipated while in India. Yeah yeah, I live in Indiana, the armpit of the Midwest, where it’s hot AND muggy here from the months of May-September. But India, India is a dry heat. The kind where you instantly sweat as soon as you walk outside. That’s the case in the hotter months, basically from March onward. However, the winter months, THOSE are the months where you want to visit, when the weather is in the 60’s and 70’s. UGH, perfection. So to build off of little hydration, it was too hot. See how these are starting to come together?

Issue #3: Prior to my wonderful adventure where I embarked on a journey to India for 2 weeks, I had done a poor job of managing my stress, managing my time, worrying about this trip and leaving my home for 2 weeks, sleeping enough, and eating well. So, my health was already a bit run-down to begin with, which did not help my previously listed two issues. You see, I had the workload of 2 people at my job, and the stress had started to really take a toll on me to the point where all of issue #3 built up and overflowed into an OCEAN of problems. NOW are you starting to see how all of these are combining into one massive problem? Let’s keep going.

Issue #4: Culture Shock. You can imagine a girl who has lived in Indiana her entire life may experience a bit of culture shock when entering and exploring a new country for two weeks. With the switch-up of home for a few weeks, comes a different environment. Different air. Different soil. Different everything. With issue #4, I decided I needed to maintain my fitness routines while on vacation. So, that’s precisely what I did.

Tying this all together, one morning, about a week into our trip, I woke up and decided to go on a run with Suketu. Nothing crazy, but at 6 am it was already almost 90 degrees… so, in retrospect maybe not the best idea???

Anyway, I decided to take it slow and not overdo it. I got back and, of course, I was drenched in sweat, so naturally, I decided to shower. I remember this moment so clearly because it was one of those “oh sh*t” moments where you KNOW you f’ed up? And you just KNEW something bad was going to happen? I squeezed out some shampoo onto my hands, began to lather and get it all soapy, and started washing my hair. As I was doing this, something felt off. My scalp was… sore, and achy, which was very abnormal considering I felt fine until that one fateful morning that would change the trajectory of our trip for the rest of the time we were there.

I didn’t overthink it because I just thought that I was tired from the run and that my body needed some fuel, so naturally I went downstairs for some chai and breakfast. My appetite had been on and off the entire trip, ebbing and flowing in different parts of the day, so I ate whatever was in front of me and didn’t think twice about my appetite. I remember this was the day that we were going to drive around and visit lots of family members, mingle, meet them for the first time (on my side), and eat lots of good food. Remember, it’s hot out, and some of the cars we were in didn’t have AC. I recall being abnormally hot, and sweaty, and just not being able to cool down. I kept nudging Suketu each time I felt a wave of tired energy coming over me, and he would hold me, kiss me on the forehead… and we’d both ignore it, I just thought I was adjusting to being in India. WRONG.

Well… you see, it turns out I had worn my body down so much to the point of pure exhaustion and illness. Ever heard of Mono?

Mononucleosis (mono) is a contagious infection caused by a virus called Epstein-Barr.

Mono? Hallie, AGAIN? Let’s rewind to 2016 - I. Did. The. Same. Sh*t. To. Myself. I wore myself down so much by not taking care of myself and burning the candle at BOTH ENDS. I had mono BAD back then, and was sick the entire summer. If you aren’t familiar with mono, you’re basically just hot and tired all the time. Exhausted from the smallest movements. It was a challenge for me to get out of bed and brush my teeth, let alone do anything else.

Now back to 2023, I was feeling all these same symptoms. I noticed how much I was sweating, but my body felt completely depleted of any other water. In noticing all of this, I had noticed I was neglecting my water bottle more than I should have. I started chugging water. Water bottle after water bottle after water bottle. I didn’t feel a thing. I wasn’t peeing, I wasn’t crying, just sweating out every single ounce of liquid in my body. No amount of water was saving me. I would go in waves of being super hot, then super cold, and when I was both, it was always accompanied by a hot or cold sweat. The fact that I had a fever, my body was overheating, and also shivering and cold sweating in India is EXTREMELY concerning, because if you don’t remember what I said earlier, INDIA IS HOT. OK, VERY HOT.

I remember each day my symptoms were getting worse, I was becoming weaker, I was getting more and more tired, my face didn’t even look quite right: I was pale(r) than usual, my eyes were puffy and a bit swollen, something about the look in my eyes made me look dead inside. My appetite was fading, and at this point I was drinking 6-7 LITERS of water per day, nothing. I was starting to get desperate, because I, along with my family, was really starting to get worried not knowing what’s going on. I distinctly remember texting my sister-in-law, who is a nurse, asking if it’s normal to have all of these symptoms and what it could possibly be. I was Googling “What does organ failure feel like?” because guys, I LITERALLY THOUGHT I WAS DYING. I WAS SAYING MY GOODBYES. Not really, I mean I did think there was a chance I was dying but a very teenie tiny chance.

Fast forward to our trip home. Our first 9-hour flight was from Mumbai -> Paris, easy. I slept most of that plane ride, I think? I didn’t feel good, at all actually, but just tried to allow myself to rest and relax a bit. Once we landed in Paris, that’s where the trouble began. With every step, I felt myself becoming slower, and taking longer to get from point A to point B. As we were heading to scan our tickets to head to the terminal bus, I felt off. REALLY off, more so than I had all trip because this time, my stomach was not happy at ALL. I remember feeling like I was going to puke, and it wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried to swallow that feeling. We scan our tickets and begin oh-so-slowly walking to the bus, and the bus starts slowly driving towards the plane. Suketu was holding me up at this point because I could barely stand, let alone walk anymore. I kept stating over and over, “Suketu, I’m gonna throw up I have to get out of here”. He kept telling me to just calm down and breathe, but that wasn’t helping me. I was at the point of no return LOL guys I was a GONER. I had never passed out before so I did think I was going to throw up because your head starts doing that thing, you get tunnel vision, and your senses dull… next thing I know a large man is kicking down the bus door and I’m shoved onto the cold pavement in Paris on my hands and knees. A medic runs over to me, speaking French, and I’m coming to and trying to tell him I only speak English.

What I felt in that moment was so odd - I was scared, confused, wondering how long I was out. I faintly remember hearing screaming and people shouting to try to get the doors open for me to get outside. A few people helped me up, got me some water, and got me sat down on the plane as they called for any doctors or nurses to come to check me out and see if they could ensure I would be ok to fly over the ocean for the next 9 hours. The kindness I felt from these random strangers as they all came to my rescue is now such a special moment for me. These 4 amazing women of all backgrounds spent the next 30 minutes caring for me at a time when I felt so afraid. I was then fed crepes, coffee, orange juice, and everything else to try to get some food in my system. Why did I pass out? Well, a combination of each of the previous issues, plus, I guess I was so hungry that my body had decided to tell me it needed food in the only way I would listen: fainting! Wooo! Because otherwise, I had no need to eat, wasn’t hungry, and nothing sounded good, that right there was a sign something was majorly wrong with me. Once I got back to the US, I decided to go to the hospital to get some fluids and figure out what was wrong. After multiple blood tests, the doctor determined it was mono and that I needed to CHILL OUT and REST. So, that’s precisely what I did for the next however many months.

There you have it folks, a long, drawn-out but also shortened synopsis of the time I passed out in Paris. Have you passed out? Better yet, have you had mono? It’s the worst lemme tell ya. Thanks for tuning into my lovely blog post and story time this week. Any other story times you’d like me to share? Comment below and have a wonderful start to your week :)

-Hallie