A Texas woman faced a terrifying ordeal when she began vomiting blood onboard her first-ever cruise with no travel insurance.
Khiali Baxter fell seriously ill and drifted in and out of consciousness after being onboard the Royal Caribbean cruise from Galveston to Mexico with her boyfriend for only two days and five hours.
But the horror trip earlier this month only turned worse after she found herself slapped with over $13,000 in medical bills.
‘So, I woke up. I started vomiting up blood, unfortunately, and I had passed out on the ground,’ she told KHOU.
‘I could feel myself kind of going in and out of consciousness. I was very cold and terrified.’
Baxter was transported to the ship’s emergency room, where medical staff identified an ongoing internal gastrointestinal bleed and critically low hemoglobin levels, as detailed in a GoFundMe posted by her family.
She had to wait four hours aboard the ship before the ship reached Costa Maya and she was then taken by ambulance to a hospital in Mexico.
In a video online, Baxter said the ambulance passed other hospitals on the way to a ‘private and very specific hospital.’
On September 8, Khiali Baxter started vomiting blood and losing consciousness after being on the Royal Caribbean cruise from Galveston to Mexico with her boyfriend for just over two days.
Baxter was taken to the onboard emergency room, where they discovered an active internal gastrointestinal bleed and critically low hemoglobin levels
Her horror trip only became worse after her family was hit with over $13,000 in medical bills after Baxter travelled without insurance
‘When I first got there they demanded 2,500 dollars just to look at me, just to do any work,’ she said.
As she arrived, her parents were contacted and asked for payment before they would treat her.
Her father, Craig Baxter, recalled the conversation with hospital staff to the outlet.
‘”We’ll work as far as the $2,500 will take us,” I’ve never heard this in my life,’ he said.
Once they received the payment, they began to slow her internal bleeding, Baxter said.
Hospital staff conducted an endoscopy and colonoscopy, but the cause for her illness couldn’t be determined and she was released.
According to the GoFundMe, the initial response to her condition was inadequate. Baxter was administered medication to slow the bleeding, but then left with critically low hemoglobin levels for nine hours before receiving additional blood. Only afterward did doctors start conducting tests to find the source of the bleeding.
Unfortunately, after stopping her bleeding, they were unable to determine its origin. Continuous testing increased costs without identifying the cause, leaving her hemoglobin dangerously low at around 3.5, with the source of the bleeding still unknown.
Baxter had to wait four hours aboard the ship before the ship reached Costa Maya and she was then taken by ambulance to a hospital in Mexico
Baxter was said to have returned home as of Saturday, but still with no diagnosis as her family continue to face a mountain of medical bills
Baxter’s father, Craig Baxter (center left), urged young people to get travel insurance in wake of his daughter’s terrifying ordeal
Yet, her family, still with no answers, were hit with a $9,970 bill from the hospital and a $4,048 bill from the cruise ship’s medical facilities.
Her parents had also secured emergency passports and traveled to be with their daughter, incurring the costs of lodging and flights.
Reflecting on the incident, Baxter said, “It was a very, very scary experience, and my main thing that I do want to say is that I really wish I would’ve gotten travel insurance.”
In an update on Facebook, Baxter was reported to have been medically evacuated, with the help of Assist America, and brought back to the United States.
Baxter was said to have returned home as of Saturday, but still with no diagnosis as her family continue to face a mountain of medical bills.
Her father added: ‘It was an eye-opening experience that I hope prepares other young people.’
‘If you’re travelling outside of the US, please make sure you have travel insurance,’ Baxter said.
‘I can’t tell you how much I wish I would have had it. I’m a law enforcement officer and I’m a proud servant of my community, if it could happen to me it could happen to anyone.’
