A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket got a hold of our Thanksgiving this year. I realize that things could always be worse but these things compiled together were almost enough to make me go crazy.
Thursday
Flew from Grand Junction to Salt Lake City and landed with 7 minutes to get from the A gates to the C gates to catch our connecting flight. We ran like Home Alone and then I wheezed and coughed uncontrollably on the flight because I am out of shape. Also, running in cowboy and riding boots is not recommended. We enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with 16 members of Brian's family in Davenport, WA.
Friday
Things were going well. We enjoyed a laid back morning, it was Football Friday so we watched the Apple Cup. We took a group photo and then the Kicha family said farewell. I suddenly didn't feel well so I went to lie down, when I began to throw up violently. Then my nephews began to throw up. We got a text from the Kichas, "Is anyone sick over there? Hannah is throwing up." Then Brian started throwing up and the rest of the family sat and waited to see who it would come for next.
12 out of 16 casualties. This virus wasn't messing around.
Saturday
Everyone slept all. day. long. I finally saw some people I hadn't seen in a while; it was nice to know they were still alive. Baby nephew Jonah was throwing up so much, his parents took him to the ER and he ended up having to go to Spokane for an IV where they stayed overnight.
Sunday
I put jeans on to try to feel human again but still couldn't eat much. We decided to forego our travel plans to Quincy to see more family and instead went to Washtucna to continue our recovery.
Monday
Felt somewhat human again. Played games, watched movies, read books. Took it easy. Things were looking up!
Tuesday
Stomach was back to feeling not great. When will this virus die?! Got to the airport and saw that our flight was delayed 10 minutes. That wasn't so bad, but the guy at the desk confirmed that we'd have to run again in Salt Lake City to catch our connection (which made me want to cry - running when I wasn't sick was awful, I couldn't imagine doing it after such a terrible stomach flu). As he printed our tickets, I pointed out that the delay changed to an hour so we would definitely miss our connection by about 10 minutes. It was the last flight to Grand Junction so we knew we were not getting home that night, barring a miraculous delay in our connecting flight. I was scheduled to teach a training at 8am that next morning, with people driving 2+ hours to attend, I immediately started trying to contact people to let them know I had to cancel, and then I had to talk myself down from feeling super guilty and stressed. "You are not in control, this was not your fault".
We decided to at least get to Salt Lake. While waiting for our flight, I drank a few sips of a green smoothie but then I noticed on the label that it had broccoli in it so I immediately stopped drinking it (broccoli makes me ill 99% of the time) and hoped for the best. My phone rang and I saw it was my doctor. The results from my recent thyroid ultrasound were in and I do, in fact, have multiple nodules on my thyroid, one of which is irregular so they want to do a biopsy to test for cancer. I started crying. 30 minutes later my throat started to close, my lips went numb, my stomach was gurgling like a blender, and I felt like I was simultaneously going to vomit and pass out. I prayed with all my might that I wouldn't throw up on the flight. In desperation I went to the bathroom one more time before boarding and I grabbed one of the brown wax paper bags for tampons as a last resort to use if I suddenly puked on the flight. I managed to find a somewhat comfortable position in my seat on the plane and survived the flight. I might or might not have wished for the plane to crash to put me out of my misery (drama, drama, drama). I'll never know if I had an allergic reaction to the broccoli or if my brain was just freaking out about potentially having cancer.
We landed in Salt Lake and Delta printed us each a hotel room voucher, at different hotels. Brian told the agent we didn't need both hotel rooms and he talked us into Quality Inn because it was closer. The other one was Springfield Inn & Suites. We went to await our shuttle only to see 500 Springfield Inn & Suites fancy shuttles stop to pick people up. 40 freaking minutes later, our crappy van from Quality Inn arrived. Fine. Whatever. We ate some crappy food from the only restaurant still open within walking distance and went to bed feeling defeated.
Wednesday
We were only 5 hours from home but we sat around waiting for our 38 minute flight that wasn't until 1:45 pm. We went up in the air, cruised for 20 minutes, and then started our descent. We drove home and arrived a little before 5 pm. Brian ate some food, chugged a red bull, and headed out to teach his 4 hour class- as he headed out the door, he looked at me and said in exasperation, "We are not traveling for the holidays next year". Agreed.
Thursday
Flew from Grand Junction to Salt Lake City and landed with 7 minutes to get from the A gates to the C gates to catch our connecting flight. We ran like Home Alone and then I wheezed and coughed uncontrollably on the flight because I am out of shape. Also, running in cowboy and riding boots is not recommended. We enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with 16 members of Brian's family in Davenport, WA.
Friday
Things were going well. We enjoyed a laid back morning, it was Football Friday so we watched the Apple Cup. We took a group photo and then the Kicha family said farewell. I suddenly didn't feel well so I went to lie down, when I began to throw up violently. Then my nephews began to throw up. We got a text from the Kichas, "Is anyone sick over there? Hannah is throwing up." Then Brian started throwing up and the rest of the family sat and waited to see who it would come for next.
12 out of 16 casualties. This virus wasn't messing around.
Saturday
Everyone slept all. day. long. I finally saw some people I hadn't seen in a while; it was nice to know they were still alive. Baby nephew Jonah was throwing up so much, his parents took him to the ER and he ended up having to go to Spokane for an IV where they stayed overnight.
Sunday
I put jeans on to try to feel human again but still couldn't eat much. We decided to forego our travel plans to Quincy to see more family and instead went to Washtucna to continue our recovery.
Monday
Felt somewhat human again. Played games, watched movies, read books. Took it easy. Things were looking up!
Tuesday
Stomach was back to feeling not great. When will this virus die?! Got to the airport and saw that our flight was delayed 10 minutes. That wasn't so bad, but the guy at the desk confirmed that we'd have to run again in Salt Lake City to catch our connection (which made me want to cry - running when I wasn't sick was awful, I couldn't imagine doing it after such a terrible stomach flu). As he printed our tickets, I pointed out that the delay changed to an hour so we would definitely miss our connection by about 10 minutes. It was the last flight to Grand Junction so we knew we were not getting home that night, barring a miraculous delay in our connecting flight. I was scheduled to teach a training at 8am that next morning, with people driving 2+ hours to attend, I immediately started trying to contact people to let them know I had to cancel, and then I had to talk myself down from feeling super guilty and stressed. "You are not in control, this was not your fault".
We decided to at least get to Salt Lake. While waiting for our flight, I drank a few sips of a green smoothie but then I noticed on the label that it had broccoli in it so I immediately stopped drinking it (broccoli makes me ill 99% of the time) and hoped for the best. My phone rang and I saw it was my doctor. The results from my recent thyroid ultrasound were in and I do, in fact, have multiple nodules on my thyroid, one of which is irregular so they want to do a biopsy to test for cancer. I started crying. 30 minutes later my throat started to close, my lips went numb, my stomach was gurgling like a blender, and I felt like I was simultaneously going to vomit and pass out. I prayed with all my might that I wouldn't throw up on the flight. In desperation I went to the bathroom one more time before boarding and I grabbed one of the brown wax paper bags for tampons as a last resort to use if I suddenly puked on the flight. I managed to find a somewhat comfortable position in my seat on the plane and survived the flight. I might or might not have wished for the plane to crash to put me out of my misery (drama, drama, drama). I'll never know if I had an allergic reaction to the broccoli or if my brain was just freaking out about potentially having cancer.
We landed in Salt Lake and Delta printed us each a hotel room voucher, at different hotels. Brian told the agent we didn't need both hotel rooms and he talked us into Quality Inn because it was closer. The other one was Springfield Inn & Suites. We went to await our shuttle only to see 500 Springfield Inn & Suites fancy shuttles stop to pick people up. 40 freaking minutes later, our crappy van from Quality Inn arrived. Fine. Whatever. We ate some crappy food from the only restaurant still open within walking distance and went to bed feeling defeated.
Wednesday
We were only 5 hours from home but we sat around waiting for our 38 minute flight that wasn't until 1:45 pm. We went up in the air, cruised for 20 minutes, and then started our descent. We drove home and arrived a little before 5 pm. Brian ate some food, chugged a red bull, and headed out to teach his 4 hour class- as he headed out the door, he looked at me and said in exasperation, "We are not traveling for the holidays next year". Agreed.
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