Typhoid Tyler

Many of you have heard the details of my ill-fated trip to L.A. this month, but here are photos of a few of the happier moments. My parents gave me a trip to CA to visit my sister Amy and her family - particularly my nephew Tyler, who is about to turn 2! I had really been looking forward to the trip, but as it got closer my instincts kept telling me that I didn't really want to go. Should have listened. First of all, Dave and I have never traveled together on a plane since the kids were born - mother's paranoia! But since he was going out on business, and my dad made my arrangements, we did end up on the same flight. That made me a little nervous. Enough to make sure that the wills were up to date in terms of guardianship etc...

The first sign of trouble was when our flight was the only one delayed. And delayed. And delayed. Every fifteen minutes they would update it to another 15 minutes....for 3 hours total. And of course, it was for mechanical problems. The incoming crew had heard a strange banging sound as they began their descent into St. Louis and they were trying to figure out what it was. Finally at 5pm we left on our 2pm flight.

Ten minutes in the air and the pilots announce that we are returning to St. Louis because the landing gear won't go up. I guess that's something that they couldn't check for while on the ground ;-) ! We landed back in St. Lou with the full emergency vehicle welcome due to a full plane, and a full tank of fuel. Not a great situation for my already hypersensitive mother's intuition!

They brought in another flight and we got off the ground around 6:30. This time the flight was delightful - many had bailed due to missed connections, so it was no longer full and we were able to spread out.

Arrive at hotel in Long Beach to discover that our floor is taken over by Club America - some sort of Soccer team, very famous I guess because there were fans all over the lobby with their balls and their sharpies looking for players. Also, very Mexican and very loud. Spanish is a language that apparently must always be spoken with enthusiasm. Our floor had a "bustle" on it that certainly wasn't going to die down soon, so I went down and requested another floor. This time, we ended up on the 15th (top) floor, executive level. Aah....quiet intellectuals. Just our speed.

Not wanting to spend the $10 for the airline snack, it was 10pm in CA and 12am at home and we were STARVING. This was the highlight of the day - room service brought the BEST burger I think I've ever had in my life! Unfortunately Dave and I had decided to share it.

Since we had arrived too late to see Amy and her family that night, I opted to skip the dinner function with Dave the next night and go out with Amy and Tyler. Dan was off cycling with the team. Amy picked me up at lunch time and I baby sat Tyler that afternoon. We had a nice time - but Tyler was fussy. Not used to me yet, so whenever mommy was around he wanted nothing to do with me! Later that night, the first sign of trouble appeared. Tyler had a RUO as my doctor used to call them - Rash of Unknown Origin.

The next morning Amy called with a change of plans that would continue for the next 4 days. Tyler had awoken at 2am vomiting and having diarhea and hadn't slept at all. Two days later, Dan had it. He was really sick - almost passing out on several occasions. At this point, Dave was heading home, and I was supposed to stay at Amy's for the weekend. Well, Amy decided that since she only had one bathroom, that would guarantee me getting sick, so she packed up Tyler, (who was still having diarhea, but was assumed to be well - no fever - so she thought it was just taking a while for his stomach to get normal) stopped and bought herself new clothes in an effort to reduce exposure to Dan, picked me up at the hotel and we headed for her in-laws for the weekend. A day and a half later, her mother in law was sick.

By this point, I had already determined that my downfall was inevitable unless my 14 years of motherhood had made me immune, or at least slightly immune. I tried to get an earlier flight to alleviate the stress on my sister, but the airline wanted almost $400 to change. I wondered what they would do if I did indeed end up sick by Monday. Would they charge me not to vomit on their plane? I mused that no matter how invasive the airline screening becomes - you could look at nudie scans of me all day and not see the B--- I'd be packing! I chose not to share these thoughts with the nice lady on the phone for fear of losing my flying privileges for years to come!

With no where left to go, we checked into a hotel Sunday night. Dan was well enough to watch Tyler - what could it hurt? And Amy came over and watched a movie -"The Invention of Lying" (not very good!) with me for some sister time. 30 minutes after she left I was sick. I think my immune system held up as long as it could - but direct exposure to a massive diaper blow did me in. Fortunately, I did manage to keep it all going in one direction. I got on that plane Monday with some Immodium, but the muscle aches kicked in as we were leaving and I had neglected to get some Advil. It was a miserable flight.


This is a picture of one of the days I entertained myself while Amy was tending sick Tyler, and Dave was in meetings. The high of the trip were the moments of solitude that I did enjoy - watching movies in the hotel until meeting Dave for lunch, long walks along the piers in warm weather....laughing with Amy until we cried over our self proclaimed status as "vomit vagabonds". One day we just drove along the coast letting Tyler nap and got hysterical giggles when Amy said that the truth about the traffic in L.A. is that everyone is out driving because someone in their house has the flu! And later, Tyler imitating my "evil" laugh when I suggested we laugh in the face of danger and get sushi! Great memories....funny now!

So, that's why I haven't posted! Gone and then came home sick! I was able to stamp yesterday and made some really cute cards! I took pictures of them with my new camera, but I couldn't figure out how to download them to the computer - it's a Sony, so it has a Memory Stick instead of a flash card, and I'm not sure our port is compatible. Dave will be home tonight from Las Vegas and will hopefully fix it for me.

Stay healthy, but if you can't - count your blessings that you are here and have medicine etc...and not in Haiti.

Smiles,

Susan