qos | Be Careful Using the "A-Word"

What did we learn on this trip?
Do not invoke the word "adventure" prior to going on vacation.

Before I elaborate on that, let me state that we had a wonderful time in Disneyland. We spent two 10+ hour days in the park (my daughter was tireless) and both of us enjoyed ourselves immensely. She is a great companion: cheerful, brave, enthusiastic, and considerate.

"But wait -" I hear you say. "Weren't you going to spend three days in the park?"

Why yes. We had a wonderful two days in Disneyland.

Prior to our actual arrival in Disneyland. . .

. . . our train leaving Seattle on Saturday morning was almost forty minutes late, and continued to lose time from there. I had anticipated a relaxing two days enjoying beautiful scenery, reading, playing chess, and savoring the experience. What I got was gray, foggy weather while we passed through Washington and Oregon, early darkness (really creepy with the fog), constant rattling and swaying, and a very hard time sleeping at night.

The bright spot on the trip down came as we passed through Canby, Oregon. My friend Hob had told me that he and his wife would come out to wave at us as we passed through. Not only did they wave, they had a big, colorful sign that read "[QoS] & [Daughter]'s Disneyland Adventure". It was such a wonderful surprise, it made me smile for an hour afterward.

We arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday night three hours behind schedule, then had another forty minutes or so elapse while we got onto a bus. From there, we were driven first to Fullerton and then to Anaheim, arriving at approximately 1am on Monday morning. Fortunately, the cabs came quickly, and we were soon on our way to our hotel.

I hadn't been feeling great on the last few hours of the train trip, but put it down to exhaustion. My stomach often reacts badly to extreme fatigue, and I assumed the stomach pains I'd been feeling were a combination of being very tired and the consumption of less-than-ideal train food.

As I stumbled across the threshold of our hotel room around 1:30am. . . well, let's just say I experienced complete intestinal system breakdown. At both ends simultaneously.

The next 6 hours or so were hell. Thank God my daughter was not terrified by being in a strange city far from home and having her mother overcome by what was probably food poisoning. She went right to sleep. I slept little, stumbling back and forth to the bathroom every 30-45 minutes, in utter misery, wondering if I would have to call for help.

The attack finally subsided and I was able to get a couple of hours sleep, but I woke up feeling limp, and my stomach was very sore. I didn't know if it was from illness or the side-effects of the night's activities. I called the consulting nurse hotline of my healthcare plan, and after describing my symptoms, he was worried about internal bleeding and said, "I want you to go to the emergency room right now."

I'm supposed to be taking my daughter to Disneyland. Instead we get into a cab to go to a hospital in Anaheim.

It quickly became obvious that whatever had caused the sickness, be it a flu bug I had picked up or food poisoning (my daughter is blaming the egg in my Sunday morning breakfast bagel) had passed, but they stuck an IV in my arm to get me re-hydrated. The first attempt to put the needle in my arm didn't go well. They bruised my right arm, and then put the needle in my left. And then they proceeded to mostly ignore us for more than an hour at a time.

We were in the ER until after 4pm. Thankfully they brought food for the daughter, who was a complete trouper. Can you imagine her disappointment? Instead of Disneyland she gets to sit on a hard chair in the ER all day. But she was great. We finally got in a cab to go back to the hotel about 4:30pm -- that's after picking up prescriptions for my symptoms and an antibiotic.

I had been cherishing a hope that we would be able to get to the park that evening, since it was open until midnight, but I was utterly drained. I still wasn't able to eat real food, and I was exhausted. As a consolation prize, I took the child to the swimming pool, and she enjoyed swimming and sitting in the hot tub for a while.

The next morning, we were up at 6:30. I still felt a bit weak, but functional. We got dressed and headed down to the hotel restaurant, where the daughter devoured french toast, and I had a fruit plate and two eggs over medium. I was pale, a bit shaky, and had needle marks and bruises in both arms. I looked like an addict.

But things got much better from there. . . .