Another Story Time

What time is it? 

4:30

It's not late

Naw

Naw

It's Early

Early

I miss the 90s.

Actually it's 3:16.  I woke up around 12:30 for a trip to the bathroom and just couldn't fall back to sleep.  I am normally a very sound sleeper, but when I get disturbed I have a really, really hard time getting sleep to come around again.

Since it's the middle of the night and there is nothing to do I'm here on my blog. Rambling about nothing.

Let's see, what should I tell y'all about this time.... Oh, I've got it.

I'm going to tell you about the time I got pneumonia (Holy Cow I spelled it right on my first try!)


When I was about 10 my parents took us on a great winter vacation to some kind of hotel/lodge.  I don't think it was a ski resort but I remember we went tubing.  What I do know is that the hotel had an indoor heated pool and hot tub.  We got a big kick out of that and I think we spent more time in that pool than anywhere else.  My sister and I especially had fun in the hot tub, going under water and playing with the jets.

About a day and a half into our vacation I started feeling sick.  Really sick.  I started running a fever and I was hot enough that my parents decided we'd better go to the hospital.  As we were leaving the hotel we happened to pass by the hot tub and for the first time since we got there it wasn't running.  It was nasty.  There was some kind of green film on top of the water.  I don't remember it, but I've heard the story. My mom says it looked like pond scum or algae.  If she'd seen it first she never would have let us in that thing.

When we got to the hospital after a torturous car ride I had the pleasure of having my ears scraped out and trying to stand still for X-Rays while I was freezing and weak. Turns out I had an infection in both ears and full-blown pneumonia.  I was given a prescription and my mom filled it there in the hospital.  I had to take one of the pills right away, so she got me over to a water fountain and I took it.

I got about four steps from the fountain before I 'unswallowed' all over my little brother.  He was about four years old at the time and had a beloved Care Bear, Grumpy.  I covered this poor boy from head to toe in sick and all he did was stand there, bottom lip quivering and said the words that would soon become family legend,

"She trew up on Drumpy!" (My Joey sounds a lot like Dan did at that age!)

He didn't care at all that he had just been covered in vomit, his only concern was for his precious Grumpy.  Sweet kid.  My poor dad had to take my little brother into the Mens room to try to somehow hose him off while my mom took me into the Ladies to clean me up.  I don't remember how they cleaned him up, but I think having vacation clothes in the car probably helped.

When we finally got home I was put to bed.  The next bit of my memory is really hazy. I had a waterbed at that time and I remember that every time I rolled over or moved the waves made me nauseated.  I also remember feeling so thirsty but the only thing I could hold down was ice water.  If it wasn't absolutely freezing cold I couldn't stomach it.  I was so in and out of reality that I would pick up the cup next to my bed thinking it was just a few minutes old when really it had been filled hours before.  I'd take a huge gulp of lukewarm water and that would start the fireworks all over again.

When I finally started feeling better I asked what day it was.  My mom told me it was Wednesday, so I thought I'd been out of it for three days, since I'd gone to the hospital on a Saturday.  Apparently it was Wednesday of the next week.  There is a whole week of my life that I have absolutely no memory of.  My fourth grade class even made me a Get Well Soon card, but I don't remember seeing it.  I heard about it when I got back to school.

My lungs have never been the same since then.  I've been told I have permanent damage from the pneumonia.  I'm not sure exactly what that means, other than I get winded a little more easily.  I was never a very athletic kid, so it didn't matter much.

There you have it, the story of how I single handed-ly ruined a great family get-away. You've got to admit, I really did the job thoroughly! I not only puked on my brother, I'm pretty sure I gave my sister a phobia of hot tubs.  I don't know how long it took her to get over that.  Yep, when I ruin a vacation I do it with flair!


Well, it's 4:06 now.  I'm still wide awake but I think I'm going to try to go back to bed.  I've still got a couple hours before I have to get the kids up.  Maybe I can get a little sleep.  Good night!