Gargoyle with mouse ears

Off to DisneyWorld with my partner. Meeting my parents, my sister (and husband), and my brother (with his wife and child) there - the full gargoyle clan! Back in a week. You know the routine - emergency numbers are in your cell phones, there's pizza in the fridge, and NO WILD PARTIES while I'm gone.

Lex

 

I actually do have a picture of me in the parks from this trip. I can't share it here in the forums, but I'll just describe it.

I'm lying on my side, on a stone bench, with an EMT (emergency medical technician) taking my blood pressure and trying to stabilize me.

Still not entirely sure what happened. Best guess seems to be that I caught some stomach bug. And not the standard "ugh, I'm sick to my stomach" kind. I went from "huh, my stomach feels kinda weird" to telling my partner "I have to leave this store and lie down right now, or I'm going to faint". I was sweating buckets. I ended up spending about half an hour locked in a "companion rest room", alternating lying on the floor in a prone position, and crawling back up to the toilet when I needed to. My partnered ended up getting me a wheelchair, and tried to wheel me to the taxi stand to get me home...and I couldn't even do that. I couldn't even just sit there in a wheelchair. I had to have him "pull over" so I could collapse onto the stone bench. That's when the security people called the paramedics.

My blood pressure was pretty low, and when I tried sitting up, it immediately dropped several points. I obviously was in really bad shape. They gave me some diluted Powerade and offered to take me to the hospital, but I felt good enough (after the rest and refueling) that I thought I could rehydrate on my own. Disney kindly had a staff van drive me back to my hotel, and I spent the rest of the day (and night) playing the game where I try to put as much fluid back into me as my body kept sending out.

Although I can't say as I lost, I sure as hell didn't win. By the morning, I was pretty much at exactly the same spot. Still trying to drink enough just to stay even, and collapsing between bathroom breaks. Finally, I asked my partner to take me to hospital. They gave me a couple liters of fluids, some extra potassium, an anti-diarrheal, and told me to keep at the rehydration efforts. That gave me enough of a head start to start getting back on top. I even found it in me to start eating again. At 6pm on Wednesday, I had ten saltine crackers and half a banana - my first food in 36 hours.

So the Disney trip was half-spoiled for me (and my partner). Which, actually, isn't so bad. Disney treated us well. And we've been before, and we'll be back. We urged the rest of my family to continue enjoying the experience, and apparently they did. We'll go take a "make-up" trip sometime in the future just for us.

Still not back to 100%. A bit sluggish, and lazier than normal. But hopefully, I can get back up to speed soon. I've got a race to do (in heels) in two days.

Lex