So, yeah, that line ain't working for me now.  The girls just roll their eyes and say, Mmm-hmmmm.....

 Nutshell:

 Went home to Kansas weekend before last for my Dad's 80th Birthday Party, which I was hosting.  My girls and I flew in Thursday afternoon.  The party was Friday evening.  It was a great success.

Good food - fried chicken, turkey breast, pork loin + tons of veggies and tater salad, beans, and the like.  Good music - a local singing/guitar talent with his fantastic female singer + a killer karaoke setup.  Good family/friends - It was like a family reunion - ages 8 mos. to 80+ years. 

* * * * * * * *

So, Saturday, we're set to go from the country to Kansas City.  We have reservations at the Embassy Suites, walking distance to Westport; and dinner rezzies @ a cool place called Californos.

 By the time we're in K.C., checking out my son, Jason's, new radio studio, all I could do was run in and use the bathroom; sit in the car while the girls bask in the coolness of a D.J.'s lair.  I was that sick.

Damn.  No way I can go out to eat.  Just run to the bathroom and fight the fever.

Jason takes the girls to Westport for dinner, where they meet Trig, FireEyes, Patricia K. and her son - I think that's the sum total.  Wasn't particularly compos, looking back on it.

Sunday I realize I cannot go to the play at the K.C. Rep ("Into The Woods"/Moises Kauffman).  Coerce the girls into going without me (they were being noble), and they had a good time.  Still fighting the fever and the other, um, disabilities, mostly nether-regionish.  Reschedule our flight home from Monday to Tuesday. 

Monday afternoon I finally have a moment of clarity.  I can barely See.  My vision is just a complete mess, which I think took me some time to realize as I spent most of my day/night with eyes screwed shut, fighting the most towering headache and fever of my life.

I've been drinking water and 7-Up, taking ibuprofen and aspirin.  The fever won't break.  Nothing will break but my ability to stand.

 I call the front desk, after tearfully informing my parents and my ex-husband (he will have to pick up the girls at the airport on Tuesday, without me, in Oakland, CA).  I say, Can someone take me to the hospital?

 Get to the hospital, the ER, St. Luke's.  I'm a middle-aged woman with diarrhea and a headache.  No priority over the bleeders therein.

 After 1.5 hours, they finally take my temp (98.2); b.p., slightly elevated; resps, very elevated.  Draw some blood.  Take temp again (103.7); b.p. the same, resps, the same.  They get a little nervous.  I told them it had been this way - like my personal thermostat was broken.

Then things started moving fast.  I had a bun crit of 3.4.  Normal is around 1.0.  Nothing gets worrisome till it's over 1.5, or even highter.  Potassium - nonexistent.

 They hang two liters of saline in me in the ER; transfer me to the Renal floor where I get to totter around for a couple three days with a bag in my arm.  Not till Wednesday did they decide it was bacterial, and thus begin the Cipro (antibio) course.

Monday and Tuesday I was still out of my head, some.  And running to the bathroom  constantly.  They said it was just better to get it all out of me.

 Their chicken broth was tasteless.  Their ice, divine (kinda like shave-ice, if you know what I mean).

Got set free Thursday, mid day.  Walked down the hill, with my blue bag of stuff (roll-on antiperspirant!  a cool black comb!), sat by the Jesse Clyde Nichols fountain till Jason could pick me up.  Only about 8 blocks from hotel, but couldn't face the walk.

Get to my nice, quiet, hotel room.  Lay on bed.  Marvel at it all.  Memories coming back into and through me.

I got to go to Trig's Place, sit on the deck, down a brew.  Then went to fancy rooftop premier of Jason's new online soap opera episode:  "Cliffhanger Falls", which was enjoyable.  The alcohol I imbibed seemed to regulate the thermostat, which was still entirely out of whack.

Flew home the next day. 

Vision just now seeming to be back, perfectly.  Energy level, too.

Salmonella - insidious, invisible, not discernable from plain old stomach flu.  Deadly, or nearly so, for me.

                     ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Can't get the damn pics from my new phone to upload.  I'll put them in later.  Gotta run.

(At least it's not to the bathroom!)

  - Con

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Whoop! There it is.  Me and the Trig canoodling on the deck:

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Peace out, Man!

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And here's Jason at his rooftop soiree for the serial online soap opera, Cliffhanger Falls:

      [  

[Check it out, cliffhangerfalls.com.  He plays the evil, slimy, venal, nasty lawyer.  Go figure....]