Keeping It Low Key: Days Five and Six of Our Christmas Vacation

To continue on with the story of my hospital visit...

I was awakened around 6 AM by a vampiric nurse who took some more blood. I vaguely remember this, because she turned on the very bright light above my bed (which was not a pleasant way to wake up). The OB showed up around 7 AM (and did the same trick with the lights). I don't remember much of what was said, as I had already drifted back into my Ambien-induced sleep. It's a good thing Roy was there.

The bottom line is that everything appeared to be normal and they were going to release me. I slept for awhile longer before being discharged. The nurse wheeled me downstairs and left us outside to wait for my mom to pick us up. It turned out to be quite a wait, so Roy wheeled me around the parking lot and different hospital buildings. Once my mom had picked us up, we decided to go to IHOP for breakfast. I was starving.

We ordered, after our waitress made note of how sad I looked. I guess I was sad, but I was more out of it than anything. I didn't get nearly enough sleep, and if/when you take Ambien, you should get at least eight hours of sleep, or else you feel drugged. I also was still having the pain/pressure, and I know I looked horrible from not brushing my hair or putting on any makeup.

For some reason, once we started eating, I started crying. We left quickly after that and drove out to my mom's house. Roy and I crashed for a couple of hours. I woke up feeling much better, though the pressure/pain was still there. I had a little bit of time to gather some things that I wanted to bring back home with me. Once we'd gathered everything together, I puttered around taking pictures of my mom's cats.

This is Zero, the one who was/is sick.





This is Bilbo and Oreo, who were Riley's litter mates.





And this is Right Tail/Little Kitty.



My mom has one other cat named Annabelle, but I couldn't get a good photo of her.

So we packed up and headed out. We were scheduled to meet my dad for an early dinner. On the way, my mom got pulled over for speeding, but she escaped with just a warning. We made it to the restaurant a few minutes late, and my dad was already there waiting.

It'd been two years since I'd last seen him. He looked good, and I could tell that he recognized me, but when he asked, "Who are you?," it stung a little. Still, we had a good dinner. He was very happy to hear that we're having a little boy. We ended up giving him a ride home and then we left town.

It was, overall, a very disappointing trip to my hometown. I really wanted more from it, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards. In talking with my friend Chris, who was always dying to escape Victoria as a teenager, I began to understand that my feelings about Victoria weren't so strange. It's essentially a place where many people grow up and then never leave. As a result, it's a town full of people who haven't experienced much of what the rest of the world has to offer. Now, I am far from being well-traveled, but I have always wanted more from life than what Victoria has to offer. It strikes me as strange that many people never leave. And I find it rather depressing.

(Oddly, I know plenty of people who have grown up in this area of California and have never lived outside of it, but they seem different than the natives of Victoria. Maybe it's just my perspective on both places.)

Our time in Victoria was so short because we wanted to get back to spend some time with my brother before he went back to Minneapolis the next day. So naturally we were all disappointed when we got back to San Antonio and discovered that my brother had gone out. We waited up as long as we could and then went to bed. It kind of sucked, but them's the breaks, right?

The next day we all hung out and then went out for lunch. I took photos.








I had woken up feeling like I was coming down with something, so Roy and I took it easy for most of the day. I had a crying episode (because I was still having the pain/pressure), which led to a mini-fight between me and my mom, which in turn made me feel even more crappy. I was so upset that I decided not to go along to take my brother to the airport. He seemed to understand when he saw I was crying. Roy and I watched a ton of episodes of Lost, which was totally awesome as usual.

All in all, days four, five, and six really kind of sucked. But things did improve after that.

(Note: Ugh, sorry these recaps are so tedious. I bore myself.)