Wednesday, April 24, 2013

(Mis) adventures in Dining (Our Anniversary Getaway)

Thursday, April 18th, was our 33rd anniversary. Leslie and I have seen and done quite a bit and that adventure is only ongoing over here. Nothing like we thought it would be, but ongoing none the less. What an amazing lady I am married to. Still my best friend, still able to make me laugh and occasionally infuriate me, sometimes all in the same day, sometimes in the same sentence! She is still as much a mystery to me now as she was over 33 years ago when we met. (Think 70s fro, man she had a big fro.) When I think I know her, I don't. When I think I have something figured out, it changes. I guess that's one of the many things that makes it all work, that mystery, that sense of adventure we face with each other and with ourselves. Looking forward to 33 more.
But I digress.

Anyway, we originally intended to travel with some other folks to Taif via the escarpment road to see the baboons and cruise through the mountains but discovered on Wednesday that the escarpment road was closed for repairs. I witness the way they handle road repairs here, and I was actually relieved that the road was closed while under repair. So, we bagged the trip and decided to make it a mellow, relaxing day of doing whatever we felt like. Change of plans number one. Our ride had become a walk.

We like to walk around what we call "the square".  It's a walk that starts at the compound to Malek, over to Hira, up to Sultan, over to Batarji and then back toward Malek to the compound. All in all, about a 3 mile trek. Malek is a main North/South highway and serves as a drag strip and wheelie show road for the rich kids on Friday mornings. Crazy stuff. Hira is lined with little local eateries and shops that bulge at the seams with their goods. It's busy, dirty, loud and my favorite street in Jeddah outside of the streets in Al Balad. Sultan has more upscale, Euro and American stores, banks and the like and on the corner of Sultan and Batarji is Iceland, where we play ice hockey. Batarji could best be described as a connector road between Malek and Sultan and it has the usual strip malls, a couple grocery stores and malls and a hospital and not much else. The weather Thursday morning was cool by desert standards, so off we went. Well, we did not make it past the cafeteria on the compound before running into Lue and Kay. Lue had his Expedition for the day and wanted to know if we wanted to do some exploring with them. Change of plans number two. Our walk had become a ride.

We cruised around to a couple different stores and then talked our travel pals into taking a drive down to the Jeddah Fish market near downtown. The market has been there for who knows how long and you see EVERY manner of fish, shrimp, eel and shark. It is where the local grocery stores buy their fish and you see individual fisherman selling fresh fish from baskets right on the floor. Interesting place. Les and I were there about a year ago but Lue and Kay had never seen it before. Something new for them. After a nice visit at the Jeddah Fish Market it was well after lunch time and the mid day prayer, so we decided to hunt for a place to eat. I voted for Yemenese food, Lue and Kay were mostly non-committal and Les voted for Mexican food at an American chain called On the Border. This would be called a dubious decision at best later on.

We had the usual AmeriMex stuff. We all shared some chips and salsa and an appetizer. Lue ordered a sampler, Kay and Les shared a veggie frajita and I ordered a chicken chimichanga. The chimi proved to be a very bad decision.

I will try to walk through this as delicately and tactfully as I can. By early Friday morning I was sick. I mean, VERY sick. Sick to the point where I KNEW something was definitely not right, but I convinced myself that I only had the stomach flu that was going around. So, because I am stupid, I decided to head in to work Saturday anyway. This was in no way a good idea. I managed to eat a tiny bit of food Saturday and thought that I felt better. Nope. Not even close. I thought I was sick Friday morning, but that was only a precursor for Saturday night where I was ludicrously sick. I would not have thought that possible. Saturday night through Sunday morning was a haze. I was dehydrating at an alarming rate, but I really was too sick to notice. I did not even like the taste of water, which did not even matter because even water went through me like a laser beam. I was too sick to care. Sorry, trying to not be too graphic, but it is what it is and you chose to be my friend and subscribe to the blog.

And once again (see comment about being stupid above) I again chose to go to work Sunday. However, before I left the house Leslie made me promise that I would go to the base clinic as soon as I could. She told me later that when I left the house that morning,   she texted my coworker Steve to have him be sure to take me to the clinic. When Leslie worries, you know it's bad. The woman simply does not worry. Well, not about important stuff like that. Cool as ice. But when she does, it must be bad. But I digress. I was still too sick to care and at this point, I sounded like dust and was starting to look like that dude from the Mummy movie that had the life sucked from him. 

So my very thoughtful coworker Steve took me to the base clinic where I saw our ever smiling friend nurse Kareen and Dr. Samir, who looked at me for all of 10 seconds and sent me straight to the ER at GNP Hospital. I vaguely remember Steve dropping me off at the ER door and I of course told him I was fine (I'm an idiot) and promptly staggered into the ER ward where I spent the next few hours on fluids and antibiotics and had a couple of tests. My Russian doctor determined I had a pretty bad case of food poisoning. (ya think?) I was so dehydrated and had so much bacteria in my system that my kidneys were beginning to malfunction and they were worried I was going to have a heart attack. (That sort of got my attention.) Leslie was there by now. I kind of remember texting her my status and her arriving what seemed like minutes later. She was worried, but I was too sick to care. 

That said, after about 5 hours in the ER and a few bags of fluids and antibiotics I was feeling much better ( I cared again) and only then noticed I had been on a gurney that was as soft as 5000 year old granite. My back was really killing me, but at least I was no longer worried about being the wrinkled mummy dude.


They admitted me to the hospital and our anniversary dinner had, two days later, turned into a nice little anniversary get away.  Leslie pointed out on Facebook and I have to agree, we at least had a nice private suite with room service, I certainly had plenty of fluids, though they were served up intravenously and we both got plenty of rest. 


So, after taking in fourteen 500 ml bags of fluids, 8 bottles of antibiotics, multiple tests, an ECG, an EKG and two days in the hospital, I was cut loose with a clean bill of health. (After one more day of rest at the compound, today, Wednesday the 24th.) I am now fully recovered, the hospital staff was thorough and professional and we are taking a little gift to them tomorrow as a small token of our appreciation. Well, at least the nurses on the third floor...

Al this makes me wonder how we could top that for our 34th next year when we will thankfully be back in Minnesota...
A touch of dysentery? Maybe a little plague? How about some Mad Cow? Salmonella perhaps?


Chalk it up as yet another adventure.  (292 days left but who's counting.)