The airports have screwed me once again!
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| I may appear calm but I had a blue streak of swear words coming out of my mouth this morning |
I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to pack (because naturally, I fell asleep on the floor last night) and had my parents drop me off at DIA around 10:30. I checked my luggage, made it through security, and got to my gate with plenty of time to spare…..only to discovered that icy rain had completely CLOSED DOWN THE SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORT. No bueno, my friends. No bueno.
After a lot of discussion, it was made clear that the airport was closed until 5pm and that all flights out afterwards were full unless I wanted to hang out and hope for standby. I had already been at DIA for 3.5 hours at this point, so there was no way in hell that I was going to add to that time. Pretty sure I’ve already spent enough time in various airports this week! Luckily, my parents were able to come pick me up, so I cancelled my Southwest flight, purchased a new one-way ticket on Frontier tomorrow morning, and met them out front.
What a letdown of a day!
However, in some (very) small way, I am glad that it happened. I am having a rough comedown from my Haiti trip (more on that next week!) and I may have needed this breathing time. Additionally, it gave me a few extra hours to run to an Urgent Care Clinic to get this mess looked at!
Y’all, my foot isn’t usually a deep shade of maroon-purple, nor is it typically swollen up like a stuffed sausage. However, it does experience all these side effects when I step on a massive sea urchin in the middle of the ocean!
After Haiti, we spent two nights in the Dominican Republic, enjoying the beaches and the nearby hiking. However, I managed to step on the porcupine of the sea within 20 minutes after entering the water! The quills got buried pretty deeply and unfortunately, I had an awful reaction. Since I didn’t feel like letting a doctor in the DR dig around in my foot with a needle, I chose to take 50 mg of Benadryl and suck it up until I got back into the States. The only problem was that I’m not big on meds or pills and very rarely (if ever) take them. I don’t even have Ibuprofen in my house! This was the first time I had ever taken Benadryl and I was not quite expecting how it made me feel….
…but I’m pretty sure Angel gave me acid instead! (Not really, but I imagine that this is what an acid trip is like!) I had to stay awake because it was the medal presentations for the marathon, but I was so out of it! Angel told me I was slurring my words (awesome), and I was convinced that I saw a few elves hiding in the bushes. In case you’re wondering, there are definitely no garden gnomes in the DR! I was sitting on the edge of the bench, terrified to say anything for fear of slurring my words in front of everyone, and almost fell off the damn bench. I even had day terrors that I would slide down the bench and smack my head on the railing!
Y’all, Benadryl is not cool! Luckily, it did take the swelling down, but hell if I’ll ever take those pills again!
Anyway, after my flight was cancelled today, my dad issued me an ultimatum: if I didn’t go get my foot looked at, he wouldn’t take me to the airport tomorrow. My family is nothing if not sneaky! I didn’t think it was necessary because all the swelling was gone, but the quills were still buried in there and it was sore, so I agreed.
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| There are 5 quills broken off in there so deep that they only look like pin pricks! |
The doc agreed with my dad and said they needed to come out for fear of infection, so I spent 1.5 hours laying on my stomach today while the doc used some sharp-ass tweezers and a freaking scalpel to dissect my foot. The scalpel was necessary because the quills were buried beneath my fantastic foot calluses, so he had to cut through the tough skin in order to find the quill. Super hot, right? The good part is that the quills are removed; the bad part is that I now have five gaping holes in the bottom of my foot. Tradeoffs, right?!
15 Comments
Sea lice sounds terrible. So does stepping on a sea urchin. Glad you got your foot taken care of!
Um, I would die if the doctor had to do that to me. DIE. I’m a huge baby. Benadryl totally messes me up too. I took some before teaching one time, innocently thinking it would help me breathe – that was a BAD day. It was when I taught first grade too. Never again.
I bet those fifth graders were terrifying on Benadryl!!
Oh my gosh, Heather! How have you been walking?
Anything with Diphenhydramine in it will sedate me for like the next 18 hours, but that’s about it.
I hate airports.
OUCCCCCHHH. I agree how were you walking around?! I am not a fan of most cough medications they all do weird things to me too!
Alright, totally sucks about SLC. Totally sucks about sea urchin. I understand the comedown of such a big trip/life experience and trying to explain what you’re feeling is often near impossible. But, I did have to laugh about your benadryl experience. As you know, I take very few medications as well and had the same situation once when I took a sinus medication. I seriously thought I was going to die. But what I wouldn’t give to have experienced you on that trip. =)
Oh my goodness!!!! Sounds like you are a MAJOR trooper. I think your dad was right, too 😉 now hopefully you can hope aboard your flight with the peace of mind of knowing your foot’s all right, at least.
Oy!! No fun! Glad that foot was taken care of. Have a safe flight!
You did have one heck of a day! Hope your travel went well today 🙂
WOW! The sea urchin story’s insane! You’re a champ. I’ve never had that kind of an adventure with Benadryl, but it kind of sounds fun? No? 🙂 The DR is so beautiful, I’m super jealous that you were just there. Hope your travel luck turns around!!
Sea lice and sea urchins both sound terrible. How have your been walking?? Both with the swollen foot and the 5 buried deep quills??? I’m well acquainted with the bizarre side effects of Benedryl. I have bad food allergies and unfortunately have taken my fair share of the meds. Yuck. I hope your foot is feeling better and that the airlines finally cooperate with you!
So sorry to hear this. Glad you are back home safe and sound. I live in FL. and I use my water shoes all the time. You just never know when you are going to step on something.
While I might be cautious about attending to a doctor in the DR. They are probably pretty equipped in dealing with urchins. You sound like my daughter with the meds. She will not take anything either. Sorry you had a psychedelic reaction to the Benedryl. And glad you finally went to the doctor for your foot! ouchie!
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