Crash Landing…

When Mike left London for The Hague, he got super sick. He sounded terrible whenever he called on the phone – I could just hear how congested he was. The whole time I was in London, I was congested. I blamed it on allergies and black boogies from the Tube. You don’t realize just how bad the pollution is until you blow your nose. The day I was in Cardiff was one of the few days I wasn’t congested.

Then I flew home.

I prepped for the trip. I took Clarytin (UK Claritin) and Sudafed beforehand. I drank a ton of water on the plane. And yet as each hour passed, I could tell my ears were hurting more, my throat was getting more hoarse, and my sinuses wanted to explode.

We landed just after 4:15 pm as a storm system rolled into Houston. I found out later that my plane was one of the last to land at Intercontinental for some time. Mike was on a flight scheduled to land an hour after mine. He had the car keys, and once he made it through customs we would go home. Ha! I made it out to the waiting area around 5:00 pm. The board still said his flight was due to land “On Time” at 5:35. It said “On Time” until almost 5:50, when it changed to “Delayed”. Gee, you think?

Sometime after 6:15 or so he called me … from Dallas. Thanks to the storm they had circled the airport for awhile, and just as they were going to land the pilot pulled back up and said they were going to Dallas instead.

I was at my breaking point. I was sick. I was tired. It was 6:30 in the evening, and I had been up since about 2:30 am Houston time. Cranky is putting it mildly. My Mom had offered to come and rescue me, and once I learned that Mike was in Dallas I took her up on it. She and Jason came to pick me up and take me home, which made me very happy.

Mike was supposed to be in Houston by 8:30 pm. At 9:30 or so, I went into my usual neurotic worry state where I was convinced his plane had crashed because I had not heard from him yet. I was afraid to turn on the news. When I called him and he answered, I was a bit snarly about the whole thing. Turns out he was dealing with the fact that British Airways had lost my suitcase that he had with him. It was supposed to be a carry-on, but he had decided to check it. We still don’t know where it is at, but really the least of my worries right now.

I woke up early Friday morning, only to discover that I had lost most of my voice. Mike was also feeling terrible, so while I went and picked up the dog and took her to the groomer, he called the doctor and made an appointment for later that morning. He told him that we both had the exact same symptoms, and we got a “two for one” deal as the doctor wrote us both prescriptions for mega antibiotics.

I still feel like crap, although better than I did on Friday. The drugs leave a very funky taste in my mouth, which is not pleasant at all. I still have a fever, which is not normal for me – I rarely run a fever, so when I do I notice. Mike and I both feel achy and cruddy. It has been a fun weekend around here.

After 3 days, I still have almost no voice. Which sucks, since I really want to get my podcast out. My deep, sexy voice would be almost amusing if people could actually hear me. As soon as I recover, I am recording it. The fact that I can’t right now is really bugging me.

I still have many stories to share from my trip. I promise to get caught up soon. For the record, Ann is my hero, in addition to being a fabulous hostess.