THE WATCHER

Worse. Road trip. Ever.

We don't travel easy...that's a fact. But an overnight trip to Salt Lake City seemed like a breeze. We left late for me, on Friday the 13th, after stopping at Einstein Bagels for a "let's get on the road lunch". Bronwyn, Heidi and I churned our way up the 15 on our journey, excited for the Valentine's day Ballet West Summer Intensive audition. Caitlin stayed behind for a violin competition and was safe at her Aunt Lynn's house.

Heidi felt a bit flu-ish and Bronwyn was occupied with her Game Boy Guitar Hero. I was sore from teaching spin the night before and a bit concerned about the impending snow storm that surrounded us. Yet the mighty mini-van pulled us through and God was gracious enough to give us dry roads all the way up to our Marriott hotel on the campus of the University of Utah.

Heidi's flu was getting worse so she took a nice hot bath. Bronwyn had a stuffy nose, so I journeyed out and found a Walgreens for some Dimetapp and a Rubio's for some food and then back to the hotel. So, with the time difference, the drive, and my sickly ladies, the audition, we all went to bed early.

I woke before the alarm and peaked out the window to see that it had snowed at least 5 inches overnight. Heidi informed me she was up all night with "gastrointestinal upset" and she was very tired and that I would have to attend the audition with Bronwyn, so she could rest.

No problem. Bronwyn got ready and I scrapped the snow off the van and we slowly found our way to the University dance center. The audition lasted about 3 hours and it never stopped snowing. I did not want to drive at night in a snow storm with a sick wife so we decided to stay another night. Another quick trip to Walgreen's for Imodium and to Whole Foods for organic saltine crackers and the Noodle place for some lunch and I was back to the hotel room to hunker down.

Heidi seemed to be getting stronger and was sipping her water and Bronwyn was satisfied with hanging out in the hotel room. I saw an IKEA while driving in and I needed a few things so I went off by myself to gas up and shop. While at IKEA I got the call to return to Walgreen's for Tylenol and that our TV was broken so we had to move rooms.

I got back to our old hotel room, moved all our stuff to the new one and settling back down, we watched some TV, I learned how to play guitar hero and we all drifted off to sleep around 9:00. Around 11ish, Heidi wakes up in real pain. She is obviously not well, and we urgently try to access the situation. I give Heidi some medication to see if that helps calm down the waves of pain. It does not. I ask Heidi what to do and she does not know. Now, after being married to Heidi for 24 years, the mere fact that she doesn't have the where-with-all to direct my every move and give me the spiritual reason behind it, is cause for emergency action. I slip on my pants, go to the front desk and have them call an ambulance. Oh yes, by this time Bronwyn is awake, crying and scared. I call Caitlin, explain the situation and she talks to Bronwyn. The EMTs arrive quickly and wheel the gurney up to room 312. The last question they asked Heidi is if she knew what day it was, she said Sunday morning, I said it was not Sunday morning yet, and the EMT looked at his watch said it will be in three seconds...happy Valentine's day. They wheel her out of the room, down the elevator, into the ambulance and whisk her off to the University Medical emergency room.

Bronwyn and I get dressed, go to the front desk for directions, and take off hoping to find our little bird. We eventually find the hospital, park and wander the halls until we locate Heidi. We see she is hooked up to an IV and getting fluids and pain medication and seems to be stable. The ER doc, wants to get a CT scan and keep her overnight. Bronwyn is so tired from her day of dancing that she is falling asleep on my lap, so we brave the freezing weather again and head back to the hotel to rest.

After an restless night, around 6:30 a.m., I get a text messages from a friend and I get up to call the hospital to see what the plan is. They say she is sleeping and want her to rest for a while longer but, the CT scan was clear, call back in an hour. I talk to Heidi around 8:00 a.m. and they want to release her and the doctor thinks it's Pancreatitis, but not sure. I pack up the car, Bronwyn and I get some breakfast and we're off to the emergency room.

The ride home to Las Vegas was rough at best. We laid down the mighty mini-van seats and made a lumpy bed for Heidi. She had to use the "puke bucket" several times on the way home and Bronwyn's ears started to hurt badly with change in pressure and her sinus infection. So between the smell and the crying, it made the last two hours to Vegas seem like ten.

We arrived at home and it has never felt so good to walk into my house. Being out of control in an unfamiliar place is a nightmare for me. Yet, God was merciful and I was able to be strong when I usually would have cracked. I had a few pity parties, but they were quickly vanquished by the needs of my family. Heidi has since followed up with her GI doc and they are chalking it up to a gastric virus. That's good news.