October 11th
My parents had the alarm set for 3:30am to begin to give me my reflux medication. I have to wait an hour for the med to work before starting breakfast. My parents wanted to get an early start on breakfast so that I did not have to have my breakfast in the middle of the airport.
Irene drove us to the airport and we were actually on time. American Airlines treats us with so much respect and are always so nice to us. We were able to board first even before first class so that we could get situated and settled into our seats. We sat up at the front and I had my portable oxygen machine with me. We were ready for takeoff! I did really well during the flight. Not once did I need oxygen. Mom had my mask on me to hopefully keep all the germs people were coughing away from me!
We landed in Dallas on time. The plan was to rent a car and drive to Houston to stay with my Auntie T. You see this year it is my Pa Pa Shroyer’s 75th birthday and we were headed to his house for the weekend to celebrate with my uncles and aunts his birthday!
For some reason, the minute I landed in Texas all of a sudden I started having much phelgm. I was coughing and my parents had no idea why? So we went straight to the front of the line at immigration and the immigration officer was super kind and simply said Welcome Back. Now that is nice! We went to the rental car place, a mere country mile from the airport and loaded and unloaded all the luggage from the bus to the car to get ready for our next journey. By this time, I am sounding very well my parents call it snarkley which means lots of gunk in the chest. We head out and within 10 minutes of being in the car mom has me on oxygen. I have a way of deteriorating rapidly. It is 4pm and we are outside of Dallas during rush hour with me taking in oxygen, full of phlegm and well our plans have now drastically changed. Instead of making the trip to Houston a mere four hour drive, (the reason we did not fly to Houston was to avoid sitting on another plane with a ton of germs and people) we are now rushing to get to Uncle George’s house in Dallas.
Mom and dad are a bit turned around in the big city, I mean we live in the jungle where the fastest one drives is 30mph. So quite a change for us jungle folk to be in Big D at rush hour! It is a good thing my mom and dad were being patient with each other! The other problem was not having a cell phone that worked in the USA and the next thing you know mom is at the gas station asking a stranger to use his phone to call Uncle G and of course he does not answer because he does not know the number!!! Geez, mom remembers how to get to 75 N. Central Expressway and off we go speeding across town.
Mom finally got a hold of Uncle G, we had to find out the code to get into his house and stopped at another gas station, this one was a bit shadier looking than the last, but the man behind the glass window slid the phone to mom and let her use it to call Uncle G. This time he answered thank goodness!!! By the time we arrive Uncle G’s I need respiratory attention. I am sure am glad we brought the medical box because my parents aspirated me and gave me a nebulization and I started to breathe better and things started to calm down. Uncle G came home to find general hospital in the middle of his living room floor but he was so thrilled to see us!!!! We stayed at George and Grace’s for the night to venture off on our next adventure Dallas to Houston.
Ciao Malia!