Part 4 - Once Upon The First Universal Trip

We woke up and I quickly got out of bed to go throw up in the bathroom. 30 minutes go by and Ben said with concern, "Karen? Are you alright? You've been in there for quite a while." I said to him while opening the door, "Yes, I will be okay. I think I just threw up last night's dinner." He said with disgust, and concern, "Ew, I really hope you'll be okay. I am getting more worried about you." I said to him with a smile, "I know and I should be okay. What time is it, do you know?" He said calmly, "It is 8:00am" With my eyes wide open and my eyebrows raised, I said, "Oh shit! No, no, no that can't be right. Damn it Ben!" He said with confusion, "What's wrong?" I said to him with panic, "We just missed our bus to the airport! Omg, what are we gonna do now? I can't believe this just happened. I said to myself while pinching my hand thinking this is just a dream gone wrong but I felt the pinch and know this isn't a dream. A second later he said, "Are you kidding?" I said, "No for real, we need to leave this room right now and go downstairs maybe the hotel can help us. Ugh this isn't good. Our flight leaves at 10:30am and we are supposed to be there 2 hours before flight time and now we are gonna be late and short on time. It's a 20 minute ride but if there is traffic, it will be so much longer and then Orlando is a pretty big airport so then cutting short if we got a big line just to get through checked luggage and security! We can't miss our flight Ben, we can't miss it! Omg this is all of my fault." He said calmly while hugging me, "Babe, listen to me things will work out. Okay? We won't miss our flight." I said, "How do you know we won't miss our flight?" He said calmly, "I don't but you got to stay positive."

We walk downstairs and I talk to someone at travel services. I told the person standing at desk the situation and she said, "Not a problem, the next bus doesn't arrive until 30 minutes or so." I dropped my jaw and said, "You don't got anything earlier?" She said, "Nope, sorry." I said "Alright, thank you." I put my hand on my forehead trying not to think of all of possibility of things going wrong. Then we walked away from the desk and I said to Ben, "What are we going to do now?" Ben said, "We can wait, she said about 30 minutes so it could come a bit earlier." I said, "But then we don't got enough time to get everything done unless we are super lucky and nothing is packed and traffic isn't hectic." Ben hugged me and said, "Think positive, things will be okay." I said calmly, "Okay it's hard to do that when this entire trip gone wrong." Ben said, "I know and we will make it home in time, we won't miss our flight. Just try and stay positive." I said, "You're right I should stay more positive but it's so hard to do that." 25 minutes goes by, I said to Ben, "Omg the bus is here! Yay we can get to airport now and catch our flight." I looked at my phone for the time and said, "Oh no, we are running out of time!" Ben said calmly, "Don't panic babe, everything will work out fine." We get on the bus, bus starts moving 5 minutes later. I see traffic up ahead and kept looking at my phone for the time and biting my lip thinking to myself, "Think positive, we will make it. No we won't make it, sorry but that flight just left." I bit my lip harder thinking more and Ben scoots closer to me and holds my hand then all of my bad thoughts I was thinking of just faded away while Ben is still holding my hand. We get to another hotel and I said to Ben, "What is this? Why are we stopping here?" Ben said, "It looks like the bus goes to multiple different hotels before it goes to the airport." I said quietly, "No, no! We are wasting more time to get to our flight in enough time." Ben said, "We will make it. See? The bus is moving again." A few minutes later, I noticed the bus didn't make anymore stops and was on the highway to Orlando airport.

We get to the airport and it wasn't as packed as I thought it would be. We print out our tickets at the kiosk, then checked our luggage in. We get through a line to security and there is someone trying to cut in front of me. I was getting frustrated and Ben noticed it too. I thought at first she was part of the couple in front of us but when I asked them if that's someone they are with and the couple politely said no. So I made sure she didn't cut in front of me. The girl said, "Hey bitch, I was there first." I said to her, "No, you weren't, I was behind these people for entire time when I got in line. Next try though." I saw her try to bribe security guard by letting her go in front of the line but the security guard wouldn't budge so she kept shoving me on the side trying so hard to get in front of me. I bit my lip so much to not shout at her or punch her in face because believe me, I was so sick and I was tired of bad crap happening to me. I kept my anger under control but I won't lie and say I wasn't thinking it. She told security guard and the security guard ignored her and said "Let's go, keep the line moving" using his hands guiding the way the line is going to security. Finally, get to security and the girl pushed me again, gave me an evil look and said something else which I don't remember what it was while flipping me off. I said back to her, "Whatever" and she tried to pretend like she gonna come after me and fight me. I look at her and saying to myself, this bitch just doesn't know that I got a black belt and she wants to fight, she will regret it because I would win. I looked and said to Ben while we are walking to other side of airport to get to our terminal, "Can you believe that bitch?" while mocking her on what she said to me and laughing at the whole thing. Ben said while laughing, "Yeah, I don't know what was her problem, she was really rude. Did you see her talking to the security guard before she tried to get in front of us? " I said, "Yeah, that's how I figured out she wasn't with the couple that was in front of us. She is so lucky that I didn't push or even worse whack her with my backpack on 'accident' because trust me I wanted to but I kept holding back because well I didn't want to get kicked out of airport either although she started it first." Ben said, "Yeah, I know. I am glad that you didn't do anything." I said to him while we are boarding our plane, "I figured karma will bite her back someday. You know the saying what goes around comes around? She'll get what's coming to her eventually and I don't think I need to do anything." Our plane closes the door and attendant starts talking about safety protocols and we start moving and off to Boston we go! Ben held my hand while we took off since he knows how much I don't like lift off.

We get to Boston at 1:30pm, get our luggage and head back to NH. It was a long car ride home. We got to Ben's house and first thing I did was opened the house door and ran to the bathroom as I just made it to toilet to throw up. Ben said firmly and put his hands up, "That's it, I am bringing you to urgent care. You need to get checked. I am really worried about you. You haven't kept anything down since Friday. I said calmly, "I know" while I threw up again. A few minutes later I flushed toilet, washed hands and told him sarcastically, "Okay Doc, I am ready to go now." We got into the car and Ben started driving to Horseshoe Pond. We get there and I went inside and didn't have to wait to be seen and this time, Ben was allowed in. A couple minutes goes by and talking to the doctor. She said, "You got salmonella food poisoning." I said to her with surprise, "This is still food poisoning? I don't understand, food poisoning doesn't usually last thing long." She said, "It depends on the kind of food poisoning you got and how much you ate. I had food poisoning for 4 weeks, I know it's scary and I do hope you feel better soon. I am sorry to hear about your trip, and I hope next time you go you have a much better one. I am gonna prescribe you some medicine called, Zofran. You place the tablet on your tongue and it dissolves right into your mouth. It is to keep you from throwing up and making you nauseous but as far as you have been telling me, you have been doing a good job making sure you are drinking lots of fluids and using the bland diet. Just keep doing that and taking Zofran and you should start to feel better. I'll go send over your prescription for you. Have a better night." I said, "Thank you" as she walked out of the room.

By the time we got out of there, it was 5:00pm, we head back to Ben's house and then got into his house and I said, "Well, I am really tired." Ben said, "Yeah, me too." I said with relief while I sat down on his couch, "I am so happy that I am back in our state. Don't got to deal with first aid and tell me that I'm crazy. Like can you just believe that? And I was right all along. I could have stopped having to throw up a few days ago if they took my case seriously. I am still mad and this isn't okay." Ben said, "What are you going to do?" I said, "Well I forgot you got to bring me home, I have work tomorrow. I hope I feel better by tomorrow because I called out once already." Ben said, "Alright, are you ready now?" I said getting up off of the couch, "Yep all ready to go." We leave his house again and on our way to my house. He walked me to my door and helped me carry in my luggage, came in and brought it right into my room and then we kissed goodbye.

I was in my room still mad about this trip and pondering about what I should do, and so I picked up my phone, called Universal Studios directly and made a complaint telling them that their EMTs misdiagnosed me and that my trip would have turned out better if they had just took me seriously. I just came back from urgent care in my state and they treated me for exactly what I went to first aid for in the first place, food poisoning. I am very disappointed and angry that your team misdiagnosed me. I am not angry at you but I am angry at your first aid department. That needs to be fixed. This could have gotten a lot worse especially if I took the cough drops and other medicines he gave me that he said I was not used to Florida air. Not saying I won't come back but I am just beyond angry. I wish this would have gone a different way but it didn't and this just isn't okay. Someone needs to retrain that department to learn to take better care of their patients more appropriately. For people that took a job to help and care for others and then didn't do that job by not helping me when I really needed it. All they had to do was check to see if it was true on what I said. I know my body more than anybody and I knew it in my gut that this was food poisoning. The guy said with a firm sincere voice, "I am really sorry for your experience. You are absolutely right that shouldn't have happened and truly sorry that it did. I will make sure this gets to the board with my team and it won't go unnoticed. I appreciate you for letting us know, we take our complaints very seriously." I said, "Thank you so much for listening to me and I am sorry that this was probably not the best news you heard today but I don't want someone else to walk in that department and get treated the same way that I was." The guy said, "Yes, I understand where you are coming from and I appreciate you for giving us feedback so we can fix what needs to be fixed and do better. Is there anything else I can help you with today?" I said, "Nope, that was the only thing I had on my mind." He said, "Great, I am glad I was able to help you and have a good day." I smiled and said, "Thank you and have a good day too!" I hung up the phone. I texted Ben, "So far, I took the Zofran and it's been a couple of hours and not throwing up." Ben texted back, "Oh good, I'm glad. I love you heart and kiss emoji. Then I texted back with, "I love you too heart and kiss emoji."

The next day I called my work and of course I got my boss named Sue which I know doesn't like me. Sue answered with nice voice, "Hello, this is Sue. How can I help you?" I said calmly, "Hi Sue, this is Karen. I am still sick with food poisoning and I won't be in today. I'm sorry, I hope I am better by tomorrow. I am so sick of throwing up, I went to urgent care last night and they told me it is salmonella food poisoning and it can last up to 2 weeks or more depending on how severe it is." Sue's voice changed as she said back to me in a angry and firm tone, "No, I don't believe it, that just can't be right. Food poisoning only lasts 42 hours. You need to go get checked again, they misdiagnosed you. Get off of phone with me, make an appointment to see your doctor today and then make sure you get a note. I don't want to hear anymore excuses so call your doctor get the right treatment you need and feel better." I said calmly, "Thanks Sue, I'll go see my doctor, bye." I hung up the phone. My mom heard some of that and she said, "I can't believe your work is making you go back to the doctor's." I laughed and said, "I know, it's Sue. She never likes me if she does like me, she has an awful way of showing it." I dialed my doctor's number and they got me in right away. I called my family friend, Donna to bring me to the doctor's. I could hear the shock in her voice when she said, "You called your work and Sue told you to go back to doctor because she thinks you were misdiagnosed?" I said while laughing, "Yep, unreal right. I never had a situation like this before but she honestly doesn't believe it is food poisoning. What time can you pick me up?" She said, "I can pick you up now and we'll head to your doctor's. I just can't believe this Karen." I said, "I know Donna, I can't believe it either. This is gonna be such a waste of time but whatever." 20 minutes later, Donna arrived at my house to pick me up and we head to the doctor's appointment.

We get to the doctor's and I went in alone while Donna sits in the waiting room, I see the nurse and I am just talking away to her as she checks my blood pressure and taking my height, etc. She said with a smile, "Aw, I'm sorry, I hope the next time you go on vacation that it'll be a much better one." I smiled back and said, "Thank you." I sat down on the doctor's bench. Nurse left the room and a few minutes later the doctor arrived. She nods her head as I am telling her why I am here even though Horseshoe Pond diagnosed me yesterday with salmonella food poisoning. Her jaw dropped and said, "Well, I don't see any other new symptoms to determine that this isn't food poisoning. It sounds like Horseshoe Pond is correct and this is indeed salmonella food poisoning. Did you tell your boss that it can take up to 2 weeks?" I said, "Oh yeah, she didn't believe me." While laughing with me she said, "Well, here is what I'll do considering you got medicine already and it's been working you basically just need a doctor's note stating you have food poisoning to give to work, right?" I said, "Yes that's what I will need." She said in a serious tone, "Okay, I can do that for you. I have never heard of this before so I am just shocked that your employer made you come back to get checked just because they think you don't have what you say you have." I laughed again and said, "Yeah, it is what it is I guess. I am trying find a better job but I haven't found one that I am interested in yet. Ever since my work relocated, they have been such assholes to me. I have not one big manager, there is like 3 or 4 of them and I know for sure the one that made me come here today to be seen doesn't like me." She said, "I am sorry, hopefully you do find a better job so you can be happy and love what you do. How many days you want me to write you out for?" I said while swinging my feet back and forth on the doctor's bench, "I don't know, I'd like to go back to work soon it's not like I planned this to happen." She said with a smile, "I know let me put you down for a week and if you still aren't feeling better than just call me and I'll extend it longer. Take care Karen." I smiled back and said, "Thank you, take care too and I know in doctor terms I hope not to see you anytime soon in a good way." She laughed and said, "same here" as she left the room. I got down off of the bench and walked out of the room.

Donna and I left the doctor's building and she drove me back home. We got to my house, and I got out of the car. I walked inside my house and I laid down on my bed in my room. One week goes by and I am feeling so much better. Not drained anymore, no more throwing up, it was a freaking miracle. I finally got to eat food and keep it down. I lost so much weight, I had to wear a belt to keep my pants from falling down but I was just so glad I didn't feel so sick anymore. I texted Ben, "I am feeling so much better." He sent back, "I am so happy to hear that, I love you" with a smiley, kiss and heart emoji. I texted him again, "I love you too, heart and kiss emoji and this sure will be a trip I will never forget."

The End