Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Bags Almost Packed!

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Well lucky we did not write this blog last night as I think that at that stage our bags were almost packed for the next flight home! On more than one occasion bec and I asked why are we doing this again?? It all started the night before when I had a nasty attack of what is now famously known as 'Dili Belly'. As I sat on the toilet gushing through the eye of the needle and searched the room to spot a bucket I could use to vomit in at the same time things were not looking good. As we have 3 rooms between us all I was hoping that my loved ones in the other rooms were not experiencing the same as I Predicament given we all shared the same meal for dinner. Fortunately I was the only one to suffer. Fortunately my edpisode was as quick at it was impactful and within the hour it was well and truly over. My body was able to eradicate whatever it was that was causing the problem. After the hour and trying to get back to sleep I was awoken by India's stirring restlessly in the bed. After several turns and squirms I began to worry that my beautiful girl was suffering the same illness that had Struck me down only a few hours before. After a trip to the bathroom and several stomach cramps I Decided to reach for the Phenergan tablets, Indy's wonder drug from previous trips. Sure enough within the hour Indy had recovered and was showing significant signs of improvement. Needless to say though that a full nights sleep was not to be had. Soon enough Bec and Gus Decided to join us and we all started to experience the start of 'cabin fever'. I showered and headed off to work with little sleep and no breakfast and hoped to survive the day as I left Bec with the crew looking for some form of entertainment. Needless to say my day was not as impactful as I had hoped and I returned to find Bec feeling less than enamoured with her first day alone in Timor. I returned wondering if I could do anything at all that would be of value to my clients and Bec struggled to entertain the kids in the hotel for the day. Having followed the kids around, constantly wiping hands, cleaning and washing dummies moved anything that we were both ready to pack our bags and head for the next flight home! The last time we felt this way was on our flight to the U.S. last year when a few hours from landing Indy started to get very unwell. She started to vomit on the plane and get very upset. Indy proceeded to be very unwell for the next many hours and as we came into land I sat in the middle between Indy and Maggie. Bec had Gus perched asleep on her lap. The approach to landing was a little rocky and as I held the bag for Indy to be sick in I glanced over to Bec who also succumbed to the call from below and was losing her delicately breakfast in her bag. That is one thing my wife does very well, she is one of the quietest vomiters I have ever seen, not sure if it has come from years of experience? I then looked over at my beautfiul Maggie who started to go a light shade of green. As I sat there holding one bag for Indy, sharing words of encouragement for Bec and with my other hand spare dived for another sick bag and tried to open it with one hand, and you guessed it too late. Maggie proceeded to launch 15 hours of plane snacks all over me, the seats and everything nearby! We ended up getting a wheelchair for the Indy off the plane and travelled to the Holiday Inn LAX. Despite assurances my travel agent that the building works had been completed (they had not on my last visit!) We were surprised to find the presence of very loud drilling and construction works constantly blareing in the hotel. For the next 3 days Indy vomited every 30 minutes, every drop of water and none of us slept for more than an hour at a time. We had the locum doctor out to see Indy who carried with him and drugs prescribed from his kit was a bit of a worry. We then headed to a medical clinic which was clean and efficient and able to provide us with some immediate support. The initial jab seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately as the day went on Indy returned to her constant vomiting schedule and in a very sleep deprived state I took her around to the local hospital in LAX. As I Walked in with Indy it looked like the waiting room was full of swine flu and the hospital was slum like in terms of its Cleanliness. As I sat there counting the minutes I Decided to stand up and take my girl out of the hell hole! We returned to the clinic and was Advised that if we did not see any improvement soon we would soon need to head to a hospital. The only thing my beautiful but neurotic Eldest daughter hates needles is more than hospitals. Having had enough of the constant drilling and construction works we Decided to head to the Westin hotel, much nicer. Unfortunately though having seen no improvement in Indy we Decided to ask the Westin concierge about some medical help. The hotel's driver took us to the local clinic which was in the backstreets of LA with only spanish signs and no confirmation of the presence of an actual doctor. We did not even get out of the car and asked the driver to take us to the closest hospital. We headed to Santa Monica hospital with Indy at this stage looking very usual Gaunt and her scarily skinny frame slender looking. We arrived at the santa monica hospital to be informed that the waiting time would be at least 4 to 6 hours. In a state of absolute exasperation we pleaded with the receptionist for help. By this stage we were almost spent and had very little left in our tanks. The receptionist suggested we head to the Santa Monica pediatric hospital around the corner, thank God! We arrived to a hyatt like entrance, No one in the waiting room, immediatley were admitted and put in a private room with plasma television on the wall. Indy was probed and tested to within an inch of her life and given a much needed drip with fluid. As the drip was drained the life we saw our return into a special princess and she started to look and sound like our Indy. This was only after an X-Ray, Ultrasound and anal colonoscopy that you would not wish on your worst enemy. Within 24 hours the Indy who hadn't been able to hold down a teaspoon of water for 4 days was hoeing into a Foot long hot dogs and was back to her old self. We on the other hand were completely exhausted as I headed off to work for the week. Within a few days and a few full nights sleep we were enjoying our trip and having a great time.
As I write this we have recovered from our initial induction to life in East and enjoying our trip once again. I had a good day at work and feeling like I added some value to those I worked with and Bec headed out with the kids and Nick and Jen and had a great day. 24 hours is a long time when traveling with kids! We have enjoyed a quiet drink "Reflecting on the day and kids are happy, parents are happy. I Will Retire for now and let my beautiful wife share some of her day's experience.
Well following on from my husbands wonderful writing talents is always a little challenging! Yes it's true, after all the initial excitement leading up to experiencing a new country for the first time, its beautiful hills with its lush valleys filled with low-lying clouds and little Dwellings nested amongst the hills, the romance was dying! As I reached to pull out some hair (it was too early to turn to the Gin!) After I had tried to stop Gus from putting his dummies off the floor into his mouth, Maggie from her eating Coco Pops out of an unwashed bowl and Indi remind that she past her due malerials anti-all at the same time I did wonder ... WHAT AM I DOING?! It was so much eaiser with Gus last time in India (at 4 months) when he couldnt walk, talk or eat and things were far more within my control. Now he is a typical boy, on the move constantly looking for trouble, wanting to put everything in his mouth and now suffering from cabin fever in the height of humidity? All a great recipe for Insanity. But yes, writes Nick as we got through the day, as they (Whoever they are) say the only way to go is up when you hit rock bottom! and yes today was a great example of that. After the usual breakfast struggle where we try to eat whilst Gus chasing around the restaurant, stop him from falling down the stairs and the constant prevention of ingesting non-sterilised items in his mouth! we headed off for the "big smoke" the city of Dili. Well, yes, blink and you might miss it. No high-rise buildings or shopping centers, there are a few shops of sorts and mostly single story Dwellings Confronting amongst some sights. Indi had a bit of a hard time today after we Walked past a slum-type dwelling with a family, including a young child, living in very unsanitary conditions in Rags with monkeys in Cages, not very nice! Lucky Mags was a little more distracted!
Well the kids are needing attention! so time to go and Rid-up and take the anti-malerials, wash the bottle in a stainless steel jug with boiled Bottled water, oh yeah and have another wine! So take care all and thankyou for following us, hope our adventures are providing you with soem light hearted relief.

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