The Cabin, the Family and Christmas Eve in the Hospital.

We have a family cabin about 2 1/2 hours from where we live. It's nice. Nestled in the mountains on a private lake. The whole family on my husbands side share the place, but we've never all been up there at the same time. For one very good reason. Space. It's a small place, what a cabin should be. However some remodeling to the downstairs has been done and with an additional room rented at the Timberlodge Inn...we felt this year we'd have a big family Christmas at the cabin. Sounds great huh? Well, it was....except for one thing- I ended up in the ER room on Christmas Eve.

Friday we drove up and I was starting to feel "bad". We had just had lunch, so I thought...maybe I've accidentally ingested some dairy (I'm allergic to milk). As the day progressed, I kept getting worse. But once I saw the blood, I knew I needed a doctor!

Bad timing! Christmas Eve dinner was almost ready with presents waiting to be opened after that. 14 family members wished me well as I hurried off to the nearest open medical facility. The hospital would take 45 minutes to get to. I had wanted to visit the hospital for the holidays, but this was NOT what I had in mind.

There is one advantage to being sick on a holiday- no waiting. The place was deserted and the staff was so nice. They told jokes and talked about one of the nurse's recent trip to London. I was told to give a urine sample (always fun...), then given a white gown with blue pin stripes. The male nurse who checked me in, gave me a warm blanket.

The warm blanket.......I waited for 20 minutes (while they were testing my sample) thinking about this warm blanket.

Mary didn't get a warm blanket, or a white hospital gown with blue pin stripes. She didn't have a host of nurses by her side or medication to ease her pain. She didn't even get a room. She got a barn, and wrapped her baby in clothes probably taken off there own backs. It must have been dirty. They couldn't wash their clothes after each wearing. And the barn? Not exactly a sterile environment like this hospital...

When the doctor came in, he confirmed exactly what I thought was wrong. A bladder infection.
It took nearly 24 hours before I felt like I could eat again.

Imagine feeling like your bladder is extremely full for about 4 hours straight, or as I described it.... "there's an elephant sitting on my bladder!" embarrassing really and I almost didn't post it, but sometimes a slice of humble pie is good for the soul.

I'm so tired.

The rest of the weekend went better. We shared old memories of my father-in-law falling off the roof, the deck and the ladder. On Christmas night, we played the game 'Outburst' after a few glasses of wine :) followed by a rented movie, "I Robot". Unfortunately there wasn't enough snow to go skiing or tubing. I wasn't up for it anyway...

Funny how you can plan something for months and it doesn't go at all the way you expect. Look at the bright side. I gained a new perspective on Christmas... Mary, the warm blanket and a new type of pain.

I am constantly learning, therefore I will never know it all. Learning is a blessing. Teaching is a priviledge.

Did I mention that my daughter injured my nose last Tuesday night? Yeah, but it's getting better- I think. It's like when you go to the dentist and they shot you with novicane. You think everyone can see it, but nobody but you can tell. I feel like such a whiner!

I had a GREAT Christmas. No, I'm not being sarcastic- It was an experience. Which is the only way to live!