What happens in Vegas....doesn't always stay there..

What happens in Vegas may not always stay in Vegas..

The first weekend of February, a few girlfriends and I took a trip to Las Vegas for M's 26th birthday. I was so excited to go, I had never been to Vegas before! M and K had earlier flights and checked in to the Monte Carlo around 6pm, I had a later flight and arrived at the hotel at 11pm. Immediately upon arrival I changed into a dress and heels and we went to hit up some bars/clubs. The first club we went to was called 'The Bank', and there were escalators leading up a flight and it seemed so mysterious and the bouncers kept exclaiming that it was a huge party and we had to go join. We paid the cover and went inside, and collected our free drinks (which turned out to be heavy on the tonic, light on the vodka). We wandered to the railing overlooking the dance floor and started to people watch. We noticed there was a man laying on the ground unconscious surrounded by security guards, and all of a sudden a stretcher appeared along with paramedics! Wow, I had never seen something like this before at a club. They put an oxygen mask on him and not 30 seconds later he popped up and started fighting the paramedics off of him. Well that was enough excitement for the first club we thought! We meandered over to a couple of other bars and had some drinks, but nothing too crazy. We called it a night around 3 and walked back to the MC and skyped with M's aussie man for about 45 minutes. I remembered my feet killing me in my heels, and thought to myself I need to buy some gel inserts for tomorrow night.

Woke up a little tired, and with huge blisters on the bottom pads of my feet near my toes. Ouch! I'm not much of a complainer, and didn't want to whine during this fun trip so I took a shower, got ready and put on some flats for the day. M, K and I had a great day exploring the strip, eating at the Hard Rock Cafe and shopping along the way. My absolute favorite part of the trip was stopping to see the Fountains at the Bellagio, and we took a lot of pictures and videos during the water show. I remembered smiling the whole time, what a beautiful sight- it was sunset, and the streams of water danced along with a nice little melody. I felt so happy, and realized it was due time for a trip and I was enjoying myself.

We decided to attend a show- Zumanity at New York, New York (which was my favorite hotel/casino we visited). It was a Cirque de Solei show and seemed to be a little risque- I was so excited to see it! It turned out to be amazing and we had a great time. After, we used our food voucher from the hotel on this little Mexican restaurant and ate some delicious food. Once we finished eating we went to the local CVS- only a block from our hotel to pick up some necessities- alcohol, mixers, antibiotic cream, and gel inserts for my shoes. My blisters were really hurting and I was walking pretty slow, but again I didn't want it to ruin our/my trip. We went up to the hotel room and had some root beer float vodka mixed with root beer- scrumptious. After a little nap we decided a trip to the Venetian was in store for the night. After the walk over we discovered an amazing water way inside near the mall with small wooden gondola boats. Too bad it was late! It would have been a treat to ride these boats along the water way.

We found this little bar playing 80's hits and decided to stop for drinks. The bar was filled with middle aged people singing along to cheesy songs and it seemed like a fun place to spend an hour or so. After some shots and drinks, we started to make some friends. A midwesterner kept cheers-ing me after introducing him to the 'grape ape' shot, and even bought us a round of drinks. I love meeting new people and having a grand time! I remember two guys approaching our table and I thought- hmmm that guy is really cute, definitely the cutest guy I've seen in Vegas for sure. He introduced himself as S, and I must have had a funny smile that he noticed, and I said 'That's my dad's name, I won't forget it', he just smiled. We played a guessing game to figure out what the other did for work- I guessed business owner, lawyer, dentist, and he said I would never guess. He told me he was an Air Force pilot and lived in NC. HOT. I have this little spot in my heart filled with love for NC, and I've always had a thing for military men. But specific military men; Air Force, Army, Navy, those are my fave. He was confident, respectful, and polite. I didn't want the night to end, I was enjoying my conversation with S and was starting to feel nice and toasted. The friend he brought with him seemed a little nerdy, but harmless. I'm a friendly person, and can get along with just about anybody. The friend M (way too many people with the first letter M in my life, it's crazy!) was very intoxicated and seemed annoyed and wanted to leave. But S stayed, he didn't want to leave he said and M stormed off. Once M returned I was up at the bar taking a lemon drop shot with S and barely noticed he sat down at our table and started talking to K. Maybe 10 minutes had passed and K stormed up to us and said 'We're leaving, this guy is so rude and we are not staying!'. My friend M looked at me and we both thought, calm down, have another drink and have a good time. We brought drinks over to the table and all sat together. Just then nerdy M spilled an entire beer on K's new blue expensive jumpsuit she had just bought that day. She barely said anything and I knew she was pissed. S must have known our little adventure was coming to an end and asked me for my number. I immediately blushed (I'm so awkward around people if I like them, especially if they show any interest, I turn into an idiot!) and leaned over the table and gave him my number. He texted right away 'let's go on a short/long walk'. Ughhhhh I wanted to go so bad!! All I wanted to do was walk out of the bar with him, turn the corner and pin him to the wall and make out with him hard. (And maybe take him home and bang the shit out of him, but we can leave the fantasy at making out on the craps table of the casino floor). I told him that I couldn't, the girls would kill me. He seemed to understand, said he should probably get nerdy M home, and they said their goodbyes.

I was in such a good mood walking back to the MC that night, just giddy and happy and buzzed. My feet hurt like a bitch and I was trailing behind M and K, but I didn't care. The girls passed out immediately upon our return and I took my time getting ready for bed. I looked at the clock- only a few hours until we needed to leave for the airport. The trip had gone by so fast! After washing my feet and cuddling into bed I was fast asleep.

At the airport we parted ways- three flights on three different airlines. Back in Mpls, M picked me up from Terminal 2 and brought me home. My sister A and her son C were visiting my aunt in Osseo, and I dropped off my back at my apartment and got in my car and drove up to her house to visit. I remember not feeling the best that day, and my aunt had suggested why don't I just stay the night since I had the next day off of work anyway? I agreed, sounded like a good idea. Monday came and I started to feel horrible, I could tell I had a high fever. I called in sick to work for Tuesday and spent the night at my aunts on Monday night too. Once Tuesday rolled around, after telling my cousin I didn't have enough energy to use the bathroom she looked at me and said 'I think we should bring you to the clinic today'. I agreed and we got in Jetta Marbles and took off for Maple Grove Hospital. I felt so sick and could barely walk or even sit up straight in a chair. After a brief visit in urgent care, they transferred me over to the emergency room right away. They kept throwing scary words around; appendicitis, sepsis..they said they needed to do a lot of tests. They informed me I was indeed very, very ill and I needed to be transferred by ambulance over to North Memorial hospital's ICU wing. All I remember was feeling terrible and was a little confused as to why I needed to go to the ICU, that seemed a little bit much. My parents drove down right away, and my aunt and cousin were with me the whole time.

Turns out I had developed a staph infection from the blister on my right foot, and it had turned into TSS (Toxic Shock Syndrome). I also had Sepsis (blood infection), pnemonia (there was fluid in my lungs), and my liver and kidneys were shutting down. It seems insane that this happened to me and the cause was from a blister on my foot! I ended up staying in ICU that Tuesday through Saturday, then transferred to a regular hospital room until Monday when I was allowed to go home. Tuesday morning my parents drove me home to our house up north. I needed to rest, and I didn't know for how long. It's now the following monday, I've been home for about 7 days. Tomorrow I have a follow up appointment with the infectious disease doctor, and he will let me know about when I should resume my regular everyday life, and when I can return back to work.

I never knew a short 34 hour trip to Vegas with my friends could turn out like this! I don't regret going on the trip, it was a fun time with my friends. I don't live life with regrets, I only think 'that was a hard lesson learned' and move on. I'm lucky it turned out the way it did, things could have turned out much worse. All of my family and friends were wonderful, with me every step of the way. I had so much love and support, even from people I didn't know!

During times like these I learn to appreciate things much more, and will continue to learn how to be patient. Soon enough, I will be back to Mpls and will return to work and regular everyday life. Until then, I will be patient and rest as much as I can.

Hopefully after my next trip to Vegas, what happens there stays there! ;)