I just got back from my almost 2 week visit to Florida. the first few days were good, but it all went downhill after that — for a variety of reasons.
firstly, my niece. she's a lot to be around since she's only two. for a good chunk of the day, I was responsible for watching her since my sister was working from home. there were days when my niece went to school and I had to walk to pick her up. this wasn't so bad because her school was right around the corner from my sister's apartment complex. however, it got stressful watching her sometimes and I often found myself getting frustrated. I wanted to use this trip as a way to destress, but how was I supposed to do that when I had a toddler to watch over, exactly?
then, one of my sister's friends came over three times. the first time he came over was because my sister needed her bluetooth speaker to be fixed. he and I didn't interact much that first time he visited. however, he needed to come over for a second time so that he could actually fix the speaker, since he didn't have the means to do so the first time he visited. I didn't think much of it at first because I thought it would've been a lot like the first time he came over, but it ended up being very different.
this time, he wanted us to order food — specifically, pizza and wings. my sister placed the order and, for some reason, the food wasn't done yet when we went to pick it up. mild annoyance. as we're driving home, there was one point where my sister told me that she thinks he has a thing for her and just doesn't wanna say it. what prompted her to say this was that he had gotten a haircut the day before and said that he wanted to look good for her when he visited...?this guy is weird. we get home and eat what we ordered, leaving some for him for when he came, which ended up being pretty late. he ate some pizza, but none of the wings (which were supposed to be his, by the way). I don't remember much, but at some point, he said the n word... multiple times. don't know if he's black, but if he's not, then... I don't know what it is with non-black latinos thinking it's okay for them to say that. gross. him and I interacted a lot more this time, but again, I don't really remember much about that. however, I do remember him being a bit touchy-feely with my sister. again, this guy is weird.
the third time he came over was kind of unexpected. he suddenly texted my sister asking if he could come over since he was in the area, and she let him. he asked if we had eaten already, and when my sister told him no, he said that we should order food when he gets there. again. fast forward to when he gets here and we all start to discuss what to eat (which ended up being wings. AGAIN). now, I wasn't really paying attention to much of what he was saying. he's the type of person to just, like... ramble? and say random shit all the time in an attempt to be funny? anyway, at some point, he started saying things about how he and my sister are dating or something. the only reason I know this is because she, the day after, started to tell me how he said such things, but that they're not true and that they never had a talk about officially dating (she said that she would have that talk with him after she got back from her trip to New York. I seriously hope she rejected him because he gives me really bad vibes). I remember him calling her shit like "babe," "honey," whatever. he's creepy. enough about him.
now for the REALLY ugly part. on the last night of my trip, my sister and I started to feel nauseated. it was bad enough that she had to go out to buy Pepto (it was a knockoff, but I'm gonna call it Pepto anyway). she ended up puking, even after taking some. I was getting worried that I was gonna throw up as well, which... practically never happens. the truth is, I should've been VERY worried, because while my sister only threw up around 3-4 times, I threw up way more. all night, in fact. I lost count of how many times I puked. it started at 12am and lasted for HOURS. I barely got any sleep. I felt so weak and tired having to get up to walk into the bathroom over and over again. anything I drank (which was only water and Ginger Ale) would come right back up almost immediately. I was so dehydrated. I started thinking that I was gonna have to go to the hospital because of how dehydrated I was, which was a scary thought. first of all, I've never been admitted into the hospital before, and second, it wasn't even gonna be at the hospital that I'm (at least somewhat) familiar with, which was BACK IN NEW YORK. whenever I tried talking to my sister, who had woken up after hearing me, it was like I... couldn't? like, I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but I was just so tired that I couldn't get it out. I would only speak a couple of words at a time.
after the second dose of Pepto, which I took at around 4am I think, I completely stopped throwing up. never did I once throw up again, even though my stomach was still off. I finally managed to get some sleep before I had to wake up and get ready to leave for my flight. when I woke up, my entire body was aching. great. I had to carry around a HEAVY backpack around the airport like this. (I also ended up pulling around my sister's suitcase too, since her hands were full with a bag, my niece, and a stroller.) I also noticed that I had popped some blood vessels below my right eye from throwing up so much. keep this in mind.
now, I'm not sure what happened or what the people who were handling the flight were doing, but somehow, my sister's and my niece's seats got removed. because of this, we had to get to the airport SUPER early so that my sister could talk to someone and hopefully fix the issue. to put a long story short, after she damn near had a panic attack, she managed to get 2 tickets for her and my niece. just saying, if she hadn't, then I would've flied back alone, which wouldn't have been... ideal. she was the one carrying the Pepto, crackers, and water. without her, I would've suffered more than I already had.
my lower back hurt throughout the entire flight for whatever reason. whenever I ate any crackers, my mouth would get so dry that I couldn't swallow it without water. to make matters worse, the entire boarding and flight process was going SUPER slowly. it took long to board, to take off, to get the drinks and snacks out... and I honestly didn't know why.
getting off the plane was, to no surprise, also really slow. carrying around my backpack and pulling around my sister's suitcase felt like such a task. my body was still hurting and, for some reason, I was constantly out of breath. it was like I had run a marathon or something. breathing hurt, too, because the muscles in my chest had been pulled after I had been throwing up for so long.
eventually, my sister and I make it to my dad's car. I sat in the front seat and decided to look in the visor mirror thing. that's when I noticed that both of my eyes had red splotches in them. due to throwing up so frequently and, apparently, violently, I had popped several blood vessels in both of my eyes. amazing.
that last night in Florida was the worst night of my life. and no, I'm not exaggerating. I had never been that sick in my entire life. honestly, it had been a while since I was last sick in general. years, even. like, before Covid. the last time I was comparatively as sick as that was when I was little. it was after I had gotten the flu shot; it ended up giving me a really bad case of the flu. turns out, I wasn't even supposed to be getting the flu shot because I was allergic to eggs. literally no doctor told my mom this until YEARS LATER, long after I stopped receiving the shot. competency 100.
anyway, after I thought I was starting to get better, I got sick again. this time, it wasn't as severe. my throat started hurting, my ears started feeling weird, and I developed a cough. I'm currently still sick with an ear infection and some type of virus (which explains the coughing). thankfully, it's not Covid, although I was getting scared that it might've been.
that's it, I guess. I finished writing this a week after it was supposed to be published because I had no motivation to write this. this is the longest entry I've had since the beginning of this book. man.
🥀
