Leaving Las Vegas

Or, rather, not leaving Las Vegas as the case may be!

It actually started out lovely and quite simple. I was going to fly to Vegas for the night to meet my brother as he would be there for a trade show. He wanted me to do some website work for his business and we were going to meet about that and have a fun night out. We then decided to extend the invite to our parents, who enjoy a little trip there now and again. They have been going to Vegas for over 30 years, and we thoguht this trip would be good for them, get them out a little.

All good. We meet there on a Friday, eating, slot machines and the Vegas vibe ensues.... nothing by any means over the top I might add (my parents are 79 and 81!) My mom is quite lucky on the slots I have to say... me, not so much. What I'd like to know is however is, where does one's sense of time go when there?! I've been to Vegas many times and it always seems any sense of time (or reality for that matter) goes out the window! I guess that's the point!

Anyway, there is always some new buildings, hotels, etc going up every time I'm there, and I have to say as we were driven down the Strip to dinner, the coolest building by far caught my eye at a stoplight, so naturally I had to hang my head out the window to capture it. It's part of yet another new high end shopping complex, and the photo really doesn't do it justice, but the new Louis Vuitton store looked amazing, particularly with the evening light hitting the metal (and it had the LV logo embossed into the metal.. I love details like that!) It reminded me a lot of the Disney Concert Hall here in LA actually.

So yes, then an incredible dinner, and then my one club moment when my brother wants me to join him and two of his co-workers to a night of strippers and debauchery. My parents passed. No, seriously, he had an outside table reserved at Club Pure at Caesars, bottle service, VIP area, view of the Strip, seated right by the fire pit (it's cold at night!).. done deal. Now anyone who has been to Vegas knows, in all seriousness, the club scene is very cheesy! Can be fun, yes, but the cheese is there. Not particularly my thing normally, but hanging out with my brother in what was actually a beautiful setting outside, bottle of Patron, pineapple juice, plenty of water, it was very cool. We don't get to hang a lot being 2500 miles apart so it was great.

(me on the left, my brother, John, on the right, with his co-workers Giovanni and Jen)

Alright, back to the hotel 2am, not too bad, just plan to be up early for breakfast with mom and dad! And there's when it started. Sunday there was just something not quite right with my dad, he was pretty out of it actually. We were thinking it was more of a stomach virus perhaps, and just the travel taking a little toll. He was in bed all day and as time went on it just seemed he wasn't getting better. he continued to sleep and we decide to push their 7am flight back to 3pm Monday, thinking dad just needs a good night's sleep and a little time in the morning.

Monday morning, no better and he's even breathing a little harder now. OK, we call the house doctor up now. EMTs show up to the room, then paramedics. They feel he has fluid in his lungs and it would be in our best interest to have him taken in an ambulence over to the hospital asap. Uh, shit! Not expecting that! But you know (and this is not the first time something like this has happened.. though not in Vegas!!) in these situations I find that I just go into autopilot mode and stay calm and do what needs to be done (I think I get that from my mom as she is always calm.) So my mom goes off with dad in the ambulance (and let me just say how weird it is to see your dad being wheeled out in a stretcher to a waiting ambulance in a Vegas hotel, it's a weird surreal experience), and my brother and I talk to the hotel, extend the room, and cab it over to the hospital while beginning to rearrange flights.

If anyone's been in an emergency room, then you know they are not fun. Especially not when you end up spending the better part of a day in one. Finally about 4pm they want to admit my dad into the hospital overnight, possibly longer. Now, despite my dad wanting to leave right then and there, we knew the right thing to do, he was in no shape to fly. He has fluid in his lungs and is in what they term, 'congestive heart failure'. Yeah, scary. So he's admitted and we hope he's released the next day. haha! It became a surrender to the phrase "one day at a time". Each day drugs were administered, tests were taken, and still no go. It was an exercise in acceptance and patience.. and to be honest I didn't care how long we were there as long as my dad got better..... despite my dad wanting to leave every hour (and to be fair, I couldn't blame him, he just wanted to be home.) Finally on Thursday he was discharged. Change the flights for the 4th time, get the room for another night, we all breathe!

Looking back on it, it was quite a stressful week, but it's almost as if that hit me afterward. You do what is needed at the moment, stay calm, think about it later!

Now, the one running theme/joke we had the whole time had to do with a recently opened hotel in Vegas. It's called the Palazzo. I don't know why we didn't stay there, but we were asked by anyone who saw our name if we stayed there, if we own it (I hope they were joking), if we know them, etc.... Admittedly we did get a kick out of it.