Jan
2013
CES was awesome… or so I was told.
There I was, all ready for CES 2013. I made it through Press Day, but on Tuesday I felt a bit “off,” and I started coughing. I thought it was just my sinuses at first, but as the day wore on, I was feeling worse. I kept taking sinus medications thinking that was what it was due to the dry climate. But as I went to bed Tuesday night, I started to suspect something was wrong as my temperature was 98.7. While 98.6 is “normal,” I actually rarely get that high, so if I go over 98.6 I start to get concerned.
I woke up Wednesday morning, and I can’t remember my exact temp, but it was North of 100. Not good at all.
After talking with the rest of the crew, it was decided I would stay in my room and try to fight whatever it was. As the day wore on, it just kept getting worse. The staff kept prodding me to go to the hospital, but seeing as I hate hospitals, and not wanting to call an ambulance for something like this, I kept putting it off. When I hit 102.6 in the late afternoon, I threw in the towel and went for my first ever ambulance ride.
During my ride I learned Las Vegas was being ravaged by the flu, and four of the hospitals have been closed to ambulances due to the influx of patients. I ended up at Sunrise Hospital, where the majority of the staff was pleasant - with one notable exception that I won’t bother going on about – and all told my time there was a little under six hours.
Yep, I found out I had the flu, despite having gotten the shot. I was pumped full of fluids and given a prescription for Tamiflu and told, much to my chagrin, not to return to CES. After Press Day and one official day, I was out of the show I spend the entire year planning for.
This is how I felt about this subject at the hospital. (I was given the mask upon arrival due to my coughing and was given a supply to go home with. And as a considerate person, I have been wearing them whenever near people)
Luckily I work with an amazing team at TechnoBuffalo, and two of them came to retrieve me from the hospital, and upon learning the pharmacy would take an hour to get me the Tamiflu, they took me back to the hotel and went back for it so I wouldn’t have to wait there. They then followed up with bringing me Gatorades, food and anything else I felt I needed, all while working the show without me. From what I witnessed afar, they did a bang up job and I couldn’t be prouder of the team I work with.
And with that out of the way, for the love of everything, if you know you’re getting sick, or are sick, wear a mask. Don’t spread it to others. Why does this seem to be so hard for Americans to grasp? Do you think people are going to look at you funny for wearing a mask? Probably, but during my flying Saturday to get back to Missouri, I even had a TSA agent thank me for being considerate enough to wear the mask. Yes, there is an incubation period where you may not realize you have it, but I also saw plenty of people walking around coughing without masks, and other people that appeared to be in various stages of the flu without taking any precautions.
Either way, thanks to the TechnoBuffalo crew for holding down the fort and taking care of me through out this pain-in-the-behind speed bump I hit. Here’s to CES 2014 going a bit more smoothly.
I’m currently sitting in a hotel in Kansas City, preparing to go to bed as I have to be up at the unhealthy hour of 5 AM to catch a shuttle to the airport at 6 AM. Where am I off to this time? Vegas, baby. Vegas.
A total of 35 this week.
