Okay, so let us take a few moments to catch up with Eagle. On April 4th he went and rented a Chevy Impala and dropped of the Ford POS to get some work done. The Chevy was nice; it was navy blue and had a jack for an iPod. April 5th Eagle and his sugarmama dropped off Rufus the wonderdog and were on the Creek Turnpike with a full tank of gas, sunglasses, and chewing gum by 9:15 in the AM. From the Creek they merged to the Turner and from the Turner they merged to Kilpatrick and they glided onto I-40 then for 998 miles. They stopped in Amarillo for lunch and gas. Then they went on to Albuquerque where they stopped for the night and found gas for only $3.18 a gallon when everybody else was $3.29 in town, JOY. Shoving off early enough on the 6th they marveled at the landscape. In Flagstaff they basically backtracked thru the down looking for some grub and a clean restroom. 30 minutes spent looking for both. They then made the last push for Sin City. The last stretch of road after exiting I-40 is soul squashing. The highway is only 65mph after you spent all day doing 80mph. There was so much traffic leading up to and on the Hoover Dam it took nearly and hour to go 10 miles. Once they got past Hoover it was no time to get to the Stratosphere.
As soon as Eagle and his sugarmama checked in Eagle started to feel out of wack. Upon pushing the elevator button he felt a chill. The chills preceded the fever. The sugarmama told Eagle over dinner Sunday night that he needed to fight the cold. You see for reasons unknown when ever our Eagle gets a cold or virus or what have you he just kinda gives up. No fighting it, just - "ah well, I am down I will just accept it and get it over with." The sugarmama coached Eagle - "I need you to fight this." The fever broke at about 6:30 am but the sleepless night left him a little worse for the wear. So, as a result of his weakened condition the vacationing duo didn't even leave the hotel until Tuesday the 8th. So, yeah, Eagle spent his birthday mostly in bed telling him that he was not sick or at least not sick enough to blow a chance at enjoying Las Vegas. They did have fudge, they did visit the stratosphere tower (where you are so close to the thrill rides that you can hear the loud cursing and see the fear in the faces of those foolish enough to dangle 800 ft up by a plastic seat), and they did plan on more for the days ahead. On the 8th, they went to the Hard Rock Hotel and ate at the Pink Taco. Sadly Eagle's size 8 head meant no hats were purchased on this trip. The best quote of the trip came from this outing: d-bag one - "ah, waitress, could you seat us somewhere more quite so we can discuss business?" Waitress - "This IS the Hard Rock Hotel..I could seat you outside."
Eagle had already told himself that headache or not; if it was too loud, he was too old and thus no way was he going to mention the volume of Peter Frampton. From the Hard Rock our duo ventured back to the strip to Mandalay Bay. That place is huge! They went to go see the predator reef. Now Eagle and sugarmama have some experience with aquariums and thus were a bit under whelmed with the set up. The most notable was the complete lack of warmth and the black hole of friendliness at the ticket counter. They thought of a few folks from Oklahoma Aquarium that would have outshined the whole Mandalay Bay crew. Worst of all, the big draw for our duo was a sea turtle in the general populace of one of the tanks, the turtle was in quarantine and getting a physical upon their visit. Bullocks! After escaping the compound of Mandalay Bay Eagle was just about spent. The duo went to Walgreen's and stocked up on cold meds, and got a cheap meal. Explanation: They had a cooler in their room and were looking to save some money at any chance. Eagle's get up and go currently missing they decided to have a redneck dinner. Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches (on Wonder Bread) and Sour Cream & Onion Pringles, good as mother's milk. MMMMMM! Okay so things fizzled out early. No water show at the Bellagio, no Madam Tussand's, no pinball museum, and no pirate show at Treasure Island.
Eagle was sure that Wednesday the 9th would be the biggest day there. There were plenty of things left on the agenda and check out was Thursday morning. He thought that they would break up the day in two parts: some morning sight seeing and light shopping and then after a siesta out to the strip and downtown maybe too. Alas it was not to be, Wednesday morning they got up and went to M&M World and the Coke store. Then it was like Eagle hit a brick wall. No strength, no energy, not even caring. They hit one more place for some souvenirs and were back in their room by 12:30. Eagle's fever spiked higher than either of imagined. The sugarmama had to put Eagle in a cold bath to curb it. Eagle was still hoping to get some strength up and go back out for some more strip time. Not to happen, Eagle could barely stay awake. That night rather than go out the duo ordered room service. Eagle got about two hours sleep after dinner and then the worst came about. Eagle just could not breathe. Every breath out was forced and you could here fluid in his throat. It sounded like someone drowning. About 5am the sugarmama had enough, she got up and showered, while Eagle was sleeping the afternoon away before she had packed so all that was left was bathroom items. She got him roused and got him to clean up and they were checked out and on the road before 6am. Eagle does not remember much from the trip home. He drove from the Stratosphere to Boulder City and then turned over the driving to the sugarmama. She drove straight through from Boulder City to Tulsa stopping for gas, cold medicine, water, and snacks.
Just after Amarillo she called a nurse friend and got advice about what medicine to give him and set an appointment for the next morning. The duo arrived in Tulsa about 3:30am and was set for a 9am appointment. They hit the clinic at 9am. Two breathing treatments, a B12 shot, and some monitoring later it was decided Eagle should go to the Emergency Room. That was Friday morning; the doctors said after just 20 minutes that they would be keeping him there for a while. As luck would have it they happened to be next to the nurses' station and were listening when a new doctor came into work. "32 year old male with a case of massive pneumonia causing multiple organ failure" are the words that lead to the sugarmama starting to officially freak out. They put him in the ICU Friday night then moved him to a regular room Sunday night. They finally released him on Thursday.
As soon as Eagle and his sugarmama checked in Eagle started to feel out of wack. Upon pushing the elevator button he felt a chill. The chills preceded the fever. The sugarmama told Eagle over dinner Sunday night that he needed to fight the cold. You see for reasons unknown when ever our Eagle gets a cold or virus or what have you he just kinda gives up. No fighting it, just - "ah well, I am down I will just accept it and get it over with." The sugarmama coached Eagle - "I need you to fight this." The fever broke at about 6:30 am but the sleepless night left him a little worse for the wear. So, as a result of his weakened condition the vacationing duo didn't even leave the hotel until Tuesday the 8th. So, yeah, Eagle spent his birthday mostly in bed telling him that he was not sick or at least not sick enough to blow a chance at enjoying Las Vegas. They did have fudge, they did visit the stratosphere tower (where you are so close to the thrill rides that you can hear the loud cursing and see the fear in the faces of those foolish enough to dangle 800 ft up by a plastic seat), and they did plan on more for the days ahead. On the 8th, they went to the Hard Rock Hotel and ate at the Pink Taco. Sadly Eagle's size 8 head meant no hats were purchased on this trip. The best quote of the trip came from this outing: d-bag one - "ah, waitress, could you seat us somewhere more quite so we can discuss business?" Waitress - "This IS the Hard Rock Hotel..I could seat you outside."
Eagle had already told himself that headache or not; if it was too loud, he was too old and thus no way was he going to mention the volume of Peter Frampton. From the Hard Rock our duo ventured back to the strip to Mandalay Bay. That place is huge! They went to go see the predator reef. Now Eagle and sugarmama have some experience with aquariums and thus were a bit under whelmed with the set up. The most notable was the complete lack of warmth and the black hole of friendliness at the ticket counter. They thought of a few folks from Oklahoma Aquarium that would have outshined the whole Mandalay Bay crew. Worst of all, the big draw for our duo was a sea turtle in the general populace of one of the tanks, the turtle was in quarantine and getting a physical upon their visit. Bullocks! After escaping the compound of Mandalay Bay Eagle was just about spent. The duo went to Walgreen's and stocked up on cold meds, and got a cheap meal. Explanation: They had a cooler in their room and were looking to save some money at any chance. Eagle's get up and go currently missing they decided to have a redneck dinner. Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches (on Wonder Bread) and Sour Cream & Onion Pringles, good as mother's milk. MMMMMM! Okay so things fizzled out early. No water show at the Bellagio, no Madam Tussand's, no pinball museum, and no pirate show at Treasure Island.
Eagle was sure that Wednesday the 9th would be the biggest day there. There were plenty of things left on the agenda and check out was Thursday morning. He thought that they would break up the day in two parts: some morning sight seeing and light shopping and then after a siesta out to the strip and downtown maybe too. Alas it was not to be, Wednesday morning they got up and went to M&M World and the Coke store. Then it was like Eagle hit a brick wall. No strength, no energy, not even caring. They hit one more place for some souvenirs and were back in their room by 12:30. Eagle's fever spiked higher than either of imagined. The sugarmama had to put Eagle in a cold bath to curb it. Eagle was still hoping to get some strength up and go back out for some more strip time. Not to happen, Eagle could barely stay awake. That night rather than go out the duo ordered room service. Eagle got about two hours sleep after dinner and then the worst came about. Eagle just could not breathe. Every breath out was forced and you could here fluid in his throat. It sounded like someone drowning. About 5am the sugarmama had enough, she got up and showered, while Eagle was sleeping the afternoon away before she had packed so all that was left was bathroom items. She got him roused and got him to clean up and they were checked out and on the road before 6am. Eagle does not remember much from the trip home. He drove from the Stratosphere to Boulder City and then turned over the driving to the sugarmama. She drove straight through from Boulder City to Tulsa stopping for gas, cold medicine, water, and snacks.
Just after Amarillo she called a nurse friend and got advice about what medicine to give him and set an appointment for the next morning. The duo arrived in Tulsa about 3:30am and was set for a 9am appointment. They hit the clinic at 9am. Two breathing treatments, a B12 shot, and some monitoring later it was decided Eagle should go to the Emergency Room. That was Friday morning; the doctors said after just 20 minutes that they would be keeping him there for a while. As luck would have it they happened to be next to the nurses' station and were listening when a new doctor came into work. "32 year old male with a case of massive pneumonia causing multiple organ failure" are the words that lead to the sugarmama starting to officially freak out. They put him in the ICU Friday night then moved him to a regular room Sunday night. They finally released him on Thursday.