Lesson Learned - November 12

 It’s Sunday. Today our tour group was going to Waiheke Island. They were going to take a ferry there and then enjoy an olive oil tasting and a wine tasting, a gourmet lunch, and gorgeous countryside. 

Tomorrow our group is leaving Auckland and taking a coach to Rotorua. This requires the ability to go for long periods without access to a bathroom. We are a little worried about that metric.

Ken thought he was over the hump until 4:30 this morning, when it turned out he wasn’t. I was just shell-shocked from yesterday and needed to rest and re-set my digestive system.

We decided to stay at the hotel while the group went to Waiheke Island. We hated missing out on the excursion. We also decided that we should find an urgent care center that is open on Sundays and get some medical help. Gavin suggested a place that was about a 15-minute Uber ride from our hotel. We were out the door at 8:00 a.m., hoping to get there before it got crowded.

It was a very nice facility, though not as nice as a trip to Waiheke Island, I am given to understand. We were seen quickly. The doctor thought I was afflicted by the same poisonous chicken salad that attacked Ken. He explained that I probably had more resistance to it, so it took longer for the toxins to build up to a level that made me sick. This makes more sense than the idea that I got sick from the kale and we both got food poisoning within a two-day period by coincidence. The doctor also said we were not contagious. I asked because I was worried nobody in our tour group would want to socialize with us after our illnesses.

He gave us each three prescriptions, and we were back at the hotel by 10:00 a.m. Along with the prescriptions, he gave us a lecture on the risks of buying pre-made sandwiches from a grocery store late in the day. Lesson learned. 

Two of the prescriptions were powders we had to mix up in water. We spent the rest of the day napping and taking medicine. We didn’t eat all day.

At 6:00 p.m. we went down to the lobby to touch base with our group. Of course, they had a wonderful day. One man said Waiheke Island was the most beautiful island he had ever been to, and he had been to a lot of islands.

We were so tired we went to bed at 9:00, but we made it through the day with no more urgent trips to the bathroom.

Today’s fabric is from Tula Pink’s Roar! Collection, which will be released in 2024. Further details about the fabric are not yet available. I think it conveys the feeling of dinosaurs in one’s digestive system.