Kyle Wilson and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

As I’m sitting on my to  patio  cooling down from my  morning hot flash I thought I would use this time to tell you all about our day yesterday. Our plan was to leave Eugene at 8, have a brunch with friends and Medford, head to California for more time with friends and fun. Here’s what went down:

7:30 – ” Sweet we are running early. I’ll just get the last couple things and we can sit down and enjoy some coffee. Where is your passport? Mine’s right here”

8:06 – ” Okay the worst thing that will happen is we missed brunch. No big deal we will find it.”

9:30 – “Ok obviously it is not here. We have to figure out how to get a new one.”

By 10:00 we’ve learned that with the right paperwork, and the right emergency, you can get a passport expedited within 24 hours. But you have to do it at a regional passport office. There are 4 on the West Coast: Seattle, San Francisco, LA, San Diego. My coworker and hero (Lindsey) has a husband who works at the Eugene Airport. He dropped everything and booked Kyle on a buddy pass to the first flight out of town to Seattle! He would arrive at 2:21. Plenty of time to plead his case, get a replacement, and get on his flight to San Francisco where I would pick him up at 10:45. She called to make his appointment over at the automated system. Appointments every 30 minutes! Sweet they are wide open! Wait. The last option is 1pm?

So yeah, the office closes at 3. Kyle gets on the customer service line and they tell him book the appointment at 1 and then call later to say you are running late, get there as fast as you can and have all your paperwork, documentation, and passport photos ready to go. Passport photos??

No problem. We got this! It just so happens that diagnostic orthodontic facial photos are nearly the same as passport photos. We drive to my office, take the photos (the lightbox is off) retake the photos (website won’t crop) reload the site and print (out of ink) reprint (Lindsey texts arrive at airport 12:15 no later than 12:30) cut photos (handle comes off paper cutter) reattach the handle and print paperwork, get in car, drop Kyle off at 12:28.

I don’t know every detail of the next part but I know that the flight took off late and Kyle got to his Uber at 2:50. Arrived after 3 to the office and banged on the locked door until somebody let him in. Hope! The guy asked him what his emergency was and after Kyle explained he said there was no way to get a passport today. Kyle said, “I think I tried to bribe him even”. But it takes about 6 people to get the job done, some of whom had already gone home. In cases of “life and death” he could call them back but our case of life does not qualify.

On the road to California I had to do my hormone injection at exactly 6 p.m. So at the tippy top of Mount Shasta I pulled to the side of the road and filled my syringe. I lost four vials of hormone because the altitude had pressurized them and when I remove the needle for liquid shot out all over me. No problem. They probably have replacements in Barbados. I finally got everything in one vial and strolled in to the Chevron bathroom which, luckily, had a single room bathroom. With some Cirque du Soleil moves I got the shot in myself and tried to follow the instructions to aspirate it. The needle just kept coming out but I remember the nurse in the YouTube video saying in her 14 years she’s never seen or even heard of somebody hitting a vein but do it just to be safe. I know, I know, not the day to test fate and yes I did hit a vein and dark red blood came flowing out – no paper towels. Shoot! Out of toilet paper! Hey help me alcohol pad over my wound, cut the line at Subway to the grab a handful of paper napkins, stuffed them in my pants and got back on the road. Oh wait. My dog is carsick. Let’s barf first.

At 11 I picked up an exhausted and defeated looking husband from SFO. We got back to my parents around midnight and now I am leaving for Barbados late tonight on my own. The clinic does not even know that any of this is going on so they will find out when I show up for my 9 a.m. appointment on Monday. Hopefully they can roll with it!

Since it’s a holiday weekend, Kyle will not have the chance to get an expedited passport until Tuesday morning. He has changed his flight to Tuesday night and hopefully can meet me in Barbados Wednesday afternoon. According to our IVF plan extraction and fertilization should take place on Wednesday so prayers are appreciated!

Speaking of which, are friends Joel, Krista, Sam, and Renee met with us to pray over us and our trip on Monday night. One of the things Renee prayed has just been stuck in my head: the God is in the details. I honestly have had such a peaceful feeling through all of this (ok there was about half an hour there where I was freaking out) and her prayer has been coming to my mind constantly. Maybe we’ve taken a ‘miracle’ into our own hands with IVF but ultimately God is in the details of what will happen. Still your prayers are coveted! That travel would be smooth for both of us, that the procedures can still proceed correctly, and of course that Kyle could get a passport on Tuesday! So send us your good vibes and wave your passport at the screen for good luck! We’ll keep you updated as we know more.

-Steph