The Only Thing We Packed Was Chaos

Customs doesn’t pull you aside when you look healthy. They pull you aside when you look like you haven’t slept in days, you’re sweating through August heat, and you’re dragging one sad bag while trying not to throw up. We start with that moment at LAX and work backward into a set of vacation mishaps that hit every nerve: missed flights, sudden illness, lost luggage, and the kind of bad luck that makes you question why you ever leave home.

We also get surprisingly honest about the psychology of vacation planning. The anticipation can feel like a lifeline when work is crushing you, but the trip itself can turn into an itinerary-driven grind. We draw the line between a true vacation and a “trip,” and share why having the next getaway on the calendar can keep you sane. Along the way, we swap a few grim travel stats and the very real reality of getting sick while traveling, from traveler’s diarrhea to a full-on medical emergency abroad with a language barrier.

Then come the save-or-scrap moments: a backpack left on a JFK shuttle with a passport, medication, and basically an entire identity inside, and a Christmas trip almost canceled because the name on the ticket doesn’t match the name on the passport. These stories are chaotic, but funny in hindsight.

If you’ve ever cried in an airport, fought with a gate agent, or somehow pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat, you’ll feel seen here. Subscribe, share this with your favorite travel buddy, and leave a review, then tell us what’s the worst vacation mishap you’ve lived through?

Email us at info@thewomenareplotting.com, and find us on all the socials. Be safe and be excellent to each other.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Etienne: So I get to LAX. And I must have looked like death, like, I'm not even kidding. I must have looked like I'd shoved all these heroin filled condoms up my ass and they'd burst. That's what I probably looked like. Like the sweating. Because it was August, by the way. It was August. So I'm sweat. It's I'm sweaty. I'm pale because I'm always pale. But I looked extra pale, I'm sure 'cause I was just like dehydrated. I was hurting. And I've got like one bag and I have never in my life been stopped by customs. Not one time.

[00:00:33] Heidi: Until that day.

[00:00:34] Etienne: Until that day and the guy walks up to me and I was like, oh God, no. Oh God, no. I mean, I like Couldn could tell. He was like making eye contact with me and I'm like, this, please, no, this is

[00:00:43] Jane: You looked guilty. He was just like drug mule,

[00:00:46] Etienne: And he gets up to me and he is like, ma'am, I need you to come over here. I need to look through your bags. And I'm like, no.

[00:00:52] Etienne: Welcome listeners. This is The Women Are Plotting. I'm Etienne Rose Olivier and I'm here with my friends and co-hosts, Heidi Willis and Jane Gari.

[00:01:07] Etienne: On today's episode, we're gonna be talking about vacation mishaps, 

[00:01:18] Etienne: and I have a really frightening, fun fact for today comes from the CDC. I wanted to find out how many US citizens die when they're traveling internationally. Sorry. So between, I know it's fucking awesome. So morbid. So between 20,

[00:01:30] Heidi: to go though.

[00:01:32] Etienne: I mean, I hope they're having fun. But wait, they do have it broken down into like in what ways they're dying. So hold your

[00:01:38] Heidi: Oh God.

[00:01:38] Etienne: So between 2019 and 20 21, 1500 US citizens died from non-natural causes. In foreign countries the most, the highest number of deaths motor vehicle accidents was 402.

[00:01:52] Etienne: Homicide 292. Suicide 225. I don't know why you wanna go travel and then kill yourself, but okay. Maybe you have something in mind specifically you wanna do. Drowning or maritime related death, 206. Aviation, 57. Drug related 30. Terrorism, 15. And then all other 307. So yeah, I thought that was interesting.

[00:02:17] Etienne: Remember really suicide was so high. Like I wonder what countries these people are wanting to go to before they go and kill themselves. Now.

[00:02:22] Jane: It is like bucket list. I don't know. Sorry.

[00:02:27] Etienne: Oh wait. Just like a Switzerland situation, but that'd be like assisted suicide. I don't know if that counts that

[00:02:31] Jane: Oh yeah,

[00:02:33] Etienne: I have that in the brain, like if I ever have to, you know, go down that path, Switzerland.

[00:02:37] Jane: of those countries where they have rules about that. And yeah, I've looked it up because my husband's like, when I go, I want you to take me. And I'm like, it's not that easy. I looked into it, but, yeah, and I, I'm not,

[00:02:47] Etienne: are you serious? Can we not go to Switzerland? Just do it. I thought

[00:02:49] Jane: no. You have to be like a citizen to have rules about things like this. Yeah. Sorry, because I

[00:02:55] Etienne: Oh, but there's, there are states, so I could just go move to Oregon or something for a year,

[00:02:59] Etienne: and then 

[00:02:59] Jane: and also you have to live there. 'Cause otherwise it's like a

[00:03:03] Etienne: I wonder if it counts if you just like buy a house or something, you know?

[00:03:06] Jane: It probably, you just have to establish residency. This is like another whole episode. I'm not telling my husband any of your fun facts though, because he gets nervous traveling

[00:03:16] Etienne: Yeah, you do not. At least, but look how low aviation was. The aviation was like 57. That's so low.

[00:03:24] Jane: a pilot. That's not

[00:03:25] Etienne: I know, but you said you get nervous when you fly. That's

[00:03:28] Jane: Oh, I get nervous, but I can medicate myself. My husband gets nervous going outside of the country 'cause he is afraid something terrible is gonna happen to us in another country. And you just, I'm not telling him any of those fun facts. He can never listen to this episode.

[00:03:40] Jane: My fun fact is also not really fun, but it's funny, just because I know that many of us have stories about this, but I was just looking up. Like what the stats are about traveler's diarrhea. And it's basically like one in three travelers, and this is like domestic or foreign travel, get sick when they travel. So Traveler's diarrhea is still the most common vacation illness worldwide. So yeah, even careful travelers can get it because it's from fresh produce washed in local water not like that you're used to. And so it's not just like that sketchy street taco that you ate. So it's happened to me before

[00:04:18] Etienne: say, Jane, has it happened to you? Because I, that was what I

[00:04:20] Jane: it's happened. All us. Yeah.

[00:04:22] Etienne: actually never had this happen. I've never had traveler's diarrhea. Not once. Yeah.

[00:04:25] Heidi: What, okay.

[00:04:26] Jane: Good for you. I was gonna say Heidi's the queen. Heidi is the

[00:04:29] Etienne: Oh yes. You had the fucking on the plane twice, right?

[00:04:33] Heidi: twice.

[00:04:34] Jane: Oh Lord. Oh, we're gonna hear all about it. But first, your fun fact. What's your fun 

[00:04:38] Heidi: so I went into the history of vacations 'cause I know it's more of a modern invention. 'Cause the Romans did it. The wealthy only did it. And, there's the Grand Tour uk elite would go on Grand tour of Europe back in the 17th and 18th century.

[00:04:57] Heidi: It wasn't until like the late 19th and early 20th century in America, with the labor movements and stuff that vacations kind of got popular. And then the 1950s after World War II with highways and air travel getting cheaper, that's really when Americans started concentrating on vacations and taking time out from work.

[00:05:20] Heidi: And now it's like expected. You know, like we kind of need it in today's modern society to deal with reality sometimes.

[00:05:30] Etienne: A hundred percent. I feel like I just, I haven't had vacations planned for a while, but it always makes me feel better. Like if I start to get too overwhelmed by work, I need to plan a vacation so I have something in the future to look forward to. You

[00:05:42] Heidi: And, and I saw something else. It was some kind of psychology study that most people get more pleasure out of the planning stage than the actual vacation

[00:05:51] Etienne: I just keep fantasizing about it, like all the

[00:05:53] Heidi: I think so. Yeah. You're just like, you're anticipating. So when it actually happens, it's like, oh, okay.

[00:06:01] Etienne: The anticipation of things sounds familiar. I'm just thinking of something else that,

[00:06:07] Jane: Anticipation.

[00:06:09] Etienne: Anticipation, teasing.

[00:06:11] Heidi: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:12] Jane: I totally relate to that because I like, as soon as if I come down, I get kind of post vacation depression of like, oh, know, I gotta go back to work or whatever. So the thing I'll do is put the next one on the calendar. I can't look at a calendar and then not know when the next one. And it's not that we're doing anything extravagant, you know, it could just be a weekend getaway.

[00:06:34] Jane: I just need to know when the next one is and have that set in stone the date, and I'll look at it like sometimes I'll book a place on vrbo and then if I'm feeling stressed, I'll sit there. I'll be like, lemme just look at this cabin that we're gonna rent in three months and be like, yeah, that's gonna be fun, you know, and look into the area and make sure that we have fun stuff to do.

[00:06:53] Jane: I totally, I. Get that, and then I try to though be present then while we're doing it. So I didn't just do all this planning for nothing. Just to feel like, all right, next, next, like I too itinerary driven. I think when you get too itinerary driven, like everybody gets a little manic, and then I'm like, that wasn't a vacation, that was a trip. And they're different 

[00:07:12] Etienne: yeah.

[00:07:12] Heidi: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:13] Jane: different definitions, people are like, are you going on vacation to see your family? And I'm like, no, no, no. That's a trip we're going. It was like a mission involved, like vacation

[00:07:22] Etienne: A mission?

[00:07:23] Jane: it's.

[00:07:24] Etienne: Is that what you said? A mission is involved

[00:07:26] Jane: Yeah. There's like a specific itinerary driven mission, and not that it can't be fun and have pockets of relaxation, but it's just not the same as vacation to me is.

[00:07:36] Jane: I've chosen a very small core group of people. It's usually just my husband and my daughter. It's sometimes just my husband, or a couple of friends and we are going somewhere with the sole purpose of let's just unwind, let's just relax and relaxation has to be in there.

[00:07:55] Jane: There can be some cool stuff like let's go see, you know, fill in the blank of historic landmark or whatever. But it can't be 

[00:08:02] Heidi: on this day we do this, and on this day. We're going here and this day we're getting up early. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:08] Jane: yeah.

[00:08:09] Etienne: That was kinda like that vacation I took to Australia with my ex-husband and his family right after, yeah, when his mom dropped the cancer bomb on us. And, that was not a vacation. My life was planned to every minute. I was like, I'm going insane.

[00:08:28] Heidi: that's crazy.

[00:08:30] Etienne: That was bad. Yeah.

[00:08:31] Jane: Is that one of your vacation mishap stories or is

[00:08:34] Etienne: No, I didn't even actually include that. I mean, I really only have the one major story. That's so good.

[00:08:41] Heidi: Okay, we're dying to hear it.

[00:08:43] Heidi: You 

[00:08:44] Etienne: um,

[00:08:45] Heidi: teasing us.

[00:08:45] Etienne: Yeah, this is because you guys don't know this one at all, I don't think. I hope you don't know it because, or if, hopefully I'll just enjoy the story again if you have.

[00:08:53] Etienne: But this was back in 1997. I was dating, well, I was having an affair with a practically married man who had two very young children. He was English and a millionaire. I should not have been doing it, but, kind of back in the day where I didn't have the best morals or, you know, I was ruled by between my legs, like really hardcore.

[00:09:11] Etienne: So, he would fly me places, 'cause obviously I couldn't go to his house. So he, when he would travel for work and he would fly me places, but I had this trip planned to Cannes and not included him at all. So I was just like, yeah, I'm going to Cannes France. And, he's like, oh, cool. Can I come? And I'm like, I mean, if you want to, that's fine. But we actually had a falling out of some sort, before the trip was going to happen. And I literally was like, well, he's not coming obviously, 'cause I think we're broken up. So I was planning to go with this friend of mine, this close girlfriend of mine who actually lived in the same apartment building as me. And she's married, not that that matters, but very stable person I thought.

[00:09:53] Etienne: So she, and she's been bragging up one side and down the other that she's fluent in French. I took like four years of French in school, three in high school, and I go, okay, say three and a half, three in high school and, and one semester of conversational French in college. So I mean, it'd been a long to 1996, that was still many years after I'd been in college. So, my French was rusty as fuck. And this is not during the time where, you know, like where today you can go anywhere and everybody practically speaks English or you can find somebody who speaks English. You don't have to speak the language of the country that you're in.

[00:10:26] Etienne: But in this timeframe you kind of needed to. But I mean, it was Cannes, I figured we could get by no matter what. So, yeah, it'd be nice if she really, really wants to pretend that she is fluent French. Great. I mean, I say pretend because she literally never spoke a single word of French when we were in France, not one word.

[00:10:44] Etienne: And she kept looking at me like, can you tell me, do they have this on the menu? And I'm like, you can't read the menu. Like, like, why can't you, you can't even read the goddamn menu. Like, I haven't taken French in forever. I can read the menu like God.

[00:10:59] Jane: She said she was fluent.

[00:11:00] Etienne: Yes. She, I mean, and I told her how much French I'd taken, not that I was sitting there speaking French to her. I didn't do it at all, but I was like, what is happening? And literally a moment came up at the airport at LAX, 'cause that's when I was living in Los Angeles at the time. So we left from LAX and for some reason, we already had the opportunity to speak French when we were at the airport, like getting on the plane for some reason, I can't remember what it was, literally didn't respond to the person speaking to her and looks at me like I'm the interpreter, and I'm like, what is happening? I'm like, he said this like, and I like translating for, I mean, I can honestly tell what people are saying way better than speaking. I mean, I think that's a lot of foreign languages, you understand for a lot longer than being able to respond properly. I mean, I could fake it. But like I can understand almost all of it if you'd say it slowly, you know? So I was flabbergasted, but that's not even the worst part. That was just a part of the worst part.

[00:11:56] Etienne: So I was immediately like. Who the fuck are you that I've been friends with you and I'm taking, my mom paid for her to come on this trip with me. By the way, this was free for her. We were staying at, yeah, we were staying at the, oh God, in the most famous hotel where they have the Cannes festival, like all the people stay at this hotel when they go there.

[00:12:14] Etienne: And now I can't even, it's the Carlton, it might be the Carlton. We were staying in a room there. We had a two bedroom, or sorry, not two bedroom. We had a two bed room. So we each had our own bed in the room. Not like a fancy room or anything, but it was still like in the most gorgeous hotel.

[00:12:28] Etienne: I mean, no joke, like you got to hang out at that hotel because we were staying there. So, by the time we get to the hotel, after all of the fucking French translation I've been doing for her to that point, I was so mad. And this was back when I was still drinking and smoking. So as soon as we got to the hotel, I drop my shit in the room and I'm like, I'm going downstairs for a drink a smoke, you can come if you want. So I go down there and I order myself like an entire bottle of champagne. I do not care. Like start smoking. And as I'm sitting there, I see my boyfriend walk up, my boyfriend, who I didn't even know was coming walks up. Yeah. And I'm like. Yeah, it was a wonderful surprise.

[00:13:13] Etienne: And, he was just as like, so it was wonderful having him there. He had to, he stayed in the room with us, like he didn't know she was coming. He didn't know I had already invited somebody else to replace him, basically. Yeah. He thought I was just by myself. 'cause I didn't tell him like, I thought we were broken up. I'm not telling you shit. The information is now gone. We're cut off. Like, yeah. He was like, what?

[00:13:32] Heidi: where was he gonna stay? He really

[00:13:33] Etienne: in my bed with me. Yeah. And, she slept in the other bed and I mean, we had to kick her outta the room to have sex.

[00:13:40] Heidi: Wow,

[00:13:41] Etienne: Yeah. And she wasn't getting it to, I had to actually like verbally tell her, you have to go do something by yourself, for like an hour. Gimme an hour. Just an hour. It's not like we, I, we'd already been having sex for like over a year, but, so it's not like I need hours and hours. I just need like 20 minutes. Just gimme 20 minutes. Like just go, you know? But yeah, she would leave begrudgingly. But, he, God, he loved to make fun of her during this time.

[00:14:04] Etienne: I think we were there for five days or seven days, something like that. But here's where things start to get really bad. So he leaves, and I was supposed to leave the next day, so he just left the day before I was supposed to leave. Okay. And, God, why was she, she, she somehow got to leave.

[00:14:21] Etienne: I guess we had different flights leaving there or something. So when I woke up the next morning and I've got myself all packed and ready to go, I was like, oh my God, my throat's really hurting. And, I mean, it hurts really bad. It's hurting me like I was thinking I had strep throat and like that kind of like raw fire feeling.

[00:14:40] Etienne: And, so I went in the bathroom and was able to somehow finagle, like it wasn't a very bright bathroom at all. It was so hard to be able to finally get to see in my throat to see what was going on or the back of my throat. But I did finally see enough to go, oh fuck. I've got necrotizing tonsillitis again, which I'd had a year and a half before.

[00:15:02] Etienne: Mm-hmm. Or two years, something like that. And my ear, nose and throat doctor who cured me of it the first time with antibiotics, just oral antibiotics. He said, if you get this again, you're gonna have to have your tonsils removed. And I'm like, oh God. Well, I had been abusing myself enough to where, yeah, I got it again.

[00:15:22] Etienne: So that same day I was supposed to leave, when I found out that I had this and it was horrendous, like I already couldn't swallow things. It was way too painful. And, I get a message on my hotel phone to tell me that I'd missed my flight. I'm like, wait, what? No. My flight's like in two hours.

[00:15:37] Etienne: How did I miss my flight? And they're like, oh, your flight was changed. It was to changed to an earlier flight. And I'm like, wait, what? Why

[00:15:44] Heidi: They didn't tell you

[00:15:45] Etienne: do this? Like, you didn't tell me like you told me after the fact. Like, what is

[00:15:49] Heidi: that's.

[00:15:50] Etienne: So I go to the airport anyway and I go with her and she actually gets on the, that's what it is somehow she, she got on a later flight. We were originally on the same flights, so there was like a flight to France, to Paris from Cannes to Paris and then Paris to la. So it was two flights. We could have still made the second flight. We just had to get the fuck outta Cannes and yeah. So there was like one space still available for this later flight when we got to the airport, she knows what's happening in my throat. My mom paid for a fucking flight and her hotel, her entire trip was paid for. She got on the goddamn flight and left me there.

[00:16:25] Heidi: Oh my God.

[00:16:27] Etienne: me there sick and of course I signed up for the next day's flight. So I had everything changed for the next day.

[00:16:33] Etienne: 'cause I was like, well I need to go. Like I need to get outta here and there's the only option. So I left there with all of my bags obviously, 'cause now I am with no hotel. And, have nothing to do except not eat or drink 'cause it's too painful. So I immediately go to the nearest hospital and I go to the hospital and to the emergency room, and that's where nobody speaks English, it turns out.

[00:16:52] Etienne: And, yeah, because this wasn't in Cannes, this was in, um. Oh God. There's the city right next to it that I can't think of the name of, but that's where the airport was. And literally I was like, I'm hurting. I can't think of any word. I didn't know any French words for pain or my throat, or I'm just pointing and like, you know, like I'm trying to make like, you know, doing all of the signs,

[00:17:15] Heidi: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:16] Etienne: how do I show you without saying anything, you know?

[00:17:18] Etienne: So finally, they put me in this weird little tiny room. All four walls. It was creepy. It felt like I was in a mental hospital room. Like it was just tiny and completely solid. And I think there might have been a small window in the door, and that was it. And I was like, okay, all right. Just, I hope somebody's coming soon.

[00:17:37] Heidi: Yeah.

[00:17:37] Etienne: And the nurse comes, I think it's a nurse. The nurse comes and I'm like doing all my signs again, like trying to, uh, you know, and then she gets a little tongue depressor and shines her light and she puts my tongue down, shines a light, gets a little closer and jumps back. She jumped away from me because of how horrendous it must have looked after, like just a few hours of having this so I don't know if you guys know it, necrotizing tonsillitis is, but any kinda necrotizing, that word is terrible when it comes to the human body.

[00:18:07] Etienne: So what that meant was I had an infection on my tonsils that was dripping infectious acid that was everywhere it hit, when it dropped off my tonsils was eating holes in my esophagus and in my stomach, so it was, everything was getting burned as it was going down.

[00:18:28] Heidi: Wow,

[00:18:29] Etienne: Awful. Awful.

[00:18:30] Heidi: horrible.

[00:18:31] Etienne: So they gave me a prescription of something I had to swallow and um, yeah,

[00:18:38] Jane: No intravenous, like, come

[00:18:40] Etienne: No, they're like, here you go. And I know my mom got a bill later, but it was for like a hundred bucks or something. 'cause they just asked for an address to send a bill to. And I was like, that's cool. I mean all that for a hundred bucks. That's not so bad. I mean, all she did was look at me and gave me a prescription, but that's fine.

[00:18:54] Etienne: But yeah, I go immediate, they tell me where to go to get, you know, they point tell me where to go to get my prescription filled. 'cause I can't think right now anyway, if any French I might have known beforehand. Now there's so much pain.

[00:19:06] Heidi: locked

[00:19:07] Etienne: haven't eaten or drinking anything for like 24 hours at this point that I'm like, mm, I'm not doing well.

[00:19:13] Etienne: But the medicine needed to be mixed in fucking water and taken with food. And if you don't take it with food, the nausea that you already had from like the acid eating away at your tissues inside is now so much worse because now you're putting like straight up antibiotics in there. And I vomited it up every time I tried to take it. But I kept trying to take it like the way they told me to, and I couldn't keep it in and I couldn't eat anything. I tried and it wasn't working. But I did get on the flight the next day, so I just suffered through it. I told my mother, I called her when the time difference happened, where I could actually call her and tell her fucking c*nt got on the plane without me and left me here.

[00:19:54] Etienne: Here. Now I'm here with my necrotizing tonsillitis. She's like, okay, don't worry. So you're coming tomorrow. My mom is good in the crisis, or she was at least. She knew when she had to take care of me, even though she was crazy. So she's like, I will have a limo waiting for you at LAX.

[00:20:08] Etienne: It'll take you straight here. I will make sure Dr. Alessi, that was his name, my ENT, he knows. I'll have the antibiotics and the painkillers already waiting for you in the limo. And then we'll take care of everything. You'll have to get the surgery, whatever. We'll figure it out.

[00:20:24] Etienne: I'm like, okay. So I'm on the plane. I get to Paris fine, and I get on the plane from Paris to LAX. And this was during the time where people could smoke on planes in international waters. And I was sitting in the smoking section

[00:20:40] Heidi: Oh God.

[00:20:41] Etienne: was a smoker, but I had not had a cigarette for quite a while now because everything hurts and there's no way, and I'm so nauseous and I'm still trying to swallow this shit every once in a while.

[00:20:51] Etienne: And, they all light up immediately because they're all French. They all light up. As soon as they fucking, they actually like told, they announced it. They announced it. We're on international water. They totally said it in French and English. Go ahead and light up. We're like everybody around lit up and I'm like, I'm gonna go fucking try to take this goddamn medicine again.

[00:21:10] Etienne: I don't know what, so I did. I went to the bathroom, just took the water out of the goddamn, the nasty tap that I know, Jane, your face. I knew, I knew your, your face. I knew it was gonna go bad, but I was desperate. I, how much worse can it get? Like maybe I'll get diarrhea on top of all of this. No, I didn't, but I should have probably.

[00:21:30] Heidi: Oh yeah.

[00:21:32] Etienne: I tap watered it in the fucking the tiny, tiny, tiny not sanitary plain bathroom. Swallowed it, made it to my seat, and then realized, oh, no. No, I had to run back to the bathroom and vomit in the fucking little tiny, like, yeah. Yeah. I think I tried it one more time. And the same thing happened.

[00:21:52] Etienne: And again, it was torture, the pain, the nausea, the not sleeping. I didn't sleep once during the, the minute this pain started, I didn't sleep again. I did not have anything to drink or eat that I wasn't throwing up. Then I'm in a plane full of smoke and so I get to LAX. And I must have looked like death, like, I'm not even kidding.

[00:22:12] Etienne: I must have looked like I'd shoved all these heroin filled condoms up my ass and they'd burst. That's what I probably looked like. Like the sweating. Because it was August, by the way. It was August. So I'm sweat. It's I'm sweaty. I'm pale because I'm always pale. But I looked extra pale, I'm sure 'cause I was just like dehydrated. I was hurting. And I've got like one bag and I have never in my life been stopped by customs. Not one time.

[00:22:43] Heidi: Until that day.

[00:22:44] Etienne: Until that day and the guy walks up to me and I was like, oh God, no. Oh God, no. I mean, I like Couldn could tell. He was like making eye contact with me and I'm like, this, please, no, this is

[00:22:54] Jane: You looked guilty. He was just like drug mule,

[00:22:56] Etienne: And he gets up to me and I'm like, he is like, ma'am, I need you to come over here. I need to look through your bags. And I'm like, no.

[00:23:03] Jane: did you say?

[00:23:04] Etienne: I said no. I was like, please, no, you don't understand. I'm very sick. Can I show you what's going on in my mouth right now?

[00:23:12] Jane: Oh

[00:23:12] Etienne: said I have, I, yeah. I said I have necrotizing tonsilitis right now. I am so sick. There's medicine waiting for me out there, and I haven't slept in two days or had anything to drink or eat that I haven't vomited back up. I can't, I can't. I can't. I, I started crying. I started crying and he was like, just go ahead. Sorry. Just keep going. And I'm like, okay.

[00:23:32] Heidi: Thank God someone with a heart.

[00:23:36] Etienne: Yeah. Got, yeah. So I, I got out there and I really thought my mother was gonna meet me there. I really needed just to break down and just cry and just, no, it was just a goddamn limo driver. She did not come.

[00:23:48] Jane: Did you hug him?

[00:23:50] Etienne: I did, I like it was, I

[00:23:52] Jane: No. Did you hug him? Did he have your name? 

[00:23:54] Etienne: no. I just think I shouldn't touch anybody. I look like I was dying. Like nobody should be touching me. I look like I was the next plague. Like I, like I was

[00:24:03] Heidi: Patient zero.

[00:24:04] Etienne: cast. I'm definitely patient. Zero. Don't touch me. Like I wasn't though. You couldn't catch it off me. But that's what I looked like. And, so just to tell you the rest of the story, I know it's no longer part of the travel or vacation part of things. So I had to be on antibiotics for like five days before they could do the surgery. So after five days of the antibiotics, when I looked down my mouth, it looked like I was healed, like the infection was gone. He said when he cut into my tonsils, it was all filled with infection behind the tissues. It was all bad, all bad.

[00:24:35] Heidi: Oh, that's what happened with mine. I got my tonsils taken out when I was in Korea, in the Air Force. Oh God, how old was I? 24, 25 and, yeah. 'cause I was on antibiotics for like a year straight 'cause it kept coming back and the guy said that. Yeah, when he opened them up, they were just full of puss. And they were so embedded.

[00:24:56] Heidi: My couple hour surgery turned, it was like double. Everybody was worried because, 'cause yeah, my surgery ended up being double the time and spent like a week in the hospital. It was

[00:25:08] Etienne: Okay. Yeah, that's probably that, that's what should have happened to me,

[00:25:14] Heidi: Mm.

[00:25:14] Etienne: that is not, I did not stay in the hospital. I got to stay overnight because my surgery got pushed to the afternoon. It was supposed to be first thing in the morning, so I could have gone home the same day. Instead, they just made me stay the night because I needed to show that I could pee on my own before I could leave, just like we do today, you know? And I was like, yeah, I had a horrible situation and that, that was the only time I've ever stayed in. Oh no, until my appendix had to come out recently, but before that, I'd never been in the hospital overnight before and I kept putting my bed down because I can't, at the time, I couldn't sleep sitting up.

[00:25:45] Etienne: I could not. And because you've had your tonsils out and you could bleed to death or you could choke on your own, you know, blood. They don't want you, and I know this now, I wasn't a nurse then. They don't want you laying flat. You're just gonna fucking die while you're sleeping. So, totally understand this.

[00:26:02] Etienne: You know who didn't explain it to me, the nurse, she did not tell me why. She just said, don't put your bed down. She came back in and like put it back up and as soon as she left, I put it back down and she came back in and put it back up and then I put it back down and she came back in and she put it back up and unplugged my bed

[00:26:18] Heidi: Oh shit.

[00:26:20] Jane: She couldn't just tell you like, don't

[00:26:22] Etienne: not even unplug my bed, she took the fucking call bell away too, so I couldn't call her.

[00:26:28] Jane: What a bitch.

[00:26:29] Etienne: Never came back again. She never came back. I was in there all night. No way to call her.

[00:26:37] Jane: She was burnt out.

[00:26:39] Etienne: fucking cunt.

[00:26:41] Jane: Wow. As a nurse now, could you imagine doing that to any of your patients?

[00:26:47] Etienne: No, never. I cannot even, I'm shocked that I wanted to become a nurse after that bullshit, but like, wow. Wow. So, yeah, but things get worse from there actually too. So my mom comes in the morning, I tell her that. She's like, okay, just go pee and we'll get the fuck outta here. And I'm like, okay, I will force it out.

[00:27:06] Etienne: I don't have enough fluid. I don't, there was no IV in me. I wasn't even on IV fluids overnight. How am I peeing? I don't know how I squirt it out the tiniest amount, just so I could show nurse ratchet so I could get the fuck outta there.

[00:27:20] Jane: Like my urethra works. Let me

[00:27:21] Etienne: I know I barely could get to the bathroom. I like, pretty sure my mom had to like, make sure I didn't fall my ass over because I was so weak. Like whatever. So, I stay at my mom's, we go straight to her house for me to recuperate in the guest room. And the first day I took, like the first day that I arrived at her house, I took narcotic pain medicine and it worked.

[00:27:42] Etienne: And it was great. And it was fine. And I did eat and drink something, I'm sure. And the next day I took the narcotic pain medicine and I got the worst migraine. I've never had a migraine before. I could not lift my head up. I literally was doing like the sideways thing with my head. I was so nauseous. I wanted to cut my head off, like it was so bad.

[00:28:01] Etienne: And I told my mom, and it turns out I am very sensitive or allergic or something to narcotics. I can't do them. So she had to put me in the car and drive me over the hill, from the valley to Beverly Hills where my fucking doctor was, and they gave me a cortisone shot in my butt and my migraine immediately went away.

[00:28:23] Heidi: Hmm.

[00:28:23] Etienne: Again, still not the worst part of the story, so it just keeps getting worse. So I thought from that point on, nobody told me, Hey, just take ibuprofen and Tylenol. Just keep, like, you know, switching 'em out every two, four hours. I can't think of what you would do. I think every, maybe every three hours you could take one of the other, no.

[00:28:42] Etienne: Nobody said anything to me. I thought I couldn't take any pain medicine. I took zero pain medicine from that point forward. I could not eat or drink. I was not even swallowing my saliva. I laid in the bed in pain with this giant cavernous hole in the back of my mouth. 'cause I did finally look at one point and it was like I thought somebody could come up to me and talk into my mouth and echo like all the way through my body. It was so giant and, and it was black and it was like, you know, 'cause they cauterized it so it was like black and weird. But the pain. It was just as bad as when I had the infection or worse, so I just laid in the bed with a washcloth next to my face and just drooled into it.

[00:29:18] Etienne: I didn't even swallow my saliva. I didn't swallow anything. I dunno how my kidneys didn't shut down. I swear to God. I did that for two weeks. No eating, no drinking. I looked like I walked out of Auschwitz by the end of it. When I could finally eat and drink and my mom didn't fucking said do, like, she didn't know to tell me to take ibuprofen or Tylenol.

[00:29:36] Etienne: She knew I wasn't eating or drinking. 'cause all I kept saying was, I keep trying to figure out why I could eat that

[00:29:41] Jane: They could have given you the liquid stuff for that they give to kids so that you could just kind of

[00:29:46] Heidi: Something

[00:29:46] Jane: have to have anything lumpy and

[00:29:49] Etienne: I literally was like, I imagine I kept imagining all the things and I, I did have her get

[00:29:53] Heidi: cream? No, no.

[00:29:55] Etienne: Well that causes, yeah, I think I did try that. But that causes phlegm. So there's like, as a kid you can use ice cream, but as an adult it's bad because it causes more phlegm. So then it feels like you have to cough it out.

[00:30:06] Etienne: Like yeah, it coats it in a bad way. So. Yeah. And I, I just have, I kept like, can you get this? Let me try that. So she kept going to the store and getting me the things, and then I would try it. Like one of the things was like, SpaghettiOs mm. Turns out I don't notice the acid of tomatoes until like you have an open wound in your mouth. Like that big,

[00:30:27] Heidi: I lived on, uh, SlimFast, I think for two weeks after mine.

[00:30:32] Etienne: that would

[00:30:33] Jane: yeah. I was just gonna say, why didn't somebody give you like a protein smoothie and some liquid ibuprofen, and then in the next, our next life I'll be your mom.

[00:30:41] Etienne: Oh, thank you. You know what she did most of the time she stood in the doorway. She didn't even wanna come into the room to look at me close up.

[00:30:49] Jane: That contagious.

[00:30:50] Etienne: know it wasn't that. I think she's like, she didn't wanna be that close to the pain that was happening. Like the pain, she couldn't emphasize, empathize, emphasize, oh my God, I can't say the word, empathize with me.

[00:31:00] Etienne: So she needed to stay away from me for something I don't know. But yeah, nobody came into the room like she came, she brought me food, and then immediately would leave, like just food that I wouldn't eat. I would have like one thing, I go, oh no, it can't do that. Like it was bad. That was the worst. Worst three weeks of my life.

[00:31:20] Etienne: The worst. And it was also when Princess Diana died, so I got to watch all of the Princess Diana die. Yeah. All that coverage, right. That same

[00:31:27] Heidi: Oh my gosh. That was the same year I got my tonsils out too,

[00:31:30] Etienne: Oh shit.

[00:31:31] Heidi: because I was in Korea when Princess Diana died. Yeah, that's wild.

[00:31:36] Jane: all connected. I'm just kidding.

[00:31:38] Heidi: It was just wild that we both had our tonsils out the same, around the

[00:31:41] Etienne: was such a long fucking story, Jason.

[00:31:44] Heidi: It's okay.

[00:31:45] Etienne: I knew it was gonna be long. There was just so many bad things happen.

[00:31:48] Jane: Well, because it was like, and wait, there's more.

[00:31:51] Etienne: And wait gets worse.

[00:31:53] Jane: I know that Heidi's travel story, though, is also like crazy. Like, oh my gosh. And then there's more. So which, uh, which one

[00:32:02] Heidi: Oh, okay.

[00:32:03] Jane: we, are we going to the castle or are we coming back from South America?

[00:32:07] Etienne: wait. We

[00:32:08] Heidi: America one wasn't technically a vacation,

[00:32:11] Etienne: didn't the poop stories already happen in the other episode that we did though? In our literature stories or, because I've

[00:32:17] Jane: don't know if these did.

[00:32:18] Etienne: Because I did hear, I did hear the

[00:32:20] Heidi: I don't know about

[00:32:20] Etienne: I heard the castle pooping. I did hear the Ireland Castle pooping story, and I heard the pooping story on the plane.

[00:32:27] Heidi: My ex, yeah. My ex got to be sick in a castle and I was sick in a plane where, yeah, I landed in the bathroom

[00:32:36] Etienne: I

[00:32:36] Heidi: because I was, I was coming out both ends.

[00:32:38] Etienne: I don't know what they would've done instead, except everybody would've been infected.

[00:32:42] Heidi: It was so bad. It was so bad, but no. Okay, so the story I'll tell that I, I know I haven't told on the podcast yet. So Chris and I were coming back from Korea and we had a trip to Jamaica set up.

[00:32:57] Etienne: Oh.

[00:32:58] Heidi: And it was one of those all-inclusive places. I had planned it out. It was gonna be amazing. And we were flying out of JFK and we parked at long-term parking 'cause we're gonna be gone for a week. And we're waiting and waiting and waiting for the shuttle bus and waiting and waiting. And we keep seeing them picking up at these other stops and like getting full and leaving. Nobody comes to our stop. And so we're frantic. We're like, we're gonna miss our flight. And finally they come and we're so freaked out Chris took my backpack from me 'cause we were just overloaded with bags. He left it on the shuttle.

[00:33:44] Etienne: Oh, no.

[00:33:45] Heidi: We're rushing to get out. So when we get to security, I'm like, where's my backpack?

[00:33:52] Heidi: It had my passport, it had my medication, it had my makeup. And because we're moving, it had my address book. It had my glasses,

[00:34:02] Etienne: oh.

[00:34:03] Heidi: Medical record, like. You name. It was, everything was in this backpack. My address book. My address book with every, you

[00:34:11] Etienne: God, no.

[00:34:12] Heidi: It was, my life was in this backpack and it's gone. They try and contact the shuttle driver and they're like, no, it's already gone. Yeah. So I am devastated 'cause I'm like, we're not going anywhere because everything's in there and I'm just, I'm a mess. I'm just kinda like broke down in the middle of the airport like, oh my god. Chris, I will give him, oh God, he was good in an emergency or crisis. He went into action. He got ahold of my mom and my mom got ahold of someone. 'cause this is back in the nineties too, so it was pre nine 11. So somebody, my mom went all the way to where I was born, got a new birth certificate, got that sent to the airport, they got it notarized somehow. So that was my proof of like, let me out of this country and come back. So that was like, instead of a password, I had that.

[00:35:09] Etienne: Oh, wow. I'm surprised that it, it would work. Oh, is this just because it was probably prior nine 11 that

[00:35:14] Heidi: yeah, it was prior to nine 11, so it worked at the birth certificate worked. So we got that done. We called Planned Parenthood. Who got me in right away and got me some new birth control. It was amazing. Yeah, it was like in Queens or something, and just like, they were the nicest people and they got me in and out, so I wasn't gonna, 'cause I was like, I'm gonna be on my period if I miss all of these and we're gonna be in Jamaica.

[00:35:40] Etienne: Oh no. I'll be bleeding.

[00:35:42] Etienne: No. 

[00:35:42] Heidi: like it was our, it was our overdue honeymoon or something

[00:35:45] Etienne: Oh.

[00:35:45] Heidi: had set up. So I'm like, there's no way I need birth control pills so I don't go on my period. So yeah, got that done. We went to Kmart and got a bunch of makeup for me. As best we could, we got everything that I needed and Chris called the resort, got them to shift us a day.

[00:36:05] Heidi: The flight got pushed back a day. Once we got there, it was perfect. We had the best week. But it was just, yeah,

[00:36:11] Etienne: Wow.

[00:36:12] Etienne: I've never, 

[00:36:14] Heidi: bag going missing and yeah. It was crazy and I'm so surprised, like I, they must have seen the camera and took that and like ditched everything else because

[00:36:26] Etienne: Oh, okay.

[00:36:27] Heidi: Came of it after, like my identity wasn't stolen or anything like that. But yeah, it was kind of scary at first because I'm like, somebody could take over my life if they would have all the info. But, yeah, so now I'm very super paranoid.

[00:36:43] Etienne: Oh, no.

[00:36:44] Heidi: Like, everywhere I go, I have to take my purse or my bags with me wherever I go. 'cause I just, I don't trust anybody to handle my stuff, you know, like it's just, okay, this is mine. I need to keep an eye on it. It's nobody else's responsibility. So I just have been paranoid ever since with,

[00:37:03] Etienne: Oh,

[00:37:04] Heidi: with bags and keeping track of 'em and, yeah. So,

[00:37:08] Etienne: oh man.

[00:37:09] Heidi: So, yeah. Could have been a complete nightmare where everything fell through, but we somehow made it work. It ended up being one of the best vacations ever.

[00:37:18] Heidi: And it was at a resort that's no longer in existence. It was called the Enchanted Garden in Ocho Rios. And, it's now a national park that they created, but there were so many waterfalls and they had an aviary and wildlife and all these little nooks and crannies and plunge pools for each room.

[00:37:36] Etienne: Oh damn.

[00:37:38] Heidi: Yeah, it was lux. It was really, really nice. So, best, best week. Yeah. We saved that vacation just with all the scrambling we did in one day to get everything.

[00:37:50] Etienne: That's amazing. Yeah. Seriously. I mean, it's amazing that you were able to salvage it. That's

[00:37:54] Heidi: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:37:56] Etienne: Oh God. Yeah. I imagine myself in that situa, I think I would've been probably laying on the airport floor crying.

[00:38:03] Heidi: Oh, I was, I was sat down in the middle, just bawling. 'cause it was just like getting so frustrated that the shuttle didn't pick us up for half an hour. We were waiting out there for half an hour and we're just like, what is happening?

[00:38:17] Etienne: Yeah, it was a perfect storm of like making this happen. You know? Jesus, God, that was awful.

[00:38:23] Jane: See, I'm actually really good in a crisis. I will say that about myself. Like, I've been in a situation where my sister was supposed to go see her boyfriend, who's now her husband. And there was an ice storm and all the flights were canceled.

[00:38:35] Jane: And, my dad was out of town and my stepmother was sick. And she's like, I'm not bringing you back to the airport to borrow. And I'm like, I will figure it out. And I didn't have a car at the time and I was just like, we'll figure it out. I'm like, figuring out all this public transport and stuff. And this is in the early nineties when there's no cell phones and there's no internet to look stuff up on. You had yellow pages and a dream, just trying to figure it out and make it work and

[00:38:54] Heidi: Yeah.

[00:38:55] Jane: figure out where you had to change trains and have alternate plans and talk to human beings and make phone calls and all that kind of stuff. And that's pulling victory outta the jaws of defeat when your vacation or your trip plans are about to get derailed is something that I've had to do many times, mostly for other people.

[00:39:13] Jane: At one time for myself, we were actually in line, at the airport to go to Costa Rica, and it was the first trip I took with my in-laws, like the whole family. It was the first. Christmas that my husband and I were married. This is post nine 11, so this is 2003. So it's not that long after nine 11 is when everybody's just like, oh my God, we're traveling and everybody takes forever to go through security and as we're in line, because we had just gotten married, my passport still had my maiden name on it because we had gone a few months prior to that, we had gone to St. Lucia for our honeymoon in Puerto Rico. And I didn't wanna have, my, changing my name, like, you know what I mean? Like, to just change it again. My passport was due to be updated, but I wasn't married yet, so I wasn't gonna, I had to renew my passport and I wasn't gonna then what?

[00:40:00] Jane: Renew it again a couple months later because I got married, I was just like, no, this is, we're, this is it. My passport just has my maiden name on it for a while. But, Brendon, my husband, my, yeah, my father-in-law, this was his Christmas present to the whole family, was we're all going to spend Christmas in Costa Rica and he bought the tickets. So

[00:40:19] Heidi: your married name. 

[00:40:21] Jane: my full name. My full name, my first name is actually Stephanie, but I go by Jane, right? So my full name Stephanie Jane Alchermes. But my father-in-law knows me as Jane Gari. Okay. So like, not even close. Not even close. So he bought the ticket. So I'm not thinking about this, right? Like, I don't know why I just, it, so we're in an international line, right?

[00:40:47] Jane: So it's taking forever. Then he is just like, all right, handing out tickets to everybody as we're getting closer to the thing. And I see my ticket says, Jane Gari. And I was just like, oh no. Like it occurs to me immediately,

[00:41:00] Etienne: Oh shit.

[00:41:01] Jane: my passport says Stephanie Jane O. Like it's not even close.

[00:41:06] Heidi: Mm-hmm.

[00:41:07] Jane: And I'm like, yeah, Jane's in there. That's it. That's the only thing that's in common. And I'm like panicking. I was like, oh. And he starts panicking too. my father-in-law was like, he was like, so he was like, oh no. He goes, I knew this. He goes, I knew this and I didn't. He's like, I didn't even think about it. I'm like, I didn't either, I didn't think to remind you.

[00:41:28] Jane: And here we are. And I said, you know what? It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. 'cause I have the story of my name change in my wallet. Like I have so many forms of id. Thank God. All right, so we get up to the counter. And I'm standing there with my father-in-law, we're holding hands. 'cause he was, it's. It's December 23rd and I'm just like, I told him, I'm like, listen, if this doesn't work, I'm like, I told my husband, I'm like, you get on the plane, I will go back home and I will figure it out, like a marriage certificate and figure out like how to get the name changed on the ticket. And I'll meet

[00:42:03] Jane: you there tomorrow. So I'll still be there for like, I'll get their Christmas Eve. But there was weather coming in. It was a whole very cinematic, like, oh no, I don't want our first Christmas married to be separate countries. And I was just like, shit. So we get up and I just unload my wallet and just start crying as I'm talking. So I'm like, listen. I was like, this is my name and this, and I'm, I'm showing her, I am showing her my library card that had a picture on it. Okay. I showed her, I had both of my bank cards 'cause I didn't throw anything away at this time. I showed her both of my bank cards. I showed her the bank card that said Stephanie Jane Alchermes and my new bank card that said, Stephanie Jane Gari. So she sees the same person and my bank card at that time had my picture on it.

[00:42:45] Etienne: Oh wow.

[00:42:45] Jane: one. The new one did. They don't do this anymore. Sorry. It was a credit card. I had my picture on it.

[00:42:50] Etienne: Oh, okay. Okay.

[00:42:50] Jane: And then I also had, thankfully another piece of photo id, which was issued by the state of Connecticut for teacher id.

[00:42:58] Etienne: Oh,

[00:42:59] Etienne: Jesus. 

[00:42:59] Jane: That just said Jane Gari. Was that was the clincher, right? So I'm, I lay this out. So I've got library cards. I had my old library cards that said Stephanie Jane Alchermes, new library cards that Stephanie Jane Gari, I have my NYU id. This is Stephanie Jane Alchermes to show like, okay, we've got this.

[00:43:16] Jane: This is me. And this is the story of my life over the past couple years and my name changed. And I was just like, we just got married and. Anyway, and she sees my, like my most recent stamps from St. Lucia and the whole thing. And, she just looked at me. This is just two years after nine 11, you know?

[00:43:32] Jane: And, she sees like the whole family's there, just like this Christmas is hinging on this moment, you know? And she just looked, she goes, I am gonna change the ticket name right now. I'm gonna issue you a new ticket that says Stephanie Jane Alchermes because otherwise you're gonna get stuck in Costa

[00:43:45] Etienne: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:43:46] Jane: she's like, I think you could leave, but you're not gonna. So she changed it for me and I was just like, thank you. I was like, like. Leap over the counter like you just merry. And my, my father-in-law, my father-in-law and I were like hugging and jumping up and

[00:44:05] Etienne: Oh my

[00:44:05] Jane: like, yay. Anyway, and then they lost my husband's luggage and he had to wear other people's clothes for a couple of days. But thankfully,

[00:44:14] Heidi: Oh my God.

[00:44:15] Jane: my brother-in-law's kind of his size,

[00:44:18] Etienne: no.

[00:44:19] Jane: And that's when I found out that he thinks using my toothbrush would be gross. But all other bodily fluids were fine.

[00:44:25] Etienne: Wait, what

[00:44:27] Heidi: He thinks you see the tooth?

[00:44:29] Jane: honestly, I don't wanna use

[00:44:31] Etienne: I would wanna,

[00:44:31] Jane: but I was just thinking in, you know,

[00:44:33] Heidi: Yeah, but temporarily.

[00:44:35] Etienne: it. In an emergency. That's the only situation where I'm using somebody else's or they can use my toothbrush.

[00:44:40] Jane: Right. But then I was just like, I'm this, I was like, we're at a resort. Let's just go ask them for an extra. And they gave him like this really cheesy toothbrush. But he was wearing like, uh, the people's underpants. Every, everything, like, it was just like, there was, um, I have two sisters-in-law and neither of them were married at the time, but this is how generous my in-laws were, they were allowed to bring their boyfriends at the time.

[00:45:02] Etienne: Oh

[00:45:02] Jane: They're not engaged. So one, one of them, he is now my brother-in-law, the other guy, he didn't make the cut. Um, but they all, every, and then, so between my father-in-law and these two dudes, like everybody just kind of contributed some clothing for my husband to

[00:45:20] Etienne: my

[00:45:21] Jane: So they didn't get the bag for like three or four days. It was a couple of days. So he was just looking a little mismatched. And thank God for drawstrings on swim trunks. So he could just tie things really tight, you know? 'cause he is thinner than these other people loaning them their clothing.

[00:45:35] Jane: And then he was just like, fuck it, I'm just not wearing a boxer. This is where I draw the lines. He was just wearing swim trunks, whatever. We're on vacation. So, and then it was fine. And then we had a lovely, lovely vacation but it started out with like, can I even get on the plane?

[00:45:49] Etienne: Oh my gosh.

[00:45:50] Heidi: Oh. amazing. That's awesome.

[00:45:52] Etienne: Damn.

[00:45:53] Heidi: Glad it worked out. We both had happy ending stories of like, it couldn't be went really wrong.

[00:45:59] Etienne: mine didn't end so happy, but I, I never have had a one single throat infection since my tonsils had been removed.

[00:46:05] Heidi: Oh yeah.

[00:46:05] Jane: There we go.

[00:46:06] Etienne: Never again had I had strep throat again. That is it. We're done. Mm-hmm. I mean, 'cause I had a, I had like a series of strep throat like that happen. All the time. I had strep throat probably five, six times a year. It was so

[00:46:19] Jane: Oh my.

[00:46:20] Heidi: Oh yeah, same.

[00:46:21] Etienne: it happened all the time.

[00:46:23] Heidi: And I think they were gonna take my tonsils when I was a kid, but then, I don't know, everybody got all like anxious, like, no, let's keep the tonsils if you can. And

[00:46:32] Etienne: What did they take out though? Did they take out your adenoids? 

[00:46:34] Heidi: I can't remember it. 

[00:46:36] Etienne: I had a, they took out my adenoids when I was like eight because I was a snorer. I was such a snorer that even with my door closed to my room, the whole house could hear me.

[00:46:44] Heidi: Oh wow.

[00:46:45] Etienne: So they decided they needed to rip out my adenoids, but I wish that they had taken my goddamn tonsil at the same time. That's usually what they do. It's called a TNA tonsillectomy, an adenoidectomy. They did not do that to me, so I had to wait and have this horrific experience at

[00:47:02] Heidi: yeah.

[00:47:02] Etienne: old.

[00:47:03] Heidi: Crazy.

[00:47:04] Etienne: Yeah.

[00:47:05] Jane: Oh my goodness. Well, I'm glad you guys all live to tell the tail and no throat infections for anybody. And now I think that we should plan like a fun girls trip

[00:47:19] Etienne: Oh, yes, yes, yes.

[00:47:20] Jane: record like podcast on the trip, maybe. That'll be fun.

[00:47:25] Etienne: that'd be so good. Oh, I wanna do that. 

[00:47:29] Heidi: That's our show you've been listening to, the Women are Plotting. If you have a story you'd like to share or have any comments, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at info@thewomenareplotting.com and of course you can find us on all the socials. Thanks, and until next time, be safe and be excellent to each other.