Sin City brings no luck

I have bad luck in Las Vegas. 

I’m not talking about gambling, either.

When I visited Sin City last year for a trade show, I missed Baby Schanz cutting her first teeth. 

I was devastated that I missed such a tremendous milestone. 

It also pained me that I wasn’t able to support my spouse as she navigated this era of our daughter’s life without me. 

This year, the work trip didn’t go off without a hitch, but rather with two disasters.

First, Baby Schanz started to develop sores and blisters on her mouth — a symptom of what later became hand, foot and mouth disease — the day before I was to fly West. 

She had an awful day. I swear she spent more time crying than she did anything else. Even her nap time wasn’t effective because she was constantly interrupted by her irritability. 

That first day, a Saturday, our daughter just could not get comfortable at night. She couldn’t stay in her crib. She would not sleep and cried the entire time we had her in our bed, a place she ends up quite often when she’s unable to sleep alone.

It seemed she only wanted to be held. I took her out on the couch — where we seem to end up far more than I’d prefer — hoping that if I had her in my arms she’d fall asleep. 

But she just couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep. 

We later ended up back in our bed and she still didn’t sleep immediately. 

I got probably an hour of sleep total before my 4:30 a.m. wake-up alarm sounded, and I had to make the 116-mile drive to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. 

It tugged at my heartstrings that I had to fly a thousand miles away for work and leave my wife to deal with the worst illness our daughter has experienced in her short life. 

Chrissy’s mother came to stay with her to help out around the house and with our daughter. It was the plan all along when I learned I had to embark on a work trip. 

Believe it or not, the hand, foot and mouth disease was not the worst thing that happened while I was gone. 

Shortly after the trade show opened on that Tuesday, I got a call from my wife. I stepped away from our booth to answer it, and all I could hear was her crying hysterically. 

My mother-in-law was carrying Baby Schanz down the stairs to the basement and missed the last step or two. Our basement is unfinished with a poured concrete floor, although there is some interlocking foam flooring to create a bit of padding.

I’m told my mother-in-law landed on her knees and then rolled over to her right shoulder, the side she was holding my daughter.  

My wife, who was at work at the time, was rushing home while she was on the phone with me.

Through tears on both ends of the phone call, I incessantly told her to call an ambulance, but she was reluctant to do so. I instructed her to call my brother John, who is a firefighter. Again, she was still hesitant to do so. 

I took matters into my own hands. I hung up on my wife and called John. He answered, and luckily, just happened to be on the fire truck returning to the station. Even more miraculously, they weren’t too far from my house. Through tears of my own, I told him what happened, and he and his colleagues rushed over in a matter of minutes.

At this point, I excused myself from the booth after telling our vice president, Jason — whom I’ve known for more than 35 years and is like a brother — what was happening. 

I brought up the feed from our security camera to watch as my brother and the other firefighters arrived. All the while, Jason stayed by me to provide comfort.

Boy, did I feel helpless. I was three time zones away and there was nothing I could do. Countless thoughts ran through my head, including catching the next flight home, as I wasn’t supposed to leave for another 24 hours.

Not 10 minutes later, I got a call from my brother with a report of the situation: my daughter was fine, but my mother-in-law was banged up because of her fall.

Disaster (mostly) averted.

Once Chrissy got home, my sister-in-law came over to stay with my daughter as my wife took her mother to the ER. 

X-rays came back negative, so she just got some medication for the pain.

I was able to breathe a little easier; thankful for my quick thinking to call my brother, as well as having Jason nearby for support as the sit-rep continued to improve.

Nearly a month later, my daughter’s affliction is behind her. My mother-in-law is mostly in the clear, too.

I’ve now been to this Las Vegas trade show three times. Each of the last two iterations, something has gone wrong at home. 

Lady Luck just isn’t on my side, and I don’t even have to gamble.