This past weekend, I embarked on a generational trip to Las Vegas with Lucas and my parents, with plans for an epic double header: Kenny Chesney in the Sphere on Friday night, Coldplay at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday. This was a well-planned trip, tickets bought months in advance, all of us stalking set lists in the weeks leading up, eager to see what these artists had to offer.
Our red-eye flight on Wednesday night landed at 1am Thursday in Las Vegas, all smooth sailing, surprising for a flight leaving Orlando late afternoon. Thursday we spent the day rolling around town, spending some time at the Kenny Chesney experience store at the Venetian, where we took a cute, photo booth picture. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Catch in the Aria with my Uncle Moose, who recently moved to Vegas, and spent the whole time convincing him to quit his new, terrible job.
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| His name is Chance :) |
Friday morning we all woke up, buzzing with excitement. Tonight was Kenny Chesney. The four of us caught a lovely breakfast and spent the morning playing our new favorite slot machine, Journey to Planet Moolah.
At 2pm, my Uncle met up with us at Beerhaus Las Vegas to have some beer and hang out before it was time for dinner and then the big show. My parents were pretty excited, as there is a local beer here they enjoy! My mother even made a Facebook post of her enjoying it.
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| Lovelady Love Juice |
I enjoyed a lovely sour my uncle kept calling “woke beer”
My mother enjoyed one of these special Vegas beers and then decided to stick to high-noons for the rest of the day. My father enjoyed two of these beers (this will be important information later).
At 5:15, we headed over to Best Friend for our dinner, where both Lucas and I overate a ridiculous amount. Then, it was time for the trek from our hotel to the Sphere. We wanted to walk off the meal, and the rest of the crew was game (this will be important information later). Although it was about 180 degrees in Vegas this day, there was very typically only a short amount of the walk that required you to be outside, the rest of the route to the Sphere can be done completely inside.
Only, due to a convention, we were blocked from part of this route leading up to the Sphere, which added about an extra half mile of outside-walking to the route. You may be thinking this isn’t that bad, but it was brutally hot. (This will be important information later).
When we got to the Sphere after our final outside stretch, as a final kick in the ass, we had to walk up a flight of stairs outside to get into the venue. (You guessed it, it’s getting important).
We get up into the venue and approach where we scan our tickets and, whoa - my dad looks terrible. Like, scary, terrible. He is chugging the Dasani my mom brought with her like a man deprived. He pulls himself together, pulls out his phone for us to scan our tickets and get inside, and he immediately finds a pole to lean on and says “I need a minute.”
Lucas and I run to get a few $7 bottle of Sphere water for him, and by the time we return, he’s looking worst than ever and fiddling with his watch to check his heart rate.
7 dollar sphere water btw
Uh oh. We all share glances, we know what this is.
A few years ago, my Dad went into AFib after a surgery, and he’s been managing the condition ever since. It is a condition where your heart goes out of rhythm, and though it isn’t inherently dangerous by itself, it increases risk of serious issues due to lack of oxygen, low blood pressure, etc. He’s had a few episodes since the initial one, the most prominent of which was also in Vegas, where he spent the night in the ER the night of the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup parade. Good times.
To help manage his condition, he takes medication, but also avoids triggers like…. drinking (check), heat (double check), … stairs (gulp).
At this point, he’s so crazy in AFib that he’s struggling to stand, so my uncle and Lucas help the man to a bench we find. We have 30 minutes until Kenny goes on (we’ve all resigned ourselves to the fact that we’re not seeing this show), and he wants to sit here for a minute. You see, the goal here is that things calm down enough that he can walk himself out and catch a cab to get medical attention. The second he gets medical attention at the Sphere, he’s leaving in an ambulance for a one-way ticket to Hospital town.
Meanwhile, Lucas and I are sitting on a bench. I’m hella disassociating its crazy.
My Kenny fit was so cute too
With 5 minutes until show time, my dad makes the call: he needs medical attention. There’s no way he can leave by himself with the way his heart rate is jumping around. The lovely medical personnel arrive quickly and take him and my mother away. We jump in the elevator after them and attempt to follow them. We fail and end up wandering around a bunch until we find medical. It is in a hallway that appeared to also be where VIPs go.
Shoutout EMTs
This EMT was telling my mom war stories of treating people on drugs during the Grateful Dead residency.
Through the walls, we hear “Beer in Mexico” blasting while they’re giving my Dad an EKG and checking out his very, very low blood pressure. Eventually, they say they’re going to take him away and he says something like, “Go to the show, there’s nothing you can do”, which just makes me feel great. They load him up into the ambulance and away, and Lucas, Uncle Moose, and I are just left there chilling. 
Bye bye papa
….So, we go to the show, escorted by a lovely security guard up from the VIP/Medical tunnel to the 100s. We grab some free bottles of water from medical before we go, highly encouraged by the staff.
At this point, we’ve missed like five songs. “Welcome to the Fishbowl” is playing as we all go to the bathroom. I last one song before I have my first mental breakdown to “I Go Back”. By my estimate, I started crashing out about six times during this show, including when Grace Potter came out and they sang Elvis, when Uncle Kracker came out and they sang a whole damn show, and when my mom’s favorite song played as the second encore.
Unrelated, this part of the show was triggering as hell
We have a long, sad walk back to the hotel. The news comes through, my dad is definitely in AFib and staying in the hospital. Las Vegas never disappoints.
Walking back past the stairs that sent my dad into AFib <3
But wait, that ain’t the end of this story. My Dad did miss Din Tai Fung dinner into Coldplay due to being in the hospital (my mom still came with us and she loved it). He was released shortly afterwards when we came out of AFib and had his blood pressure back to normal.
Coldplay was so good sorry dad :(
….but my parents decided to stay in Las Vegas until today so they could see Kenny at his next show (Wednesday night). This time, they did not drink, they took a Lyft, and used elevators, which ensured they made the show. Phew.
When they got in, my Dad asked for a picture on the bench, which is just so insane. Love that man.
Trauma bench with a 7 dollar sphere water
They did not get any special guests, but had a great time at the show and are on their way home now, safe and sound! And good news, Uncle Moose quit his terrible job!! Hope next trip to Vegas is less eventful, amen.
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