Hectic weeks

 

Where do I start? It’s been a hectic few weeks and lots has been happening. The same day as Sid came back from the States, our friends Joanne and Ken on Rusty Bucket arrived as well. We haven't seen them since Cartagena. Amazing how small the cruising world is, no matter where we go we run into old friends. Chris on Colonel’s Lady is here as well, we met him in Mexico. On Joanne’s first morning back as she stepped out of the boat our neighbor Collin from England was sitting near her boat sweating profusely. Asking if he was OK she ran back inside and brought him a glass of water and as he started to drink she noticed the droop in his mouth and called the hotel nurse right away. By the time he arrived at the hospital he was in worse shape and a few hours later we learned that he was paralyzed from his chest down and was in an induced coma. Later on that evening as we had dinner with Rusty Bucket on Changes of Attitude we received the info that he needed surgery immediately, he had suffered a stroke and it was very serious. At that time it was a life or death situation. Poor Joanne had no idea what she was getting into as she speaks perfect Spanish (she was involved for 4 weeks straight). The hospital needed somebody to take the responsibility which none of us was risking to take, as this type of stroke was eminent that he may not make it or may be a vegetable for the rest of his life and such a responsibly was not what any of us wanted. We needed to find family members in England now to get the OK. Larry and I went through his boat to find an address book or something, nothing. We looked and looked, while Joanne contacted the British Embassy. We could not find any info on his family, except for some doctor’s names as he was a diabetic. Weeks later we found out that the marina staff left his address book on a chair at the hospital which disappeared. It took Joanne, the British Embassy and Collin’s doctor 5 days to get hold of his family. In the mean time we found out that it was not a stroke but a severely compressed disk, an ongoing serious problem where he missed seeing his doctor and that he still needed the surgery as he was paralyzed from his chest down and still in an induced coma. 10 days later his ex-wife arrived and surgery finally went through. Vanessa has been here for almost three weeks now, Collin is alive but he will remain paralyzed and is just learning to move his hands. They now are trying to get him back to England which is a huge process as it is hard to find an airline to transport him. We all learned valuable lessons, hospitals here will not take a patient, no matter how serious the illness, unless they get paid in advance. Luckily Gordon and Thelma, our next door neighbors, Collin’s British friends, came up with roughly $ 4000 so the hospital would keep him. Imagine that, they don't even want the money back. The second thing was to have some papers available who to contact in case of emergency. I made a list of contacts and taped it on the mast so it can be easily seen.

          Two days after the incident Changes of Attitude left for two weeks to Merida to study Spanish. I offered to take care of their kitten, who was recovering from being spayed and needed medication. The second day kitty-sitting she got so ill we had to take her emergency to the vet. She had a kidney infection and hadn't eaten in four days. Now instead of having to give her 2 different type of medication she had 5 to take at different times. She looked awful and refused to eat. Every couple of hours we injected her with some water, so she wouldn't dehydrate. Sid spent the first night with her, sleeping on the couch with her next to him. I spent the following three nights with her, also sleeping on the couch, giving her water and food every three hours day and night. It was a 24 hour a day nursing job. We thought she was not going to make it and had to force feed her with a syringe. Day 6 finally a bit of a progress, she tried to lick some water, a good sign. Then mom came back as she was worried about her baby. Evita by then was doing much better and we got some well deserved sleep. Two days after Dotty came back Evita took a turn to the worst again but recovered within a couple of days. Now Dotty had to go to Florida so we took over again, still feeding Evita with a syringe. After a further 3 days Evita is finally eating on her own, actually she turned into an eating machine and is finally putting some weight on. She was a rescued wild kitten, who witnessed her parents and sibling getting chewed up by a dog and was badly malnourished when Dotty and Larry took her on. She’s doing fine now and is as wild as ever and all she wants is to play. She spent all her toy-mice allowance and bought us a trip to Merida for 3 days as a thank you for saving her life.

          While all this has been happening, Sid has been involved in some charity work. Jenny and Jim on Three Keys (known as the Mayor of Maremares), have been here for 6 years and know this place in and out. Jim has been helping a local women, who’s husband abandoned her and her 2 kids, to build a hot dog stand on the beach. This has been an ongoing two year project. Now he’s fixing a new roof for her and Sid and a couple other guys have been helping him the last couple of weeks. Sid said its hard labor and comes home pooped every day. They are having fun.

          We still meet every evening at 6 under the tree of knowledge, Sundays we have our potlucks. The girls go to the local market on Tuesdays and daily around four meet in the pool. This coming Thursday Rosa will teach us to cook some local dishes. Beer is still under 30 cents and rum is still abundantly available, so life couldn't be better.