I obviously never finished writing about our Thailand adventures. Sadly, I have forgotten a lot of the details, but I do remember a few things ;)
How it ended up working was that, after some incredible experiences and inspiration, Melanie and I knew we had to get Eric home. We decided this on a Sunday and once we got Eric and the Doctors convinced, they couldn't get us shipped out until Friday.
They agreed to Medically Transport Eric with medication and accompanied by a doctor. It took days to get all the paperwork and doctors lined out but we knew we were doing the right thing and it all worked. Monty put in a lot of time and phone calls to make it all happen and we were so grateful to have someone to correspond with the doctors and hospitals from their same time zone. The 13 hour time difference was quite the challenge.
Eric's condition went up and down for the last few days, but it was manageable.
Melanie and I actually got to leave the hospital room twice at lunch time on the last 2 days of the trip. We walked down to the Ploen Chit center and got another Thai Massage. I still can't believe they were only $10 for an hour. I Loved it! We walked through the little grocery center in the bottom of the mall and I found some Crispy M&M's. This sounds like the craziest thing ever but I used to love them when you could get them in Vernal and then they went away and I hadn't seen them ever since- until just then in Thailand. Needless to say, I bought a few packets ;)
We found a little Restaurant in the mall that was hidden under the back corner set of stairs, and they had the best grilled/brothy vegetables, so we went back and had them twice.
The ride home was interesting. We left the hotel at 2:30am Friday morning. We were at the hospital by 3am, where we came upon 14 nurses dressing Eric. They all had a crush on him and he loved all the attention. They had Eric loaded in the back of an ambulance with the Doctor that accompanied us and a crew of nurses. The hotel was so accommodating and sent their airport concierge to drive us to the hospital, then followed us to the airport while we were in the ambulance with Eric. They unloaded everything and helped expedite us through the airport.
Eric had to go through a medical terminal so the Doctor came in and got ticketed for him and Eric then he turned back and went with Eric the rest of the way. While Melanie and I were sitting at our gate, we saw them lift Eric up on a scissor lift into the plane, just like they do with the food/cargo- and they let us board first, so we were the first ones on. Eric slept through most of the first flight, and did great.
We left at 6am and it was a 6 hour flight to Tokyo.
Once we got to Tokyo, they took us to the Premier access lounge where they let Eric sit and rest for an hour before we had to go get on our second flight. When we got Eric on the plane the 2nd time around, he had an "episode" from the stress of moving so much and the pain meds were starting to wear off. There were other people on the plane, so it was hard to deal with everyone panicking around him and keeping him calm. The man that was in the seat next to Eric watched as I stretched out his arm and tried to get him relax, and whoever this man was- he was incredibly compassionate. He started to cry while he watched Eric struggle, and once Eric passed out, I got up to go back to my seat and he said "No- You stay here with him. I don't care if I have to fly economy- you stay with him,"
It was an incredible gesture and reminded me that there are still people out there that are human. I thanked him and assured him I was fine and went back to my seat.
The rest of the way home was smooth sailing. We got in and out of San Fran. in no time, and Eric did really well. When we landed in SLC, they escorted Eric to the Ambulance that was waiting out front and Monty picked us up. It was so good to see some familiar faces and be in a place where I could understand people.
We went to the IMC Center with Eric while they admitted and examined him. They quickly determined that some changes needed to be made with the medications he was taking, which stopped the tremmoring, and they moved him out of ICU into a regular room that night. YAY!
Justin came out to pick me up, and he stayed and visited with Eric and their friends- the Taylors, that came to see Eric.
It was an amazing adventure, and I will never forget a lot of the things that happened there. It helped me appreciate different cultures, for their different values, and appreciate my own even more. We were so very blessed and watched over on this journey.
Thanks again to Melanie and Monty to letting me go and be a part of this and see a whole new world.
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