Planes, Oxygen and Puppies!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The most amazing sleep of the trip. I had a whole 9 hours in the closest thing to "my bed" I have experienced in almost 4 months. Heaven!!! Anyhow, my aunt had called ahead yesterday and arranged for me to take the crew shuttle to the airport and the rep was going to hold a seat for me since I wouldn't be checking in until less than 2 hours before our flight. So we had a quiet morning, had a coffee and breakfast down in the hotel cafe. We got our things ready and met up with the whole crew in the lobby. We all hopped on the shuttle and I met the rest of the crew and one of the girls who would be working my section said "oh if we have any medical emergencies we will come straight to you" when learning that I am a Nurse. She then preceeded to tell me she would have me drunk by meal service. Haha! Sweet! The captain also had his wife with him and we were both in the same boat so we stuck together to get to the plane. We got priority check in and priority labels on our bags...I am kind of a big deal! :) haha Anyhow, we wandered around the airport and eventually went to the gate and through security. We boarded the plane and since there was no extra room in business class, we got the best of the economy seats. There is a row in the plane where the rows go from 3 seats to 2 seats and we sat in the first row of 2 seats. So we had all the room where the 3rd seat would normally be for leg room. It was amazing! I could have slept like a baby the whole flight...if I had of slept...Not being the best flyer in the world, I was chill and as promised was feeling pretty good after champagne, wine, and a couple of caesar's later. It was great! I sat with the Captain's wife and we had a good chat for the majority of the flight and the two of us were treated like gold! About 7 hrs into the flight, there was an overhead announcement asking if there was a physician onboard to please identify yourself to the crew... ... ... you have got to be kidding me, was the only thought flying through my head. OMG! So I sat and prayed but the only person who attempted to get out of their seat was this little old German man, presumably heading for the bathroom...again! So the Flight Director approached me and asked if I could help in the back galley. What choice did I have, so I followed her back to the galley...she turned around half way back and asked if I was ok to help. I had to think for a second but I sobered up quite quickly. This is when I found a woman in her 70's having an asthma attack. Her respirations were rapid and laboured, rapid pulse,her lips were tinted blue and she was in obvious distress. So for the next hour, I sat with the women, assessed and treated her appropriately until she was stabilized. It was quite the experience to have to think on your feet and use only the resources available. We did have oxygen of which we applied on low, she had already taken her inhalers and had a long history of asthma including two hospital visits in the last 2 weeks. It was also interesting to see the human reaction of other passengers as they were climbing over us to use the bathrooms and asking for ridiculous things while the "emergency" was taking place. A few times I felt like telling them to go back to their seats and would have to wait because they were not high on the priority list. The girls handled the situation very well and professionally. We did have a call out to a physician who gave us directions if she did deteriorate but she recovered well and stabilized on the oxygen and was able to remove the oxygen and I eventually took her back to her seat. She would have paramedics to greet her at the gate to check her out and clear her medically to leave the airport. It was quite the experience and Mary felt badly for joking about it earlier this morning and then intoxicating me. She even offered me another drink when it was all said and done. I kindly declined...we still had over an hour until landing and who knows what could happen in that short period of time. Anyhow, we did land safe and sound and it ended up being an "experience" to say the least. It also passed time of the 9 hour flight and distracted me from my dislike for flying. We landed around 630pm, customs was really quick to get through, my bag was first off with my priority tag and I met my aunt and we were off. My family picked me up in Cambridge and it was great to see them after so long. We headed home where I met my psycho dog in full force. He was so excited to see me that he went ballistic. I missed that furry little man. It was late now and time to sleep in my own bed!! Finally!!! Amazing trip, great experiences and a once in a lifetime...to be repeated! We have a long list of must see's and would like to do again for Europe, never mind the rest of the world. I definately have the itch for travelling now and will transition well into my Australian move.