May 15-23, 2009 St. Lucia to Grenada

May 15-17, 2009

Marigot, St. Lucia to Prickly Bay, Grenada

 

In route to Bequia, I received an email from our daughter saying an ambulance rushed my 88-year-old Mom to the hospital at 12.30 AM.   It brought home not only the realization of how far from Colorado are the Lesser Antilles, but also, after umpteen fruitless phone conversations with ticket agents, how difficult it is to get there from here during an emergency.  Needless-to-say, we hurried south as quickly as possible in excruciatingly light winds, yellow flagging in Bequia, quickly clearing in at Carriacou and arriving in Grenada midmorning on May 17.

Hypertensive from distressingly negative phone conversations with relatives and nurses, I was able to secure an afternoon on a May 17 flight to St. Lucia (did we not just leave there???) via Barbados, with a morning flight to Miami, arriving Denver around 8 PM on May 18. 

 

While awaiting boarding in Grenada, I chanced to connect with the attending physician who assured me NOT to rush home.  Mom was stable, although disoriented…whew!  All that running around in circles led me to spend willingly, however unnecessarily, $1500 in airfares and a hotel accommodation in St. Lucia.

 

Thankfully, an airport attendant was able to retrieve my luggage, and I cancelled my hotel and flights.  That is not to say, I did not frequently review my decision to stay until my scheduled May 23 departure.  For each alarming phone conversation with a concerned relative, only a calming reassurance from the physician alleviated any regret.  Life Lesson:  always talk to the most informed person before jumping into a panic…

 

May 18-23, 2009

Prickly Bay, Grenada

 

By May 19, much of my waking hours dominated by internet searches, phone conversations and emails regarding updates on Mom’s condition, made it apparent my stress would have lessened had I disregarded the physician’s encouragement to stay in Grenada and returned to Colorado.  However, by May 20, Mom was eating, taking short walks and able to carryon a telephone conversation.  Released on May 21 to Rehabilitation of the Skilled Nursing Care facility of her retirement village, by afternoon she had already cognitively deteriorated, once again confused and disoriented, yet somewhat cheerful and happy to be “in a new place”.

 

I guess this is what it meant by the term “emotional rollercoaster.”  I cannot wait until I leave for Colorado on May 23.