Our Stories
Coincidentally?
By Char Forslund | posted 04/22/2010
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:1-5, NIV)
I’m sitting at the computer writing this article. I never do that! I always write and re-write in longhand before I ever go to the keyboard. When I talked to Lynn about doing an article about our cruise to Mexico and Ron’s medical emergency I truly thought I would be able to sit down and tell the story. I did ... several times ... with details flooding back and page after page after page of words and descriptions and experiences flowing out. I have all those hand written pages in front of me right now, but I know they are not the article.
Just briefly: Ron and I and JaLynne left San Diego on March 3 for a week-long cruise on the Carnival Spirit to joyfully celebrate Jaye’s completion of courses to become a Certified Medical Assistant. While in port at Zihuatanejo, Ron had a serious heart incident and had to be Aeromedevaced off the ship and flown to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. He is A-OK with no permanent heart damage. What presented itself as a serious heart attack with arrhythmia and tachycardia was actually caused by acute dehydration. That caused a rapid drop in blood pressure which led to losing consciousness and an extremely nasty fall resulting in cuts, abrasions, bruises, black eyes, and a concussion. That is the short version without the multiple pages of details I wrote down.
As I read and re-read all that, what popped out were all the "coincidences" in the story:
- On a trip to celebrate Jaye’s medical training, her first serious patient is Grandpa!
- The episode happened in a restaurant in Mexico and Jaye speaks fluent Spanish. She immediately had one person scurrying to get the first aid kit and three more kneeling on the floor beside Ron to help roll him over safely on her count of three, while also telling me firmly, "Grandma! Get out of the way!"
- While JaLynne used the restaurant first aid kit to clean up Ron’s face and head, one of the young waiters said his Mom used to use the thin skin between rings of raw onions to help stop bleeding ... it worked!
- We had hired a taxi to tour us around to out of the way spots instead of going out on one of the big tours to Ixtapa. Our taxi driver spoke very fluent English and took us the back roads right to the dock.
- Zihuatanejo is a tender port, meaning you have to take a small boat back out to where the cruise ship is anchored. Our driver knew exactly where the cruise staff would be and he jumped out of the taxi and yelled for the tender boat not to leave until we could board.
- The cruise staff also radioed the Carnival Spirit and a medical team was waiting for us when the tender boat arrived.
That is only the first 30-40 minutes after the episode happened! The amazing topper to all of those "coincidences" is that the cardiologist in San Diego told us that another 30-45 minutes without emergent medical attention would probably have been fatal.
If you are still thinking, "Wow! They were really lucky!" then I’ll take you out for the biggest, best cup of coffee ever and we will talk about the difference between "luck" and Providence!
Within a few hours on IV’s and a whole lot of medicines I had never heard of, Ron’s heart had stabilized and the medical staff was talking to us about disembarking him at the next port, Manzanillo. Ron needed a cardiologist ASAP to follow through and also a brain scan and a scan of all his facial bones. That meant sending out an e-mail to medevac companies to bid on getting the job of flying to Manzanillo, Mexico, hiring an ambulance, getting Ron off the ship and back to the airstrip with lights and sirens, going through customs, and flying him to San Diego, four plus hours away.
"Coincidentally" the lowest bid was also the closest. The kicker is that the plane won’t leave the ground until all the fees have been paid in full. No worry ... it was only $19,500. Yikes! It was Sunday and our bank would not do a wire transfer until mid-day Monday. The medical team had been told to disembark Ron in Mazanillo even if it meant going to the hospital there ... which everyone assured me we did NOT want to do. As it turned out, "coincidentally", the head of all the Carnival Medical Staff in Florida just happened to be in his office that Sunday and he told the ship to have me sign a Promissory Note and get that plane in the air pronto!
Does anyone still need that cup of coffee and discussion about "luck"?
I was able to fly out with Ron, but JaLynne had to stay on the cruise. One real positive is that she had auditioned to be part of the talent show at the end of the cruise and she was chosen, so she was busy with rehearsals and performed Aretha Franklin’s RESPECT in front of 2,000 people the last night.
We were literally met in the parking lot at Sharp Memorial and the tests began immediately. Brain scan, clean and clear. Facial scans, A-OK. And all the various tests on Ron’s heart over the next two days came back the same ... no damage to his heart. Not what anyone expected, but incredibly, our good and gracious God had been charge the entire time. Much to everyone’s surprise, Ron was released from the hospital and cleared to fly home commercial, on our regular flight. It was a terrific reunion with Jaye at the hotel where Carnival paid for us to stay the last night. And then, home!
I’m going to have a cup of coffee now, and while I sip it, I will once again give thanks and praise to Him for all the "coincidences" He orchestrated to bring Ron home, safe and sound and full of hope.
Love and Joy!
Char
Char can be reached via email here.
