We left you in Salta, Northern Argentina in our last report and
our plan had been to cross the border overland into Bolivia and work our way
up to Peru before flying home from Lima. However, the local papers in Salta
kept telling us of the fighting going on in Bolivia's capital, La Paz and
the 600 cases of malaria that had just broken out in Cuzco. So, perhaps pressing
on was not such a good idea. Oh, and also we had the following to consider....
Appendix
Megan had been complaining for a while about stomach pains, but we'd put it
down to "comidas tipicas", i.e. local food. It soon became apparent,
though, that there was a bit more to this than a dodgy kebab. Some research on
the Internet and the symptoms looked like a serious case of appendicitis - not
something we really wanted to contemplate up in the remote reaches of Northern
Argentina. Never the less, all the information said that, if you suspected
appendicitis, you had to get medical attention immediately. So, with great
trepidation, we went off to a local private clinic.
It's a long and unpleasant tale, but Megan did have appendicitis and
she was operated on that very same day (but not before we'd handed over a
sizeable quantity of US$ to the surgeon). It was a very advanced case and
probably would have ruptured very soon had we not done anything. A week later,
when the appalling stitches were due to be removed, it was clear that something
had gone badly wrong. A large abcess had developed under the stitching. We
managed to find a much better hospital with the advice of some very helpful
locals and Megan went under the knife again. The immediate problem of the
abscess was dealt with, but there remained a large open wound. There was a risk
of reinfection and it was apparent that the wound treatment Megan would be receiving was
not what it would have been elsewhere. Also, the surgeon advised that the wound
should be left open and would take 3 to 4 months to heal!
Unfit to Fly!
Whilst all this was going on, Steve was in constant contact with the
emergency medical support team in the UK - CEGA Aviation. As this was a long
trip, visiting some pretty primitive places and remote areas and also because we
were diving, we'd invested in some comprehensive travel insurance, which
included emergency repatriation if required. Not a cheap policy but, boy were we
glad of it now! The CEGA team were very supportive and when it became apparent
we needed to get Megan home, began working hard to this end. However, it soon
became apparent that we had a bit of a problem. Aerolineas Argentinas and the
other South American domestic carriers refused to transport such a medical case
until at least 3 weeks after the operation. We were 1600km from Buenos Aires - a
20 hour bus journey. Not feasible when we had concerns about even leaving Megan
in the hospital let alone moving her. Steve looked into hiring a car and driving
to Bs. As. but it didn't seem that safe. There had been heavy flooding around
the area and many roads were blocked by landslides and mud. It began to get a
bit depressing, especially when we found that British Airways might not agree to
fly us home even if we could get to Buenos Aires. It looked like we'd have to
stay in the Argentinean medical system for weeks. And then we were told we had
to leave the clinic. They could do nothing more for us. We'd just have to wait
in an hotel and try and keep the wound clean as long as possible until an
airline could be persuaded to fly us out.
Under Cover of Darkness
Whilst Steve was freaking out about having to do medical stuff for the next 3
months and we were generally depressed at the thought of being stuck in the
middle of nowhere for the foreseeable future, CEGA were beavering away in the
background. Just after midnight on Sat 15th, a phone call from hotel reception
informed us that Dr Sergio Scalia and Nurse Sergio Perreira were waiting for us
downstairs. CEGA had arranged for an air ambulance to fly over from Brazil to
evacuate us to Sao Paulo. Shortly after 1am, Sete Taxi Aereo's Mitsubishi MU-2
Air Ambulance took off from Salta airport with three crew, 2 medical staff,
Megan strapped into all manner of medical equipment and Steve squeezed in just
behind the pilot.
About 3am and Air ambulance Whisky, Yankee, Tango was overflying
Asuncion, Paraguay en route to Iguazu where we made a quick refuelling stop
before pressing on to Sao Paulo. Pausing for thought, flying over Paraguayan
rainforest in a twin-turboprop air ambulance in the dead of night with a bunch
of Brazilians is quite an odd situation to find yourself in. We finally landed
at Congonhas Airport amongst the tower blocks of Sao Paulo, the largest city in
South America. CEGA really had organised this well - an ambulance was waiting
for us and the plane taxied right up to it. Dr Sergio handed Megan over to the
ambulance crew and, lights flashing and sirens howling we raced off to the
Albert Einstein Hospital - reputedly the best hospital in South America. We left
the airport with a real feeling that the Sete Taxi Aereo had extracted us from
quite a sticky situation and we were very grateful to them.
Dr Wagner was expecting us at the hospital and examined Megan. He produced a
full report for the airlines and even took the time to liaise with everyone as
we don't speak any Portuguese. The Albert Einstein is a very impressive hospital
and, for the first time, Megan saw (in her capacity as a nurse) the kind of
medical procedures she expected. Most reassuring. All the staff were amazingly
helpful and friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them.
Home at Last
CEGA booked us into the local Novotel whilst we waited for a flight back to
the UK. BA had been pretty inflexible in not being prepared to fly Megan home
without a comprehensive medical check before she got on the plane. It wasn't
enough that she'd been cleared to fly out of Salta, they wanted her assessed
again after that flight. When we had the medical report, of course the person in
BA who would approve this was unavailable over the weekend so we had to wait 2
days for them to bother to appear. These days, when airlines are going under
left, right and centre, you might think they would remember they were a service
industry and actually try to help people! Of course, BA would never stoop so
low! If only they would take a lesson from the people at the Albert Einstein
Hospital, Sao Paulo.
Eventually, we left Sao Paulo's Guaralhos International airport aboard BA 246
to Heathrow. CEGA had bought us business class seats on the advice of Dr Wagner,
so Megan had as comfortable a journey as can be expected under the
circumstances. A car picked us up on arrival in London and whisked us up to
North Wales.
Home at Last
So, what now? We've returned home about 6 weeks early. There seems to be
a war on in Bolivia and an outbreak of Malaria in Peru and most of the roads
have been washed out by flooding, so maybe it wasn't so bad to come back now.
Megan has to convalesce for about 3 months at her parents in North Wales
and Steve will probably try to get a job somewhere. We don't have anywhere
to live at present as houses are rented out.
Special Thanks
Needless to say, this little escapade was not quite how we'd planned to end
our trip but it was certainly an experience. At times very worrying - especially
for Steve who has no medical training, and Megan who's insides seemed to be
falling out, we would not have made it back to the UK without the assistance of
a whole raft of people who went out of their way to help us and we'd like to
thank a few of the here;
The staff at Sanatorio Parque, Salta
Dr Cima, Nurses Else, Norma and Marcella
The car hire people in Salta
Fernando and Lourdes for whom nothing was too much trouble and who found
us a decent hospital
The Medical Response Guys
Dr Sergio Scalia, Nurse Sergio Perreira
The crew of Sete Taxi Aereo PT-WYT
Commandante Aelson, Paulo and Artur (hope that's right)
The staff at Albert Einstein Hospital, Sao Paulo
Special mention for Dr Wagner who was unbelievably helpful
and, of course, all at
CEGA Aviation who organised the whole thing, battled
against all sorts of bureaucracy and coped with Steve ranting down the phone
when progress was not apparent; especially Juan, Jose and Pavlos who pulled
the whole thing together. Many, many thanks.
Needless to say, we'll always be buying travel insurance! We always have done
but have never claimed. This one incident made it all worthwhile. Nobody expects
to need medical repatriation but it just shows how quickly you can find
yourselves in a bit of a mess.
Megan had been complaining for a while about stomach pains, but we'd put it
down to "comidas tipicas", i.e. local food. It soon became apparent,
though, that there was a bit more to this than a dodgy kebab. Some research on
the Internet and the symptoms looked like a serious case of appendicitis - not
something we really wanted to contemplate up in the remote reaches of Northern
Argentina. Never the less, all the information said that, if you suspected
appendicitis, you had to get medical attention immediately. So, with great
trepidation, we went off to a local private clinic.
Whilst Steve was freaking out about having to do medical stuff for the next 3
months and we were generally depressed at the thought of being stuck in the
middle of nowhere for the foreseeable future, CEGA were beavering away in the
background. Just after midnight on Sat 15th, a phone call from hotel reception
informed us that Dr Sergio Scalia and Nurse Sergio Perreira were waiting for us
downstairs. CEGA had arranged for an air ambulance to fly over from Brazil to
evacuate us to Sao Paulo. Shortly after 1am, Sete Taxi Aereo's Mitsubishi MU-2
Air Ambulance took off from Salta airport with three crew, 2 medical staff,
Megan strapped into all manner of medical equipment and Steve squeezed in just
behind the pilot.