Friday, January 23, 2015

King (And Queen) Of The World

We left San Diego in a flurry of excitement.  A 32-day cruise!  No driving of anything for over a month.  We walked the decks, taking pictures as we went, ending up on the very top deck accessible to us and looked down at the small boats assisting our departure from the channel, dropping us when we were able to go it on our own.  Well, not our own, the captain's own.

We were four-and-a-half hours into the Pacific, just finishing up dinner when the captain came on the P.A. system with a very important announcement.

Turns out there was a guest on board that had a medical emergency and needed to return to San Diego to receive immediate medical attention.  We were turning around and going back.

What???  Ed and I looked at each other with that, are you serious? look.  As we finished up dinner we debated about what the emergency was.  And when we got on deck, we ran into another guest and the three of us discussed what should be done, what might be done, what we would do.  Why would they send the ship back, considering we move at a crawl?  Why aren't they sending the Coast Guard?  Or a smaller boat that could reach us faster than we could get back.  What about a helicopter?  Don't they drop that metal basket, like in the movies, to retrieve people in emergencies?  And where's the turnaround cutoff point?  How far does a ship go before they decide they've passed the point of no return?

Regardless of what we thought, we were going back.

We were asleep when we hit San Diego harbor, dropped off the guest in need, and then turned around to head back out to sea.  I didn't hear or feel a thing.  We also learned that the passenger was going to be just fine and he was resting comfortably.

I knew it was a man.

I told Ed that I bet his wife said, "Honey, you don't look well.  Maybe we shouldn't go on the cruise.  We should go see a doctor."

He, of course, said, "I'm fine.  The damn trip is paid for and we're going."

Now he's in the hospital, and she's giving him the 'I told you so' eye.  Bu only after she regained her composure and knew he was going to be fine.

Because you can't tell a dying man that you could kill him for not listening to you if he's actually dying.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2014: Winding It Up Before Leaving Town

2013: Who Is A Bahamian?
2012: Pay No Attention To The Cat Behind The Curtain
2011: Papa Can You Hear Me?
2010: The Err Erudes Them
2009: Sorry, no post for this date.
2008: Addicted
2007: When You Just Can’t Decide Between Dinner And Breakfast
2006: Purple Industrial Skies
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

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