[unclebilly]

I had an interesting week...

Feb 27th in the middle of the night, I got a couple of cryptic text messages from a number in Thailand that my father was not well.

I called the number back and it was a fellow Canadian that my dad has talked about but I have never met.

Feb 28th, I spend much of the morning on the phone trying to get a hold of my dad and figure out where in Chang Mai he was.

Figured out he has had a major Rheumatoid Arthritis episode and is unable to walk, has fallen and hit his head, is refusing treatment at the hospital, and the hotel doesn't want him there either. I reached out to the Canadian consulate and they visited the hotel and were able to fill in some of the holes in the story.

Dad's friend agrees to travel from Bangkok to Chang Mai to see him and bring him back to Bangkok. Depending on dad's condition, I would travel to Bangkok to get him and bring him home.

Dad's friend arrives at dad's hotel and finds him incoherent and unable to walk. My brother and i booked our flights for the next day.

Dad and his friend hire a driver to take them back to Bangkok (13 hour drive). It cost 13,000 baht which is about $600.

Dad's friend gets dad into same hotel as him, we arrive 24 hours later.

I got dad back on his prednisone and other meds and start trying to piece together what happened. I visited the doctors he saw in Bangkok and the surgeon that did his Carpal Tunnel surgery. He was fine when they last saw him and even gave him a 'fit to fly' authorization on his discharge papers. Of course, they wanted me to check him in but wouldn't release him until he was 100% which could take weeks for the RA flare up to clear. Dad was completely opposed to this.

I got him so that he got his faculties back, eating again, and able to walk with assistance. I called the airline and spoke with their medical team about Dad's condition and they told me that as long as he could breath and was travelling with assistance (my brother and I), he was ok to fly. They also told me that should he need it, there is oxygen on the plane... this was a weird thing to say at the time.

We flew out of Bangkok on Mar 6th. The first flight to Hing Kong went very well. The porter at Bangkok took dad from the taxi right to his seat on the plane. Very helpful and no charge (we tipped him generously).

The porters in Hong Kong were very disorganized but we got dad on the plane just fine.

About 5.5 hours into the flight, I noticed that my dad's breathing was shallow. I checked his blood sugar ad gave him an insulin shot (prednisone makes your sugars really high so dad has insulin to keep this in check). His breathing improved and I monitored his condition. 3 hours later, I spoke with the flight attendants about getting him oxygen if I needed it. They said, not problem - we have lots. It looked like my EMR training might get put to use...

I decided to put dad on oxygen for the last 3 hours of the flight. An ER nurse and a GP on the flight checked out dad and agreed that I was on the right path. They also agreed that the respiratory problem was likely not related to dad's rheumatoid arthritis. Dad's lungs sounded clear so probably not pneumonia.

The oxygen stabilized dad's condition and when we landed, we had dad pulled off the plane by paramedics and take to hospital. That was 2 days ago. Blood tests, X-Rays, CT Scan, and dad has a massive lung infection. He is working with an infectious disease doctor now. I guess the prednisone compromises your immune system so dad probably shouldn't have even been in a place like Thailand in the first place.

I am hanging around with my dad in Vancouver until he is released. It is cold at home and our cows have started to calve (my wife is not impressed). Our little rescue cost my brother and I over $10,000. Dad is alive but far from out of the weeds.

Who needs this?