Santiago Hotels
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Drama in the skies
Entry 25 of 61 | show all | print this entry |
We arrived in Santiago after a hairy early morning flight from Lima. Hairy coz I (Darren) had a mid-air emergency, of sorts.
After we took off we both had a little snooze and I awoke 3o mins later with the left side of my face totally numb! It felt just like I'd had an injection at the dentist (and I should know having spent a fair bit of time at them). My top left jaw was numb, my cheek and half my nose. At first I figured that maybe I had slept on it funnily, but after 15 mins the numbness had not faded and was actually spreading. I started to get a bit worried, to say the least! We were only half an hour into a 3 hour flight so I told one of the cabin crew what was happening and tried to relax, hoping that it would go away. Meanwhile my mind starts racing - maybe I had had a mild stroke, but my hands and legs were ok so it couldn't be that... I looked at the seat behind me...there was a sinister looking old man, maybe he was a nazi doctor and he'd injected me while I was asleep?! But why? It didn't make sense.
Meanwhile the numbness was increasing and now joined by a pain behind my eye and along my jaw. It was about this time that I started to feel faint and also had an overwhelming urge to go to the toilet, but standing up seemed hard work I was sure I'd faint in the aisle. I then started to feel really cold, as if someone had opened a window and there was an icy wind blowing on me, and I became covered in clammy sweat. I staggered up and Angie helped me to the toilets (luckily I didn't collapse in the aisle, that would have been very embarassing!). After getting out of the toilet I had a swarm of air hostesses buzzing around me and I asked to lie down (half hoping they might put me in 1st class). One air hostess cleared a set of 3 seats for me, got me to lie down and covered me in blankets. After a while I was asked if I'd like a doctor. I said maybe when we land... but before I finished she was off and the next thing I heard was 'is there a doctor or nurse on the plane, one of our passengers needs urgent medical assistance' announced over the tannoy in 3 languages. Immediately 5 suitably trained passengers rushed to my side from all over the plane and began fussing over me - taking my pulse, blood pressure and translating to each other.
[I (Angie) would just like to say that at this point there were a LOT of people in the aisles around Darren, and all the other passengers were craning their necks round to see if there was anything gory happening. I was standing a few aisles down, feeling quite helpless, and I have to admit, the embarassment did have moments of overtaking my concern!]
They didn't really know what was up, but in the absence of anything else to advise, asked the air stewards to give me an asprin. I lay down and hoped for the best... After ten minutes or so Angie came over to see how I was and that was when it happened. My nose went 'psssstff' and the pain and numbness ebbed away. Just like that! Weird or what? I felt slightly sheepish that after all that fuss it disappeared so quickly, but I have never experienced anything like that before and it was really scary. Although I now felt much better, I thought I'd take advantage of the 3 seats until we landed!
We had planned to take advantage of our 12 hours in Santiago by exploring the city, but the US$50 airport tax we'd have had to pay dictated otherwise. Instead, we treated ourseles to entry to the VIP airport lounge - only US$15 each for free internet, TV, booze and snacks. The women on reception must have realised we were not accustomed to such treatment because we kept asking her to confirm that we were entitled to free drinks all day long - really? As much free alcohol as we want? No limits? Are you sure?! So, we spent a luxury day during which Angie polished off a bottle of Pisco Sour and I celebrated my near death experience with a nice bottle of Ballantines whiskey. Lovely!
We boarded the 12 hour overnight flight to NZ and 15 mins after take-off I felt a familiar numbness and pain spreading across my face. Oh.My.God. It's happening again I thought. But just then my nose went 'pssstff'... I think I must have made an important discovery for medical science. Is there a doctor in the house?
Latest Comments (1)
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in -flight entertainment (reply)
Nov 10, 2005 12:51 EST by avdap
had a good laugh at darren's expense . must remember this
is a good way to get 2 extra seats.
also enjoyed angie's free-fall down the sand-castle ,
yr log is very impressive
love aunty ann.
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