The Keys: Our Trip to Greece: Traveling to Crete

We booked our trip for Greece in April hoping that COVID and world changes wouldn't effect this trip like our trip to Hawaii. Thankfully we made it to October and were able to make our escape. We both decided to get the COVID vaccine before we left because it made travel so much easier. Honestly, no one in Greece actually checked our vaccination cards; it was mostly for the American side of things, you know the 'free' country. Kenney didn't have many side effects at all, and I only had a few. I was super tired and not feeling great after the first one with a sore arm. The second shot was a lot worse, but nothing too serious. There was a lot of confusion about our flights leading up to the week and days before our trip, but it all worked out.

We woke up around around 5:45am to get ready and left by 6:30 to drive to Dallas, dropped off the car and were in the airport ready to go (without having to pay for luggage) by 11:00am. Everything was smooth on our first flight except one of my earbuds was broken. The next flight handed out some new ones, so I was good to go!

Our flight from Philadelphia seemed normal. The lady in the isle seat next to Kenney was really nice and told us about her previous trips to Athens. We got the inflight meal and things settled down for everyone to go to sleep. Then the 'excitement' began. The lady next to Kenney all of a sudden went limp and began leaning on him. Her husband across from her began panicking say, "She passed out! Is there a doctor on the plane?" He kept saying it while talking to her trying to get her to respond. Kenney immediately grabs her wrist hoping to find a pulse. Thankfully her heartrate seemed steady and she was breathing. A flight attendant came over and then made an annoucement saying, "Code Red, Code Red! Is there a doctor on board we have an emergency?" The lights came on and everyone was awake. By this point, we were halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, no where near land. Kenney was continuing to check her vitals and try to asses her condition as best as he could. An older lady that was a doctor came over to try and help, and the flight attendants brought some medical equipment to help.

She sort of woke up and the husband was saying that she had done something like this before. She sometimes has blood sugar issues, but not usually. The doctor then tried to get her to eat some chocolate and drink some orange juice, but she was mostly out of it. Then she began throwing up, repeatedly. We tried to lay her down a little bit, but Kenney was bracing her with his leg so she wouldn't slip off the seat. I was mostly standing hunched over the seat to try and provide a little more space. I tied her hair back to try and keep it out of her face and then eventually moved to completely get out of the way. I went to the front exit row that was empty. There was a lady close by that was completely drunk and being disruptive, along with another man that was trashed too. He was much more quiet about his lack of sobriety.

Meanwhile, and more importantly, Kenney stayed to help the doctor and the poor woman that was struggling to stay conscious. When she passed out on me her husband started shouting, "HELP, my wife passed out, someone help me please!" He went off to find a flight attended and get help. I immediately felt for a pulse on her wrist and checked her breathing. At first I thought I was going to have to start CPR immediately, but then she woke up and seemed to go into a tonic seizure and yelled out before passing out again. When her husband returned with a flight attendant and a physician they found on the plane I informed them she was breathing and had a good pulse. The attendants had a pulse ox and a blood pressure device I placed on her wrist and finger. The physician looked at me and said, "Oh good, you must be a doctor too." I replied, "No mam, I'm a physical therapist, but I work at a hospital and can help you any way I can." They also wanted to put some supplemental oxygen on her which I helped put around her head. I had to brace her up with my body and leg so she wouldn't slide down between the seats. The lady who passed out was named Tammy. Her vitals were normal with the exception of her blood pressure being slightly elevated. Her husband said she has had some blood sugar issues in the past but was never diagnosed as diabetic. After a while he reported his wife has passed out on a plane years ago but would come out of it immediately. She started to throw up and her eyes were very dilated. I had her squeeze my hand to make sure she was doing okay and then I told the doctor and her husband to let her try to hold the cup and drink when she was ready and not force the food or water down her. As she started to do more herself she started to come out of it more and more. It took about 2 hours before Tammy really became stable enough for me to offer for her husband to take my chair and us lean her up against him for the rest of the flight. I was glad she seemed to be okay, but ready to get to Athens and get off the plane to start our vacation.

Eventually, she was able to stop throwing up and they decided laying her down to let her sleep would be the best thing so Kenney came to join me on the exit row. We did not have any of our things with us besides what I happened to have in my hands (our headphones, thankfully, and the woman's glasses). We stayed in that row the remainder of the flight, getting maybe 30 minutes of sleep a piece. The medical personnel came aboard after we landed to help the lady get off the plane and then we were basically the last ones off the plane because we had to go back and get all of our stuff. The flight attendants were very grateful for Kenney's help and offered to buy us a bottle of wine or champagne, which we declined, but it was nice of her to offer. Kenney truly was amazing! He stayed calm, really help the situation to remain under control, and provided knowledge most of us don't have to give. He was a lifesaver! Let's just say that it was a plane ride we will never forget!

Wearing a mask for over 24 hrs was one of the worst parts of the trip. I even cut out 2 layers of the masks to make them easier to breathe in (shhh). I hope we never have to travel like this again.

This is how I kept my mask off for about 45mins in the airport. We got a Jamba Juice (yum, my favorite); I drank most of it but not all of it; then I kept the straw in my mouth to make it look like I was drinking something when I wasn't. But don't worry I can't spread COVID if I'm eating or drinking in a public place, haha!