Hi Everyone,
***************The following is quite graphic***********
Flight 719 from Detroit
Destination from Detroit (DTW) to Las Vegas (LAS) to San Jose (SJC)
What a horrific flight I had coming home from Michigan on Wednesday.
October 21.
To
begin with, the seat belt signs were on for an unusually long time, and then
the Captain went onto the loudspeaker to say we would be experiencing some
turbulence. I got up any way hoping I could make it back to my seat before it
really got turbulent. I was in the second row so it was not that great of a
feat. After I got back to my seat the man in front of me got up, he was very
shaking and headed toward the back of the plane. When he touched the back of my
seat the whole seat shook, I could feel it all the way down to the floor.
He
was gone for a while, and then when he returned and touched my seat he was
shaking even more. I could smell tobacco on his brown sports coat and when I
looked at his face, he was very pale. He tried to sit down but he kept fussing,
he was in the outside seat directly in front of me, the woman to his right on
the end in the row of seats across from him helped him open a package of some
sort it looked to be mints. The flight attendant looked at him with a
frustrated look and said, "Sir you need to stay in your seat". He
told her he felt miserable, all of a sudden, he started throwing up. She held a
plastic bag for him, and compassion came over her face. The other flight
attendant asked over the loudspeaker is there a Dr. or a registered nurse on
the plane three people came forward one black woman with some cool cornrows an
Indian woman and a white woman. After a bit of talking amongst them the
Indian woman took charge, the white woman went back to her seat and the black
woman sits with him and comforts him.
The
Indian woman introduced herself to the man and said I am Dr. Wilson you can
call me Lily.
The
black woman stated she worked at St.
Joseph children's hospital. I will call her DR. St. Jo
(I did not catch her name) and Dr. Lily said she worked at Henry Ford hospital
(my mom worked at Henry
Ford Hospital
when I was young).
Dr.
St. Jo and two male flight attendants helped Marvin go to the bathroom. They
said there was blood in his stool, he felt miserable he had been vomiting and
he had pills in a pill container, but no names of the prescriptions he was
using. He said it might be in his checked baggage, but he had no list of the
medications that he was taking on his person.
The
next thing, Lily is very calm and very deliberate in her orders she needs
communication to the closest hospital as she directs the co-pilot (I Think that
is who it was-but that is what I will call him) to get this going. Within minutes,
they have communication cables hooked up overhead and beneath the bins on the
right side of the plane. Dr. Lily asks the man (his name was either Martin or
Marvin I will call him Marvin because I like the name) if he can lie on the
floor. Therefore, he is in the very front of the plane on the floor, in the area
where the passengers walk onto the plane. They did the paddles (maybe it was a defibrillator) on his chest he
was in AFIB (that is what they called it).
This
goes on for quite awhile...
The
communication to the Hospital seems to indicate they have prepared for him at a
hospital in Denver.
Next communication is to all of the passengers apologizing for the
inconvenience of not getting beverage service, being kept in our seats and that we would be landing in Denver.
Poor
Marvin if anyone was inconvenienced it was him, he was 84 years of age,
traveling alone and on his way to see his children.
Dr.
St. Jo started taking his blood without a tourniquet- wow was I ever
impressed. She thanked him for his great veins.
At
this point I was thinking I was very thankful the turbulence was not as bad as
I thought it could have been and Oh my goodness I will miss my connecting
flight in Las Vegas to San Jose. Then, my thoughts went back
to poor Marvin; the poor guy will be missing more than a flight.
During
all this time, I have been talking to the couple next to me that had just
celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and their granddaughters wedding,
about various different things in life. He had been an airborne paratrooper in
an earlier life. When we landed in Denver,
the pilot was a bit rough and my co-passenger commented on it.
The
fire department was ready when the door opened and asked Marvin a bunch of
questions very similar to the two doctor’s inquiries. When Marvin could not
answer Dr. St Jo and Dr. Lily answered for him. After they removed Marvin from
the plane on a gurney, the flight attendants called out a few plane changes and
luckily for me, they diverted me from Denver to San Jose, what a blessing
I got home an hour earlier and my luggage arrived with me. Was I ever impressed
with Southwest Airlines.
I
will keep Marvin in my prayers and I will never forget this flight. It had
everything Drama, compassion, organization and a sense of family amongst
strangers.
Have a blessed day, Diana-- Hug your loved ones
