We are now fully booked and 100% paid for this trip to China. We made the full payment on the due date of April 30, 2024. It was not that risky of a decision, we were only out a total of $200 more if we paid and then canceled by May 24, 2024, the next cancellation period.
Stephanie was getting a little anxious about this trip, only because her mother was not doing that well healthwise in Long Term Care. Again, since we already had so much time and some money invested, we paid anyway, knowing we could still cancel at that next date without much consequence.
Unfortunately, we are sad to say that Stephanie’s mother passed away somewhat quickly on May 2, 2024. She had been in declining health recently, but no one expected her to pass so suddenly and quickly. She fought a hard battle, but we just believe she was getting tired, both physically and mentally from her illness.
Needless to say, planning for this trip came to a virtual halt, but fortunately, there was not much to do anyway. There were funeral arrangements and estate tasks to be done for Stephanie’s mom. It was a sad time, but we got through it and were relieved Stephanie’s mom was no longer suffering, but we will miss her.
About the time all of that was completed, I had to go to the emergency room and was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. When it rains it pours. The emergency room visit happened on a Friday night at about 9:30 PM. We had actually been at a musical of Merry Poppins at our local theater, but I was not feeling that well, and we left at intermission and headed home. I only had a slight pain in my right side and thought it was due to some excessive yard work I had done earlier in the day. I also thought I was just dehydrated from the yard work. But, I also had some chills and a fever, so Stephanie thought it would be best to get things checked out, knowing that my symptoms could be appendicitis due to its location.
Of course, it was a long-duration experience in the emergency room, we did not see a doctor until about 1:00 AM Saturday morning. I had bloodwork and a CAT scan done, and we were quite surprised that it was indeed diagnosed as acute appendicitis. Luckily, I was not in much pain, and we had certainly caught it early. I was given a choice to be treated with antibiotics or have surgery to remove the appendix. It was so early that antibiotic treatment was feasible, but the likelihood of reoccurrence is quite high. Knowing we have this trip and our Iceland trip coming up shortly, surgery was really the only option, I did not want to be in a remote area of China and have this happen again, and then really need surgery, talk about scary…….
Surgery was scheduled for the next morning, and I was checked into the hospital. Stephanie was able to go home at about 3:30 AM to try and get some sleep. There was a Celebration of Life scheduled for that day, Saturday, at 1:00 PM for her mom at her church here in Lexington, but obviously, I was not going to make it.
Everything was being done to try and schedule the surgery first thing that morning so Stephanie could be here at the hospital for that and still attend the Celebration of Life later in the day. After seeing the surgeon very early Saturday morning, I was scheduled for surgery at about 8:30 AM. Stephanie arrived back at the hospital at about 7:30 AM after just a few hours of sleep, and I was taken down to Pre-Op. Unfortunately, after seeing the surgeon and anesthesiologist there, I was bumped from the operating room by an emergency.
We had to wait until that emergency was done before my surgery could start. Stephanie had to leave to go to the Celebration of Life at about 11:45 AM, and there was still no word on when I would go to surgery, so I just watched the PGA Championship Golf tournament in my Pre-Op room. We had discussed that she needed to go to the Celebration of Life, and I would be fine, there was nothing she could do here while I was in surgery anyway.
Finally, at about 12:30 PM, I was taken to surgery. Everything went well and I was in Post-Op about an hour and a half later. I was discharged to the room at about 3:30 PM, and Stephanie was able to come back shortly afterward.
I was able to go home that evening, and we left the hospital at about 8:00 PM. We were both tired, but the surgery had gone well.
As of this writing, I am still recovering from the laparoscopic surgery, but doing well.
Now on to the trip………
We continued to monitor the airfare, and still do on a daily basis, but Viking Air’s Online Site is pitiful. Almost on a daily basis, we can see that there are supposedly flights into Charlotte, which is closer to home than Asheville, our current homeward-bound destination. But, as always, they are their ‘phantom flights” and eventually show up as “not available”. We will still keep looking, just in case, but it looks like we will ultimately drive home from Atlanta after going through Customs and Immigration there and skipping our last scheduled flight to Asheville.
I did contact our travel insurance company CF Travel Insured directly, and got clarification that it was acceptable to increment our travel insurance policy value to match the Viking Cancellation schedule. Our next increment of insurance increase will happen on May 24, when we enter the 20% cancellation window. I was able to request a login to their website so I could make the increases directly with them online. The next increment after the on on May 24 will happen on July 13, when we get to the 35% cancellation window.
It was an unfortunate circumstance that Stephanie’s mom passed away, but she is now in a better place and not suffering. It is also a relief for Stephanie not to be dealing with the emotional stress of her mom’s declining health on a daily basis, even though she was being taken care of at Stephanie’s Facility, NHC HealthCare. We will miss her, but at the same time can go back to a more normal life ourselves, not worrying about every we want to take.
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