April 14 - Heading home

We have had to cut our trip short.  Boo-Hoo!!

During our 7 sea days, Rick began to have trouble seeing out of his right eye.  A trip to the ships medical center revealed that he probably had a tear in the retina, or a detached retina.  We had to wait two days until we arrived in Montevideo where we were sent to an emergency room of a "questionable" hospital, but one that at least had an ophthalmologist who was able to confirm it is a detached retina.  The doctor advised us to go home ASAP to have it treated.  We had to return to the ship with two prescriptions, and orders for Rick to have complete rest until we could arrange a flight.  The ship was moving from Montevideo to Buenos Aires that night, which gave me time to pack all those suitcases we left with.  The ship's concierge helped with flight arrangements and cancellations that needed to be done.  We were able to get a flight out last night at 7:55pm and they even upgraded us to First Class...that was great!...and we flew into Miami and are waiting for our connecting flight to Nashville in a couple hours.

Our son has made arrangements for Rick to go to Vanderbilt Eye Center to meet with a Retina Specialist as soon as we arrive home.  We are very concerned about the amount of time this has taken, and the unfortunate luck of being in an area where the medical service is not the best. Even if we could have gotten the surgery there, we would then have to stay for 4 weeks before Rick would be able to fly!  At this point he can only see a small amount out of his eye: the rest is like a gray curtain.  Please include him in your prayers, that we can get him home in time to regain at least some sight in that eye.  It is a very scary situation. Thank goodness we had taken out trip insurance, so all of our expenses and reimbursements will be taken care of.

I will keep you updated as we learn more, but prayers will be greatly appreciated.

Rick and Paula

PS...sorry I had the wrong dates on the safari postings...the calendar on the wall was on March instead of April...so I was about 3 days off on each one!