Did you say India?
09 June 2011
Colleen
It's been a long time since I last updated the blog. We are now back home in Big Sur. The last blog I told everyone that we had Dengue Fever. But after more blood tests & doctor visits it turns out that it was some sort of fish poisoning. We were quite sick for a long time - even still we have remnants from it - especially Tom. Believe me, it's not some you ever want to have! It's like having the worst flu & headache possible for over a month. In any event, we're nearly back to normal again.
Our cruising took another twist of unplanned traveling this year. Tom has had for years a condition where his heart mis-fires & will go into a rapid heartbeat. It can affect him for hours. For years he's taken medicine for it but in the last few years he's had to increase the meds & finally, they just weren't working anymore. He needed a procedure called an Ablation. It's a relatively simple procedure where the doctor goes in a zaps the heart so that it doesn't mis-fire. Unfortunately, we're part of Obama's healthcare statistics. Neither of us have healthcare. The ablation in the U.S. costs $75,000+. A fairly new area of healthcare is called medical tourism in countries such as India & Thailand. Long story short, after much research we decided to go to India for Tom's ablation. The cost? $3,800 for everything! Best decision we ever made. We left Mokisha in Suva & left for New Delhi, India. The doctors & hospital were first rate & 5 star. We were treated like royalty. They even had a bed for me in the hospital room, as they expect family members to stay. The ablation went perfectly & Dr. Sardana came out with a smile on his face proclaiming Tom had a heart like a new born! Oh boy, I'm in trouble now...LOL. We also had physicals & colonoscopys. My physical was 5 hours, complete blood work, pap, mammogram, the whole enchilada.....all for $125! So we've got a green light on our health & are in good shape.
So here we are in India....Medical Tourism they call it & that's just what we did. We had a car & driver for 5 days. India is a crazy place & driving is something you just don't want to do there. India is a place that assaults your senses. It can overwhelm you. There's millions of people, it's dirty, the traffic insane and yet it has an allure that draws tourist in. The palaces and forts are magnificent & incredibly beautiful. Taj Mahal was a treat not to be missed by any tourist. We also rode an elephant to the entrance of Amber fort. Pushkar, hosts the largest & only camel fair in the world. Millions come for the camel fair & to bath in the holy waters. Trust me, it is the filthiest water I've ever seen. There's alot of things I'll do, but bathing in those holy waters weren't even going to see a toe! We saw snake charmers, drank delicious chai tea, sample heavenly curries and met a host of very friendly Indians, all who welcomed us warmly to their country. Our time in India was just a little over 3 weeks. Boy, did we pack allot in those 3 weeks. Our return trip back to Fiji, we had a 10 hr. Layover in Hong Kong. It was something I dreaded until I found a tour leaving from the airport. Our long layover suddenly shrunk into something fun! The tour was great & it allowed us to see a small portion of Hong Kong. Highly recommended for anyone traveling with a long layover in Hong Kong. I'm trying something new - all pictures will now be on Facebook so if you aren't a friend.....be my friend! Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.217829668237625.58020.100000317817993&l=9ab4d10ed0 I hope you all enjoy them.
Love,
Colleen & Tom