Mary Ellen

this message got cut off half way through the email - I have emailed asking for more information
will post that as soon as i get anything
Janet

ello everyone,

We haven’t forgotten you all, but had an incident with Betty which
she requested not be shared until resolved...so, here’s what
happened. We were visiting Fremantle (Perth), Australia, and since we had
been there before, elected to take a 30 min. boat ride to Rottnest Island,
which was purported to be very scenic, with great snorkeling, and funny
little creatures called quokkas, which look like big rats (hence the name
Rottnest, meaning rats’ nest given the island by Dutch sailors who
first spotted it). We were snorkeling at a place called Parker Point, had
seen beautiful iridescent pink coral and some big fish, when we decided to
go on to the next snorkeling area. We headed in, I was ahead of Betty,
when I finally heard her call to me--turned around to get back to her, as
she was in distress and I was about a half block ahead of her (thought she
was right behind me). When I got to her she couldn’t breathe, was
hyperventilating, her breathing had a gurgling sound. She wouldn’t
move, finally convinced her couldn’t tread water any longer and we
had to get to shore. Some how we got to shallower water so we could walk
to the stairs where we had come down, about 1 1/2 blocks. There was no
beach, just rocks down to the water, but we got to the stairs (about 65 of
them), and a few at a time got to the top to wait for the bus which
circles around the rather small island. Betty is spitting up and vomiting,
is cold and clammy, is going in and out ouf consciousness. She has a
nitro pill with her to use, we finally got back to the main stop, got her
off the bus, and I asked a man at an info kiosk if he had any aspirin, and
he called an ambulance..we didn’t know there was an ambulance or
clinic on the island. They came in less than 5 minutes, immediately gave
her aspirin and oxygen before loading her on the ambulance and taking her
to the clinic. From there they called the Flying Doctors of Australia,
took her out to the plane and transferred us to Fremantle Hospital. So,
to make a long story short, Betty stayed in the hospital 5 days, where
tests indicated she had some heart damage, an angiogram indicated she was
in good shape :), and in meeting with the cardiologist after her release
from the hospital, the diagnosis was that she had acute left ventricular
fail