.... with something of a crisis.
On passage to Sonderborg from Middlefart, I received a text message from my sister to say that my mother wasn't well. When we arrived in Sonderborg, a telephone call revealed that she was now in intensive care, on a ventilator and not expected to survive. You have to experience a call like that to know what it feels like - particularly when you're many miles from home and in another country.
A very understanding harbourmaster told us not to worry about Cyclone (which we'd put into a vacant residents berth) but just to leave the keys so he could move the boat if the berth holder returned in our absence. He then gave some helpful advice about travel and even offered to drive us to a railway station more than an hour away if that would help us. There are some great people in this world....
Our evening was spent sorting out a taxi, flights and a hire car and at 0630 the following morning, we set off for Broomfield hospital near Chelmsford.
There's plenty of time to think when flying or waiting for flights. "If only" features a lot. If only we'd delayed our trip. If only we'd flown back to visit our parents when we were in Copenhagen; flights to London from there are both cheap and convenient. If only I'd called her the day before all this happened.....
I'm delighted to say that this story has a happy ending. I thought I was going back to England to arrange a funeral, but by the time we'd arrived at the hospital (1330 on the day following my mother's admission) she was off the ventilator and showing strong signs of recovery. In less than a week, she was back at home. In the nicest possible way, she's a tough old bird and she clearly wasn't giving up without a fight!
So where are we now? We're back on the boat in Sonderborg, Denmark and hoping to leave for the Kiel Canal tomorrow.
And what have we learned from this experience? Reviewing those "if onlys", I don't think delaying our trip was really an option. Whilst our 3 remaining parents are all well past their 21st birthdays, we hope they have many years left in them yet. How long would any delay be and would we still be fit enough to undertake extended sailing trips at the end of it? If that sounds selfish - perhaps it is - it eases my conscience to know that one of mum's greatest concerns as she recovered, bless her, was that she was spoiling our holiday!
We call our parents once or twice each week and send them postcards regularly, so there's not a lot more we can do there.
The one "if only" that sticks with me is the one relating to making a trip home to visit parents when a convenient opportunity arises. As my mother's condition improved, we drove down to see Jo's parents who were delighted to see her, as we were to see them. Next year we may sail to France and we'll need to ensure that we take advantage of good travel connections to make at least one trip home to visit parents during the summer if we do.
And finally, this experience has reminded me just how much my dear old mum really means to me.....
Now for the credits. My mum is only alive today because of my sister Juliet and my mum's great neighbours, Gill and Mike. Ju insists that mum calls her every morning so she knows she's ok, and it was because she didn't receive that call that she knew something was wrong. Gill responded immediately to Ju's call and phoned for an ambulance as soon as she saw mum. I owe them both.
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