Hello everyone,
Sorry for the delay in getting this to you. In this instance texting would have been quicker, but my thumbs would have fallen off. So much has happened. I am thrilled to be in Portugal and have seen so many beautiful things and met so many lovely people. But I am getting ahead of myself; let me start at the beginning.
Last Wednesday I started the day by taking the last antibiotic I had been prescribed last week. That was fine; finished the course of antibiotics and all was well. Except, I started itching about an hour after taking the pill. The itching started off mild and progressed to head-to-toe extreme itching and me breaking out in hives. I took two Benadryl and hoped it would go away. It did not. So, I got up to go tell Chris (who was in the other room) that I was getting worse. I hadn’t figured that I was worse than I thought I was because I lost control of my limbs and crumbled to the ground before I made it through the door. Luckily, Chris noticed and called 911 and the ambulance arrived five minutes later. I was having a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotic (the last dose of the antibiotic). The EMTs gave me epinephrine and took me to the ER in Carrollton. After that, things got better, and I got better, and I was released that evening. I was weak and still had/have spots all over me, but at least I am improving.
Chris, on the other hand, got news from his GI doctor. The doctor confirmed Chris has Stage 1 colon cancer and he needs to get it taken out. Currently, it has not broken through the colon and is contained, but he cannot wait long, or it will metastasize. So, he is researching options for surgery here or returning for surgery in Atlanta.
As for the dogs, FedEx did not deliver the ‘overnight’ paperwork on Friday. So, on Saturday, as we were heading into Atlanta to drop off the dogs, we found out that the paperwork was still in Memphis and would not be delivered before Monday or Tuesday. After long talks with our transportation manager, we dropped the dogs off at a kennel who will take the dogs to the airport when they can fly out (and after they receive the paperwork). So, the fly-Saturday arrive-Monday was rescheduled to fly-Monday arrive-Wednesday. Then that (because of paperwork issues) was changed to fly-Tuesday arrive-Thursday. After noticing that Thursday is a Portuguese holiday, that was pushed back to fly-Wednesday arrive-Friday. At least they cannot delay any longer than that because the pups must arrive in the country within five days of us arriving. So, here’s looking forward to Friday!
Saturday, we made it to the airport and through TSA without any issues. This got us to the Gate and waiting for two hours…which turned into three hours. Our plane left over an hour late. Not a great start, but we weren’t worried.
The trip was bumpy but there were no issues. I didn’t eat much because I couldn’t take my shot on the plane. Delta has a rule that medicines can be carried on the plane, but any medicines that are injected may only be injected by someone with a medical license. So, I ate sparingly and waited to get to Madrid before taking my shot (this becomes important later). Additionally, I was too excited to sleep, so I stayed awake way past my bedtime. Still, I was having fun, so no complaints.
The pilot made up a little time, and we arrived only 40 minutes late. We originally had an hour and a half layover, so we had almost an hour to get to the next plane (or twenty minutes to get to the next plane when boarding begins, which we wanted to do). So, we deplaned and walked (following the signs) to an information board. As we were herded into a long hallway when we got off the plane (not the regular concourse but a grey hallway that led back to the main entrance and luggage pickup. We walked a long way to learn that we were in Terminal 1 and we had to go back to Terminal 2, Gate D-63. In case you were wondering, at Hartsfield-Jackson this would involve a train ride. In Madrid, it is merely a very, very, very long walk. I was tired and my blood sugar was high so moving was difficult and I was also severely dehydrated (I wasn’t aware of this, I only learned that later). But, despite the obstacles, we made it to the Gate with five minutes to spare. Only, I was so exhausted I put off taking my shot till after the next flight, which was only going to be 50 minutes.
I was dizzy and stumbling when we walked onto the plane, but once I sat down, I felt better. Just a headache and nausea. Fifty minutes later we arrived in Porto, and we waited for everyone else to get off before I stood up to leave. I could walk holding onto the seats, but when I got to the sky bridge, I couldn’t go any further. The flight attendants put me back on the plane and called for medics. They also gave me two bottles of water, which helped incredibly. I felt better (not great), so I walked off the plane and sat down in the first seat where I waited for the medics (I didn’t want to delay the people from boarding any longer).
The medics arrived and they were very nice. They checked my vitals and expressed disbelief regarding Delta not allowing me to take my shot on the plane, and then they put me in a wheelchair and took me to get my luggage and outside to get my car.
Thankfully, our immigration lawyers had recommended that we stay the first night in a hotel (hotels are required to notify immigration when we check in) as the easiest way to alert Portuguese Immigration that we had arrived in the country. If we had flown directly to Porto, this would not have been necessary, but because we landed in Madrid and then went on to Porto, we were required to alert Immigration because our passport only has a Madrid stamp on it. I thought it was inconvenient when I first learned of this, but after all the hoopla, I was happy to be half a mile from the hotel so that I wouldn’t have to drive 20 miles to the house we are renting.
Things looked much brighter Monday morning when we left Porto and drove north to Esposende. We were going to meet the realtor to get the keys at 1:30pm, so we drove around that morning. We found a lovely cathedral on a hill (Viana do Costelo) overlooking a city and had lunch up there before heading back to the condo. Then we grabbed dinner at a lovely gastropub (yes, there are gastropubs in Portugal!) and then went shopping for groceries. We made it back to the condo before the sun set, but only barely. After the long day and the even longer day yesterday, I unpacked and then called it a night.
Tuesday was spent doing laundry and locking ourselves out of the condo (the maintenance man showed up and broke in for us). In between, we went to Braga for lunch and looked around the old town. If nothing else, we are keeping busy.
Today was another trip to buy essentials. Hopefully, tomorrow will be more sightseeing!
So, that wraps up our journey so far. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I am looking forward to many more enjoyable days.
Nola
