Other Places, Other Worlds - Travel Home Day :(

[Leyfy]

Saturday 27th August & Sunday 28th August

Index
Day 15 here

There aren't many photos for this bit, sorry! I did want to finish off the trip report though. We got up about 8.30am and finished packing up the room. We left about 10am and then took the bus down to Disney Springs. Our plan was to head to Wolfgang Puck express for breakfast, which was recommended to us by Mrs. Pumba75. We got there just in time! I ordered a bacon and cheddar omelette and Phil had the classic breakfast. You order here at the till and they bring it over to you.

After breakfast I had a little look round World of Disney but didn't buy anything today. We made our way back to the Boardwalk Inn for about 1pm and sat on the Boardwalk enjoying the sun. I got another ice cream from Ample Hills:

After sitting there roasting for a bit we decided to walk round to the Rose and Crown at Epcot for a drink. It was heaving in there! We got our drinks and sat there, drinking in those last few hours of sunshine and paradise.

We went back to the Boardwalk about 2.30pm, planning to leave about 4, and suddenly I realised I'd left my 'J' travel pillow in the room! Argh!

This pillow is *so* comfy and a shape I knew you couldn't buy in the airport so I was really anxious to get it back, especially as I was driving when we got back to Gatwick and needed some rest. I ran back to guest services, leaving Phil to get a cold drink on the Boardwalk, the CM literally spent 20 minutes on hold trying to get through to housekeeping. I explained I'd left it in the corner of the cupboard to him. Eventually the CM went off to speak to housekeeping, who said the room hadn't yet been cleaned so I was 100% sure the pillow was there - because it is a bit of a funny shape I always attach it to the handle of my hand luggage so I knew it definitely wasn't packed and I knew I'd left it laying in the cupboard underneath the safe, which is the one place we hadn't checked. Housekeeping appeared and went to the room and came back empty handed, saying it wasn't there. I got a bit frustrated at this point and said again that it was underneath the safe in the cupboard. The lady from housekeeping said to me 'Oh, in the CLOSET'!

Another 'four milks' moment!

The lady from housekeeping then went off again and ... five minutes later reappeared with my pillow!

Hurrah!

I went down to find Phil, who was making his way back to the Boardwalk Inn and was wondering where on earth I was! I explained why it had taken so long and then we went to claim our luggage from bell services. We both got changed into our 'travelling' clothes. As much as I love our holidays to Florida, this really had felt like a bit of a saga and I was definitely ready to go home! Plus with Phil's leg swollen like it was I was anxious for us both to get home in one piece.

We hailed a taxi and piled in - normally we'd get the Tragical Express, but with four cases and Phil's dodgy leg we thought we'd just pay for a private hire car.

We were at the airport about 3.30pm and queued up to check in. The bloke at the check in desk said we were too early to drop our bags so we sat around for half an hour. We queued up at just before 4pm and then they announced they'd only be checking in a certain amount and then there would be a wait as there was a shift change over a 4!

Luckily we got in *just* before they shut the queue and dropped our bags off. We made our way to security which, luckily, seemed a lot less chaotic than our previous trip so we were quickly through.

Having not eaten, when we got to the terminal Phil suggested the Outback Steakhouse, which is somewhere we've never eaten before. Phil treated himself to a pint of Sam Adams:

I had a chicken wrap and Phil had a steak sandwich. Both left us full and we made our way to the departures gate. We sat and waited until it was time to board, which was about 7.30 and we were sitting in World Traveller Plus (PE) this time. We got ourselves settled and then it turned out we were in the wrong row! D'oh! So we moved to our correct seats, which were actually better as there was no one behind us so we could recline at our leisure. As we settled down I suddenly realised disaster - my engagement ring was missing!

It was a couple of sizes too big but I didn't want to take it off! I'd been rummaging in my bag for stuff so I thought it had fallen off in there and, phew, luckily it had! Happily re-united with the ring, we settled down for take off, which was on time.

Having that little bit of extra bit of leg room and being able to recline back without guilt meant that I was able to drop in and out of sleep for pretty much the whole flight.

We landed about 9am and were straight through using the immigration booths. I was totally confused as to where to go to collect my car, which had been driven off into the sunset 16 days ago by some random man, so after trying and failing to follow the instructions we called the number on the sheet. You have to go to the Hilton in the north terminal and follow the signs. I couldn't find the little bit of paper they'd given me when they'd taken my car (TBH I couldn't even remember being given one!) but they scanned by barcode and then asked me if I had 'photo ID' on me!

Well, having just got off an international flight, photo ID (being my passport!) wasn't a huge issue to produce!

The car was sitting there waiting so we threw our cases in and made our way out of Gatwick airport. There were slight delays all the way round the M25 (surprise!) but we made it home for about 1pm - tired but happy to have made it in one piece!

So, another Florida adventure is over! Hopefully the next one won't be quite so eventful!

Thank you everyone for reading and especially those that took the time to comment. It does take quite a long time to write up everything so it really is appreciated. Also, a HUGE thanks to all those that offered words of support, advice and offers of help when we were out there and Phil was ill. It really was appreciated.

91 days to go until the next one! ... Kim and Phil xx

PS - Phil's take on the whole thing is here, if anyone would like to read it from his perspective

[Pussycat Doll]

Loved reading your trippie, you really did have a time of it didn't you? Right till the last minute with your ring being missing! I shall look out for you in 99 days time! Pussycat

[Dissie]

Thank you for writing this, I know they are a lot of work but I love reading them. I hope Phil's leg is lots better now if not fully healed. Looking forward to your next one which I hope is not too eventful x

[Floridaagogo]

Wow what an eventful trip.glad you made it home in one piece .love love love your reports and I look forward to the next one x

[Guest]

Hi All
Phil (Leyfy's / Kim's OH) here with my thoughts on what was an eventful trip ! Know a number of readers are in the healthcare trade so much of this will interest them but possibly not anyone else !

Details of what went on are all in the reports but to summarise : The first Saturday in , after wandering around Universal of the morning we went back to the hotel planning to spend the afternoon by the pool , which we did. At this point I remarked to Kim that I had a proper itch in lower left leg but it subsided and I thought no more about it. Had no issues on the Sunday or indeed the Monday morning / early afternoon - was only when we headed into Magic Kingdom that I started to feel a bit groggy and I put that down to a combination of day 3 jetlag and the fact that it was extremely hot and humid having not rained at all that day.

Didn't do justice to a lovely dinner at Narcoosee's that night , went to bed early and had a terrible night's sleep and was sick couple of times. Come Tuesday morning , although not on top form I felt a bit better but noted I had what appeared to be a heat rash appearing on left leg.Not a brilliant night's sleep that night either but just put it down to adjusting !

Wednesday - felt much better but leg was going an interesting shade of red . Still maintained it was a heat rash and was not terribly bothered. At Kim's behest called into a first aid post at Animal Kingdom and the nurse there took one look and agreed it was a heat rash !

Thursday morning - swung leg over bed and couldn't put any weight on it ! :0 Hobbled to bathroom and turned light on , it had all gone Pete Tong ! Leg was many interesting shades of purple / red / black and had blistered and broken. At this point I realised this was no heat rash and was looking like a cellulitis !

Kim woke up and we got round to the Centra Care Clinic . Was seen quickly and the Dr there referred me immediately to Celebration Hospital as he suspected a DVT ! The clinic were asking Kim for insurance details but we didn't have time to exchange details before the ambulance came and I was whisked off to Celebration Hospital.

On arrival I was seen by a triage nurse and whipped straight into A&E / ER . Was met by an excellent nurse and quickly seen by a Dr as well . Somewhat freaked out at this point to note that the redness was tracking up into my thigh / upper leg ! May be psychosomatic but at this point I started to feel quite unwell and my temperature was going up !

A&E was very efficient - had a doppler to exclude DVT so was happy on that score. However , the Dr then raised the possible diagnosis of compartment syndrome / sepsis or necrotising fasciitis ! Being an ITU Nurse myself in a previous life this did not contribute to a calm frame of mind She also casually mentioned a below knee amputation as worst case scenario !

Was admitted to the HDU floor and commenced IVAB's , steroids , anti-histamines and LMWH injections. All diluted by 125 mls an hour of maintenance fluid which ensured I would never get bed-bound as I was off to the loo on the hour every hour !

The approach to nursing was about 20 years behind what we our doing now at my own hospital but that is not a criticism - at my gaff (an academic tertiary foundation trust in central London) everyone gets assessed for everything with all the concomitant paperwork but here it was very much based on the Activities of Daily Living model (the Holy Trinity of Roper,Logan and Tierney for those of you in the trade ! ) and the careplan (updated BD and I was given a copy each time!) reflected that.

I was seen every day by both the medical team , wound care specialist nurse and of course the HDU nurse looking after me and I cannot fault the hands on care I was given.
As Leyfy's reports suggest I did get a bit miffed with the "just another 24 hours" lark as I saw our holiday ticking away but I hope I didn't take that out on the staff and with my own clinical hat on I actually agreed with the plan !

It was great to be discharged and still have 5 days to play with before the flight home.My mobility was exceedingly restricted and I really noticed that the day we went back to Animal Kingdom - the park is so big and everything is a big walk when you are struggling !

Mahhosive thanks are due to the team at The Boardwalk that looked after Kim and helped so much , Mr and Mrs Pumba75 for their visits , help and support and of course the staff at Celebration Hospital.

The cost is an interesting one - I was keeping a running total based on NHS charges (I work in Procurement these days) and of course in our system the patient never sees these - I'd got up to about £17.5 k and so given the current exchange rate the bill of $25 k was not excessive.

Finally - you'll have sen the other major event re our engagement. Although I couldn't pop the question in quite the way I planned originally as our cruise was cancelled I was pleased to be able to do so at the California Grill , one of our absolutely favourite places.

It's been a month now since it all kicked off. The wounds have (mostly) healed and I've managed withoutt he stick for nearly a week now. Leg is still quite swollen and I'm not entirely pain free but I'm getting there ! As to the cause , the majority opinion still seems to suggest a bite of some description (? Brown Recluse Spider) - although I didn't feel it at the time (spent 15+ years playing club rugby and having lumps kicked / gouged out of leg so no sense no feeling! ) my own tissue viability nurses here have found what appears to be a bite wound that was probably hidden by the extensive tissue damage . On top of that , one of my drinking companions is the daughter of a Dr in Aus (where most animals want to kill you! ) and having shared my story with him she relayed that the itch / illness / blistering picture would fit that scenario .

Anyway , sorry to harp on ! Hopefully that may be of interest to some . We're back out there at Xmas and so "Phil Points at a Pint" will make a return ! I was gutted this time as by evening of day 4 I was on 38 different ales and on course to easily beat my record of 82 !

Cheers all
Phil

[Pumba75]

Glad we were there.

Think we should all return to Millers to work our way through the menu and beers!?

[OllieT]

Read your trippie beginning to end this morning so haven't commented each day as wanted to get on with the next day
Great trip report, obviously sorry to hear your dramas though! Commented to DH about costs 😳 My DS spent 4 days in French hospital having stent put in and IVAB for trapped kidney stones this summer so can totally relate to your buttered up holiday experience but as he said it is a reminder to take the need for holiday insurance seriously!
Congrats too on your engagement

[MarionG]

Phew what an eventful last day...in fact what an eventful holiday. So glad Phil is getting better, must have been very, very scary for both of you. Glad you are returning soon.
Also hope you have got your engagement ring resized now...

[sheluk]

Glad to hear you made it home safe and sound! Although mini mare with your ring!

Was interesting reading Phils added bit & the costs from a uk perspective.

Thanks for sharing & taking the time, especially when things didn't go to plan X

[emmabanana]

Phil I'm pleased to read that you are on the mend, and glad that you both managed to enjoy the last few days of the trip. Fingers crossed the next one is less eventful! X