As promised in my previous entry, I will tell you what happened on that dramatic MH020 flight to Paris.
Our flight was scheduled to fly out at 2320pm on Friday the 13th. As we were on the tarmac and getting ready for take-off, I began to feel a little uneasy when suddenly there was a blackout on board the plane.
My worries were confirmed when the pilot announced there was an electrical failure and we would be returning to the terminal for engineers to sort out the problem.
Anyway, it must have been something minor as we were in the air 40 minutes later. And I was glad it was now Saturday the 14th, phew.
So for the first half of the journey, I was happily watching ‘Penelope’ and even managed to get a little snooze. Also, to keep myself occupied for the 24 hour journey to Ireland, I had prepared myself with a book, an interior design magazine and a little notebook to pen down useful ID tips for our new home. Perhaps I was a little too ambitious as things took an unexpected turn.
The second half was definitely the one we shall remember for the rest of our lives.
Just as we entered the 6th hour, the pilot announced a need for a doctor.
We introduced ourselves and the steward brought us to the back of the plane where we met with a 59 year old Japanese man who had crawled to the toilet and in desperate need of help.
The poor man looked completely pale, though feeling extremely weak he was able to tell us a little bit about himself. A French nurse also gave us a helping hand and it was then that we realized we were the only 2 doctors on board. Oh dear!
The man had vomited a lot of blood and was very weak to even stand-up. We laid him on a blanket at the back of the plane and checked his vitals (blood pressure, pulse, blood glucose etc) while hubby began organizing medical notes for the French medical personnel.
To make it short(Yes, this went on for 7 hours!), things went a little bit panicky when he had a second vomiting episode which was probably 2 cupfuls of fresh blood. We needed more space so this time we moved to the middle part of the plane, other passengers began realizing something serious was going on with all the commotion!
We started him on an intravenous drip for fear of his BP dropping and even did an ECG for completeness. From then on, we took turns checking his vitals. He was stable the rest of the journey and hubby (I only deal with kids remember?) was happy we didn’t have to divert the plane for acute medical attention.
We were all very worried about him, and yet he was more worried about his meeting in Italy the next day and his luggage if he was to be admitted into hospital.
As we were preparing for landing in Charles de Gaulle airport, surprisingly he asked ‘How can I pay for your service?’. We reassured him saying no form of payment was needed, however he insisted that we email him. He gave us his card and we will definitely write to him one day to ask about his outcome.
We said our goodbyes and felt relieved as we left him in good hands of the French Medical Personnel. We do still think about him though, as we can imagine being ill in a non-English, non-Japanese speaking country would be terrifyingly daunting.
As for us, we hope that we will never go through another encounter like this again. It was our first experience working together and what a challenge being in mid-air and what more, with no proper medical equipment! Thank goodness, Hubby kept his calm which help eased the intensity of the situation. I think we made a good team though 
So to Mr S, we wish you a speedy recovery and a safe journey home to Japan.
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