Too Close For Comfort

I've been pretty lucky.  In all of my travels hither and yon, I've never had any medical issues that couldn't be solved with a little something sold over the counter from the local farmacia. The travel medical insurance through my benefits package is all I've ever relied on to get me there and back in one piece.  And they haven't had to expend any dollars on me...or the kid.  Until now.

I'm entering into unchartered territory now that I've had word that the kid had a close encounter with some pine nuts disguised as pesto.  We make our pesto with ground almonds -- the one and only nut she's not allergic to, except for Brazilnuts and who eats those things anyway?  She's really, really careful but she probably didn't think twice before chowing down on the green stuff.  As she is currently in a wifi free zone, I don't really have all the details, other than the phone call I missed where she insists over and over...and over...and over again, "It's okay, don't worry, I'm all right."

Yeah, 'cause no one ever worries when that get that message from 8,000 miles away.  But you know that old cliche that's been floating around since the 1930's -- Is there a doctor in the house?  Well, in this case there was. Right in her very own tour group.  And given that there's only eight of them in the group, that was pretty bloody fortuitous.  He administered her epi-pen and they whisked her off in an ambulance to the nearest hospital, where after who knows what else they gave her and a little monitoring time, she was returned to her group, good as new claiming, "It's okay, don't worry, I'm all right."

And really, I'm not worried.  It's not part of my DNA.  She's obviously in good hands and she has a spare epi-pen -- although I'm pretty sure she won't be eating anything that doesn't carry a 'guaranteed nut-free' certification label on it for the remainder of her trip.  Now it'll just be a case of trying to get reimbursed by the insurance company.  'Cause I've heard that's real easy to do.

Let's the games begin.


Book Review:  It seems rather coincidental that while I was anxiously awaiting word that the kid had arrived safely in New Zealand (got it 12 hours after she arrived...don't they know about wifi down there?) I was reading Above All Things, a fictionalized account of the final fatal attempt by George Mallory to summit Mount Everest.  The novel is told from three points of view -- George, his wife Ruth, and Sandy Irvine, another member of the expedition.  I could sympathize with Ruth waiting on the twice daily post for news of any kind that would be long outdated before she even read it.  (And I'm complaining about a 12 hour delay in an electronic transmission -- my, how times have changed.)  That George and Sandy were writing letters home from their various base camps on the mountain gave me pause -- just who the hell was running down the mountain, letters in hand to stick them in the post box?? This was a really great read, well researched, and not dry and boring with technical climbing details.  Despite knowing the ultimate outcome of the story (hey, it took place in 1924 so I'm not giving anything away) Tanis Rideout managed to keep the tension strong throughout.