We had purchased a three day Disney Pass, thinking that either Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom might take more than one day to cover. However, as we had managed to cover both those parks in a day each, we decided to use the remaining day to visit the Hollywood Studios Park. When we woke up on the morning of June 12, we were however dismayed to find that Avinash was running a temperature (About 102 degrees). We were well prepared for such an eventuality, and gave Avinash some Crocin (Paracetmol) and cold compress, which brought his temperature down a bit. Radhika and I decided that we would stay at home in the villa, while Appa, Amma, Renu and Appu would go to Hollywood Studios. Radhika and I were quite tired too, and we ended up napping for most of the day. Avinash's temperature waxed and waned through the day but by that evening, when I set out to pick up our "Hollywood Stars", he seemed to be much better. A description of what happened at Hollywood Studios would of course need to be provided by either Renu or Appu.
Day 17 - June 13, 2011
The next morning, Avinash's temperature was back. We continued with the paracetmol treatment, and this time, everybody stayed at home. By the evening, Avinash seemed fine. We were quite bored having been at the villa for two whole days, and hence Radhika, Avinash, Renu, Appa and I decided to go out to look at a nearby Lakefront. There was a small park there, where Avinash had a good time, playing on the swings and slides. This turned out to have been a mistake, as the fever returned by the time we got back home. By this time, we were quite worried - we had an all day trip the next morning from Orlando to Morgantown, and were wondering what to do.
Day 18 - June 14, 2011
At about 4 am on June 14, Radhika woke to find that Avinash was still running a high fever. We were panic stricken. We phoned our paediatrician, Dr. Cyrus Contractor, in Bombay (the great thing about Indian doctors is that they are happy to speak to us on their phones, and give us advice). He felt that Avinash was most likely suffering from a mild viral fever, which should get better with time, but suggested that we show him to a doctor locally to be sure. Our stock of Crocin was also almost over. We didn't know anybody in Orlando - this brought out the disadvantage of staying in a villa instead of a hotel where there would be someone to help. We turned to the only people we could think off - viz. Lata in the UK, Jayashri in New Jersey and Jagan Peripa. We wanted to check if they knew any paediatrician in Central Florida. None of them had a local contact, though Jayashri did give us the brands for the standard US children's OTC medicines. We looked up doctors on the Internet, and found that there was a clinic fairly close to our villa, which opened at about 8 am. I went across to the nearby Wal-mart to restock our medicines.
At exactly 8 am, Radhika, Avinash and I were outside the clinic. Avinash's fever had reduced considerably by this point in time. When I walked into the clinic, the first thing they wanted to know was our insurance details. The contrast with our doctors in India, who would look at treating the patient before anything else, was stark. I provided the details to them, but they wanted to get a fax from the insurance company confirming willingness to pay before anything else. I asked them what the cost would be and agreed to pay by my credit card and think about insurance later. They told us that the initial consultation with a doctor would cost USD 350, and that this did not include the costs of any tests that may be needed. We were happy to pay, but were advised that the doctors would not be available for 90 minutes at least.
At this, Radhika and I stepped out to discuss the situation. Appa and Amma's flight to Pittsburg via DC was at 1230, and we had planned to leave the villa by 10 am or 1030 at the latest. (especially as we needed to build a buffer for any potential confusion while driving back). Avi's temperature was almost normal now. If we waited to see the doctor, and he was either delayed even very slightly or if he suggested some tests, we would miss our flights. We decided to gamble, and head for Morgantown without seeing the doctor.
We headed back to the villa, to finish packing, and started loading our luggage in the Grand Caravan. Fortunately, Avi seemed ok. Our ride back to the airport was relatively uneventful. The only hiccup was that there was a unmanned coin operated toll booth with a red signal on our way, where the signal refused to change even after we deposited the toll. We drove through the red light (there was no barrier), and explained the situation at the next toll booth which was manned. We were provided a number that we could call and explain the situation. Before we knew it, we were back at Orlando International. While Radhika et al helped Appa and Amma check in, I went along with Renu to return the car. The process of car returns at the airport was also ultra efficient, taking only about 10 minutes (including the time needed to drive around from the departures level back to the arrivals area and the rental car parking lot).
We were relieved to find that both Appa / Amma and our flights were on time. They were flying to Pittsburg via DC, while the rest of us were flying by a direct flight, albeit with a stop of Charlotte. The five of us had a leisurely lunch at the airport, since our flight was only at 2 PM. Our flight took off exactly on time, and landed at Charlotte on time as well. Just before we landed, we were told that there was going to be a change of aircraft for the Charlotte to Pittsburg leg, and that we would have to deplane. This seemed surprising. When we got off, we realized that they had diverted the plane we were on to some other destination, and that we would have to wait for a flight. Our flight kept getting delayed 30 minutes at a time. They finally announced boarding at around 6 PM (I think), but boarding took inordinately long and the plane taxied out to a remote parking bay, before taking off almost an hour later. We finally reached Pittsburg over two hours late, and it was already dark by that time.
Jagan Peripa and Syamala Perima had driven down from Morgantown and had caught up with Amma and Appa. Fortunately, our luggage arrived quickly, and collecting my rental Camry did not take much time either. After double checking to ensure that the destination was programmed correctly on my Garmin, we headed out. The road to Morgantown was a beautifully surfaced, undulating expressway, with a number of curves, on which I could maintain a fairly high speed. After having driven for about an hour, we realized that we needed some water, and hence pulled off from the expressway. We managed to get some water quickly, but while trying to get back to the highway, I missed a turn, and had to drive for almost 30 minutes through narrow roads where some road work was on before getting back to the highway. We finally reached Morgantown quite late at night, having taken about 2 hours to cover over 100 miles.
Our original plan was that the 7 of us would share a suite at a nearby hotel, since Ram, Amrita and Sloka were supposed to have been at Jagan Peripa's house. However, Ram and Amrita had been delayed and were to reach Morgantown only on the 16th. When we went to our hotel, we found that the suite was smaller than we had expected, and 7 people would not fit in it. We tried to see if another room was available, but the hotel was full up. After quickly consulting with Peripa and Perima, Radhika, Avinash and I headed back to their house. After an extraordinarily long day, it was almost 1 am by the time we were finally off to sleep.
The good news was the Avinash's fever, which had been worrying us so much that morning, had not recurred.
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