TravelTalkOnline

Our trip this year was scheduled for 5/19 to 5/29, we’ve been going to SXM most every year since the mid-90’s. It’s our favorite place in the world. I’ll start with some of the usual trip report observations, but unfortunately (spoiler alert…) this year our trip was cut short.

Weather couldn’t have been more perfect; we stayed in a studio at Club O as we enjoy being such a short walk to the beach. The beach at Club O was very clean and not crowded at all this time of year. Further north on Orient Beach, the seaweed got progressively worse as you got nearer to Mt. Vernon. It’s always been worse on that end of beach, but this year it was bizarre how much seaweed had built up. It was pretty bad even at CoCo beach, and terrible north of that. Can’t imagine swimming in that area. But again the south, Club O end of the beach was pristine.

We arrived on Tuesday, 5/19. We arranged online in advance to have Orientique leave basic provisions in our studio – some bottles of water, a 6 pack of Carib’s, coffee for the first morning, coffee filters, paper towel. It was nice to not have to worry about any shopping on our arrival day. We had dinner in Orient Village at Le Piment, one of our favorite places. We usually eat there on our first night as we don’t feel like driving far at the end of a long travel day. This year it wasn’t quite as good as usual, both my wife and I were a little disappointed in the food. But we’ll certainly be back there next trip; anyplace can have an off night!

We spent the next three days on the beach, couldn’t have been more perfect. Happy hour at the Perch, catching up with friends that come this time of the year, swimming, walking the beach, and just relaxing.

Wednesday for dinner we went to the Dingy Dock at Oyster Pond for ribs, another long-time favorite. They were good but my wife thought there weren’t quite as “fall-off-the-bone” tender as in the past. They also misplaced our order and took about an hour to bring our food, even though they weren’t very busy and all we ordered was two rib dinners. The waiter apologized and bought us each a drink. No worries, we’re in paradise!

Thursday night for dinner we ate at Piazza Pascal in Grand Case. This was fabulous; it’s become one of our favorites on the island. We split a mozzarella and tomato appetizer. I had a mixed seafood & pasta with pesto dish. Terry had a shrimp and pasta dish. We split a bottle of wine and tiramisu for desert. Unusual for us to go this “all-out” for dinner (we’re simple folk!), but this was worth it, everything was great. I believe the total bill came to $120, even dollar-for-euro for cash.

Friday, after another great day on beach, we took a late afternoon walk to the Mt. Vernon end of the beach and back. We walk a lot on these trips, especially early every morning, but this time I was feeling a little “off”. By way of background, I had quintuple cardiac bypass surgery 20 years ago (!)… I was 42 years old then (62 now, do the math). Five years ago I had a cardiac catheterization procedure done that showed all of the 5 grafts were still 100% open, and I’ve been healthy generally. Still, I’m guessing you can see where this is all headed…

Even before Friday, I had been having some jaw pain – a common cardiac symptom. But this is not terribly unusual for me. It’s what led me to get the cardiac cath done 5 years ago, and since that test came out clear I didn’t think much of the pain, it would come and go. Still, on that walk late Friday afternoon the pain was getting worse. So we decided not to go out for dinner after our walk, instead we decided to stay in and ordered delivery from Rancho del Sol. I can’t resist going back into standard trip-report mode here… we’ve always avoided Rancho del Sol, we were last there long ago when it was a Mexican restaurant and have seen it change over the years, for a while it was a convenience store. We ordered a Caesar salad and a pizza, which arrived quickly. We were quite surprised at how good it was, and inexpensive!

Anyway, starting at about 7pm Friday night the jaw pain was getting worse, wasn’t going away, and eventually was accompanied by chest pain and pain down my left arm, pain extreme enough to cause nausea. At about 11pm Terry called security and they in turn called an ambulance that took me to the hospital in Marigot, where our adventure REALLY began.

I spent two days in the Marigot hospital, and I’ll admit I was very scared. I arrived at the emergency room late in the evening, and none of the personnel there spoke much English. To be fair, I speak even LESS French. They hooked me up to an EKG, did some blood tests, and gave me various pills and shots (I had no idea what). I was admitted to intensive care. To give you an idea of the size of the hospital, I was in Room #1.

Oh, one last restaurant review… I would not recommend the food at the Marigot hospital. Breakfast both days consisted of a bowl of coffee (not a typo) and bread. I wasn’t very hungry anyway.

The worst of the pain did subside. Likely they were giving me blood thinners, and nitroglycerine when the pain was bad. On Saturday a doctor was on duty that did speak good English. To their credit, the medical personnel in Marigot did what they could with the resources they had, and I am truly grateful for all the attention I received. The doctor consulted with an off-site cardiologist. And in retrospect, they came to the absolutely correct conclusion… I needed to have another cardiac catheterization to really find out what was happening. The closest place that could be done was in Guadeloupe. And I needed a medical flight; they wouldn’t let me go on a commercial flight due to the medical risk.

If I may step back for a minute… when we booked our flights (on American) back in February, I considered the inexpensive travel insurance they offer on the airline’s web site. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks before the trip that I decided to buy the specific medical evacuation insurance that takes you back to your home hospital. The cheap stuff may cover some trip cancellation expenses, but it at best would have flown us to Guadeloupe, not back to our home hospital (we’re from Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Of course we wanted to go home, where I had been treated in the past, they had my medical history, and we were most comfortable. So the decision to buy the medical evacuation insurance was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made… we bought the insurance from SkyMed for $165 (for both of us). The medical flight from St. Martin back to Milwaukee would have cost us $35,000 - $40,000.

The Marigot hospital used a facilitator that spoke excellent English and was a godsend in terms of helping us coordinate everything between the hospital, SkyMed, and the medical evacuation team. She worked very hard late into the night on Saturday. By Sunday I was being taken by ambulance to the airport (on the Dutch side), and was loaded onto a Learjet owned by AeroMD, fully medically equipped and accompanied by a doctor, nurse, and respiratory therapist. Oh, and of course my wife! AeroMD is a medical flight company serving the Caribbean, based in St. Thomas. I can’t say enough about how professionally and competently they handled everything.

One stop in Wilmington, NC for customs and to refuel… the plane was small and fast, about 5 ½ hours total from St Martin to Milwaukee. Another ambulance took us to our hospital here at home. I was there for two more days, had the cardiac cath I needed. The news was basically good… of my quintuple bypass 20 years ago, the 4 arterial grafts were still wide open, but the one venous graft was occluded, likely what was causing the pain. I can’t imagine that they would have been able to determine this as easily in Guadeloupe, without my records from 20 years ago. I’m doing fine now and being treated with meds, cardiac rehab, lifestyle changes, and have a number of follow-up appointments scheduled.

My apologies for the length of this report, and I’m leaving out lots of details. Most of those agonizing details were handled by my wife Terry… making contacts, doing all the packing, dealing with the rental car, the folks at Club O, the airlines. All this while dealing with me in the hospital, and all in a 2 day period. I don’t know how she did it. She did have much help from friends staying at Club O, and we owe them a great deal of thanks. But purchasing that medical evacuation insurance was only the 2nd best decision I ever made. The best decision I ever made was when I married Terry 30+ years ago.

Oh, one final loose end. We had to leave our 2 suitcases behind; they wouldn’t fit on the Learjet. American Airlines won’t allow luggage on a flight without a passenger, which I guess I understand. We’ve been trying to do FedEx, but the forms are ridiculously tedious (e.g., list EACH item in each suitcase, it’s size, weight, material, country of origin, and value), and it looks like it would be exorbitantly expensive. We’re hoping Club O will be willing to hang onto them; it will give us an excuse to make a return trip ASAP! Well, let’s say no later than next May. Something to look forward to!

Sorry to hear of your (mis)adventure but glad to know BOTH of your best decisions were the right ones. Hopefully you will be fully recovered and able to return to collect your own luggage very soon.

And huge kudos to your wife for handling all she had to deal with along with the fact of her soulmate being so very ill. I've had to stand in similar shoes though not in a foreign country with language barriers, and it isn't always easy. WOMAN POWER!! There's nothing like it....<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

End result is you made it home safe and sound, and will able to return to SXM in the future to "Retrieve your suitcases" <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />!
Great decision on the purchase of your SkyMed Insurance. Imagine what financial nightmares could have happened if you had to pay for it yourself.
Did you have to come up with any $$$ in advance of the flight or was everything handled by SkyMed? Have all expenses been covered that you expected them to pay for?
I have heard nothing but great reviews on SkyMed, and a trip out of Country should be accompanied with Travel Insurance.

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear that all ended well for you. That is scary, that they could have taken you to Guadelupe with the regular medical evac!! I have always thought they would probably take anyone from the US to Florida, so have not worried about the extra 'takes you home' coverage from Sky Med, but it certainly was worth your while in your case!! So glad it turned out well for you.

For anyone interested in booking Sky Med (or other trip/medical insurance through Insure My Trip), please remember that they are TTOL sponsors. If you click on the links here on TTOL for them, your cost will be the same, but TTOL will get a (small) commission on the sale. If you go straight to their websites, we do not.

We also had a Sky Med experience about 2 years ago & were extremely pleased with both the service end (coordination, communication etc) and the care end (medical flight crew). We were lucky that my brother was there with us & took our luggage back with him as I was only allowed to bring the carryon luggage. I made mention of this in my trip report & Jeff said that Sky Med would have also handled the luggage I couldn't bring on the flight. You might want to check with Sky Med even tho you are already home, & also with Jeff Berger. I didn't worry about the luggage cuz of my brother, but that would be a problem if the circumstances were different.

So glad things worked out for you. It is truly scary to be in a hospital in another country - and we were on the Dutch side so at least we could communicate! Take care & hope your next trip in uneventful.

Thanks for the report. Gdad you had the insurance. Good luck on the luggage.

I remember your story. Scary too!

That does seem weird that Sky Med can get them home, but not the luggage. I would definitely contact them, as you said.

Thank you for your trip report Dave. Sounds like you had reasonable care in Marigot with limited facilities.
And kudos to your wife for keeping it together.
Glad you are ok.
FYI, In France they do drink coffee in bowls. Had it myself many times.
Cheers
irina

So glad you got home okay! Good to hear it's not quite as serious as you initially feared. There's no place like home when you're not feeling well.

Whether it's served in a cup or a bowl, I can't imagine coffee (caffeine) is the best thing to serve a cardiac patient. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Continue to get better. Your luggage is waiting. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Our wives are remarkable, aren't they! A few years ago we also decided to take out the medical evac. insurance. We still do and often wonder why we do it. You have answered my question! I wasn't sure I believed them when they said they fly in a private jet to evac. you, but now I know. So glad you made it back and are getting back to normal. I believe you need a trip back sooner than next year. I'd call Club O and tell them to hold on to my luggage and head back before the end of this year to finish what you started. Hey, it's only money and you saved a pile of it by buying the insurance. Go for it!!

Moderate consumption of caffeine does not significantly increase the risk of a coronary event nor increase the frequency of cardiac arrhythmias. This conclusion applies to healthy persons, patients with ischemic heart disease, and those with serious ventricular ectopy. Patients with cardiac disease should be allowed to consume four to five cups of caffeinated beverages per day while in the coronary care unit or progressive care unit under the surveillance of nursing staff.
From NIH. Caffeine not a problem.

SkyMed paid all of the medical evac costs directly, we didn't pay a dime out of pocket. That included the ambulance from Marigot to the airport, and in Milwaukee from the airport to our hospital. There was a period of some negotiations with SkyMed, but that was entirely handled by the Marigot hospital facilitator. For example, at one point they suggested that I might go on a commercial flight accompanied by a doctor, but the doctor in Marigot said that would be unacceptable and SkyMed immediately agreed.

We have other bills that we're dealing with, but they had nothing to do with the evac flight... e.g., the 2 day stay in the Marigot hospital (emergency room and intensive care) came to about $4,000, which we gladly paid with a credit card (no 1:1 for cash <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />). We're only at the beginning stages of filing claims with our health insurance for that, but expect that some of it will be reimbursed.

And yes, I'll now tell anyone who will listen that specific med evac insurance is essential for foreign trips, particularly if you're going somewhere with limited medical facilities. I just hope I can get coverage on our next trip, given my history!

Thanks, Carol. We've run into you and Eric a in SXM at least a couple of times. Once I recall was at a party you threw years ago, you were staying at the Caribbean Princess. We've stayed there a few times since, we thought it was so nice.

And thanks for all you and Eric continue to do with this board, it provides such valuable info about SXM, I still look in regularly especially as vacation times draw near!

We hadn't thought of that! Frankly, my first instinct is that SkyMed has already done so much that asking for luggage shipment might be little "pushy", but I suppose it would be worth checking... thanks for the advice!

Dave, we are glad you and Terry are home and safe. We wish you a very speedy recovery and we also wish you a wonderful return trip to Club O. All our very best wishes to you both.

Dave--shouldn't the regular insurance you got through the air carrier pay the medical bills? When I had an issue in SXM, I had to submit to my medical insurance, and then they paid everything that the insurance didn't pay, less a $50 deductible..

Yes, wow that was a long time ago. We thoroughly enjoyed Caribbean Princess. Nice place! And a great place for a party, for sure!

So glad you are OK and glad you enjoy the board.

Thanks so much for taking the time to give us a trip report. So happy to hear that everything turned out well for you and that the trip insurance proved so valuable.Wishing you both many more good trips to Club Of in the future.

Wow! What a story!!!! We took the insurance for our last October trip with family in 70 and 80s. I wanted to for us this past May, hubby didn't think important, just read him your post, we will get it for EVERY trip here on out! Thank you for posting and so glad your doing ok.

Thanks for the report and the details for medical help in SXM.

Back when we were younger, we NEVER took trip insurance. Now that we're 'more mature' shall I say <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" /> we take it every time!

Wow.....you just never know. A couple of years ago my husband had an aortic valve replacement and we never travel without Med-Vac insurance. I haven't used Sky Med but just might do it this time, since you so highly recommended it.
Glad it all turned out well for you. Stay well.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> Contessa

You were fortunate with SkyMed. My husband contracted pneumonia last winter in SXM and after a week in the French side hospital, the liaison woman (who was wonderful btw) suggested we use our SkyMed and return to the US. Sky Med would not provide a medivac flight despite the release form signed by the doctor stating my husband was not able to fly commercially. We were put on an AA flight, with a plane change in Miami for Boston with a nurse and medic; a 9 1/2 hour ordeal, had we made it. My husband nearly died before we reached Miami, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital there where he spent 4 weeks. Turns out he had 2 highly contagious bacteria and could have infected numerous people. Needless to say, we are not very pleased with SkyMed, although we still have their insurance.

How awful! We did have a lot of back-and-forth between the facilitator at the hospital in Marigot and SkyMed. Similar to your case, at one point SkyMed wanted to put us on a commercial flight with a physician on board. The facilitator really went to bat for us, the doctor in Marigot insisted that a commercial flight would not be allowable. To their credit (in our case, anyway) SkyMed came through with the medevac flight.

So sorry to hear your experience was so bad, I hope your husband has fully recovered!

I wonder Dave, whether Wendy's awful experience is part of the reason why you were able to get the real medevac flight.

This is interesting. 2 years ago when Don broke his hip Sky Med's 1st response was to put him on a Jet Blue flight in "first class". I had to remind them JB didn't have 1st class & that a broken hip couldn't sit for any length of time. I'm in the medical field so I was able to toss lots of medical jargon at them and they quickly changed their approach. Perhaps they need to revisit their decision making process. I never really thought too much about this till I read this thread. This is concerning to me.

Just curious, did you follow up with Sky Med after your husband recovered? I would be interested in how they explain this very poor medical triage.

I argued with them for some time before the flight; Even contacted Jeff berger, who tried to help us, to no avail. They claimed that THEIR medical expert (who hadn't even seen Tony) had already determined he was able to fly commercial! SkyMed did contact me after the fact, and I let them know what happened and that i was not pleased. Never heard another word from them. I think Carol might be correct, and that others may be benefitting from our experience. Incidentally, BCBS reimbursed us for about 90% of our SXM hospital expenses. The facilitator there had all the paperwork translated for us, and the form for us to submit. I can't say enough good things about this service - which is free!

While booking JB today, they offered a very inexpensive policy at the time of purchase. It had evacuation at $50000 plus full coverage. It would take you to a facility or home. I was unsure what exactly it would do, so was not comfortable taking it. After I noticed their telephone number on our ticket and called. The girl said it would bring you to the closest hospital, to make sure you were stable, and then home---still wasn't sure. Then after checking the price, it wasn't the $95 offered while buying the ticket. I would think that any insurance would want you to be seen before being transported, but it still wasn't clear if they would then transport you to a hospital near home.

After reading this, I thought I should try SkyMed . I believe you would still need a separate insurance to cover trip cancellation.

When you buy insurance at the EXACT same time you buy the ticket (on AA anyway, not sure about Jet Blue) the price is lower than if you try to buy it later. I had one time that I sure thought I had clicked the box to buy the insurance and it didn't go through. I called the same day and said that I had intended to buy it, claimed it was a computer snafu, and they let me buy it for the same price as before. I honestly don't really know what kind of medical evac is covered with those policies, but it sure is better than nothing..

We are required to have some form of evacuation insurance as part of our SXM residency. I researched it pretty well years ago, and felt SkyMed was our best option. I still believe it probably is.
Much different than trip cancellation insurance though.
And yes, a doctor does have to certify that you need to be evacuated.

I went to my old insurance again. I get the medical evac upgrade to insure we will be transported to a hospital at home. It is getting more and more expensive, but it is peace of mine. I wish I had said yes to the JB option because she kept saying we would be evaluated at a nearby hospital and then home. I just wasn't sure that she was sure. I may call and check again before booking our next flight.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

SkyMed does sound like a great policy if you are just looking for Medical Evac. I talked to someone there and they were very helpful.

Thank you for the report on SkyMed. That is one of those things you hope to never use but when you need it, it is money well spent. I am glad you had a happy ending. Enjoy planning that trip to retrieve your bags.

This is the issue that puzzled me. I've always understood that if you purchase such insurance immediately upon booking the trip (I think there's a 2 week window) you are covered for "pre-existing conditions" but if you wait, they may not cover you for illnesses that were, more or less, predictable. That seems to be the case for the OP. For SkyMed to insure for heart problems, knowing there were existing heart issues, is pretty generous.

Dave needs to answer that question, but I understood that he basically hadn't had any problems with his heart for quite some time before the trip.

As far coverage for pre-existing conditions in general, that is something that you really need to look at the individual policy very closely. This is where Insure My Trip is very helpful, because you can compare policies side by side. There are SOME policies (which cost more, of course!!) that do cover pre-existing conditions, even if not booked within a very short period of time of booking. So if one specifically needs pre-existing condition coverage, Insure my Trip is invaluable for comparing policies. As far as Sky Med coverage of pre-existing conditions specifically, I don't know what it is. And, as a reminder, if you book through the links here on TTOL for Sky Med or Insure My Trip, it doesn't cost YOU any more, but we get a small commission.

I just pulled out the SkyMed policy (we've been referring to it quite a bit over the last couple of weeks!). Under the "Exclusions" section, it reads:

1) PRE-EXISTING CONDITION:
A condition, or symptoms thereof, which was diagnosed and for which the individual received medical advice or treatment from a physician within a three-month period preceding the effective date of coverage. Pre-existing conditions will be covered commencing ninety (90) days from the Member's effective date of coverage.

As I recall, the insurance application did ask about chronic conditions, and I was careful to indicate that I had bypass surgery 20 years ago. But I certainly hadn't seen a doctor about anything cardiac related for way longer than the three-month period.

I should also say that SkyMed never even brought any of this up, and they paid everything directly. All of the negotiations with SkyMed were handled by the facilitator at the hospital in Marigot, we never had to deal with them directly. My wife did contact SkyMed first, once we found out we would need a medevac, and later the facilitator told us us we shouldn't have even done that - she would have preferred to handle the contact herself.

Clearly we're very satisfied about how things turned out. SkyMed came through with exactly the coverage we expected.

Dave--thanks for posting the additional info.

The Dutch side hospital did not have anyone like the facilitator you referenced. I had to make the initial call & all calls when coordinating the transport. Fortunately we always get a cell phone from Sharon cuz they didn't want me to use their telephone! The ED physician was most helpful, but after that we were on our own. Never saw the MD on the floor, the nurses wouldn't talk to me about Don, only the doctor could! I couldn't wait to get him out of there!

Wow glad to here all is good

Is the plan you signed up for called "Takes you Home Daily"?
Looks like it's $9 per day individual or $15 per day Family.