Part 1, Day 2

Apparently the rest of the world can't live without ice cream and fried foods either. The Emirati people eat a lot of ice cream, so I was told. Makes since how else will you cool down out in the desert?!?

See the person dressed in red?

He is dressed up as an adult size 'Tele*tubbie'! And he is handing out candy to children? There is something very wrong about that, don't ya think!?!?

Do you see the men standing around the counter in the upper left side of the picture? That's a Star&bucks! Again, proof that the American diet has permeated the world. That Star&bucks was the first place we say men smoking the Hooka pipes.

Chili*s (Mark's favorite), Sub&way (normal!), the indian place next to that and the Middle Eastern grill next to that!

The entrance to the mall.

(A funny that shows just how frustrated I became: By the end of my fabulous stay, I became rather punchy and decided what all the signs really said. My theory: I think they gave you the name of the place in english characters to see if you were paying attention. And then the Arabic characters followed it up saying: F*$k You! So each sign we saw said: Al Shubai District F*&k You!)

We wake up to another hot and sunny day in the desert. Imagine that!??! The agenda of the day was set the day before. First up, go to Al Ain Hospital to confirm that they have moved Mark to the mortuary. Then, continue the paperchase towards getting him home. But, I didn't know that I would need even more documents than I was already told I needed!!!

So, after exchanging a few emails and phone calls home, Ted graciously takes us to the hospital. We find the mortuary after stopping to ask for directions about 3 times. How did I finally find it? I found my way back to the Preventative Disease office and one of the workers rode with us over the mortuary! We walk inside to the following scene:

A square room with 5 closed doors. In the middle of the room, there is a long wooden bench. There is a desk toward the back wall with a couple of chairs. The worker brings out the chairs and we sit on the chairs and bench. After a few minutes the Sudanese doctore I met the day before comes out of one of the doors. (I later find out that room is an office. And the room next to that one is the storage room for the chemicals they need to embalm.) He proceeds to take us into the first door on the left. And, there laying on the table is a body wrapped in white sheets. Mom, Ted and Rose have moved into the room with me at this point and are standing on the other side of the table. The doctor begins poking at the body. (I think he was checking to see what gases were there.) He then asks me in his very broken english if I would like to see Mark! WTH!??! I immediately tear up. Mom is violently shaking her head NO on the other side of the table. Rose looks like she will faint and Ted takes a step back. I tell him: No that will not be necessary. He tells me that I will need a police release from Dubai and Al Ain if Mark is to be flown out of Dubai. Where did that come from?!? I thought I only needed the police release from Al Ain! Okay, well I will deal with that one when I get to it. I confirm that they will embalm him as soon as we have travel arrangements, that 'someone' will prepare the remains, that we will get all the paperwork in order and we head back to the car. Could someone have prepared me for that one please!?!?! Did I really need to actually see the remains? Did I need to see this crackpot Doctor poke at him? Really!!?!? Apparently I did, because it only got worse before this grand adventure was over!

Once we were safely back in the car, we decided to head back to the apartment to begin packing and waiting for the oh, so compentent French insurance agency to do their job. Little did I know that they were incapable of doing their job. Well, at least the local agent was....

The day ended with Ted and Rose taking Mom and I to the Al Jimi Mall. This is the place that Mark always talked about going. He shopped at the Carre*four store there. (Think smaller version of Wal*Mart) He ate at the Ch*ili's there. (He said it was the only place to get iced tea in the entire city!) I asked to be taken there because I wanted to see the place he felt the most comfortable. It was a beautiful mall. Small by the standards of the Emirati people, but very nice. It had a beautiful food court with many 'normal' choices. Did we go for the normal? Of course not! Mom decided she was going to eat Indian food (little worrisome because she does not like anything spicy) and I chose a place that served a traditional Middle Eastern grill plate. Ted led Mom thru her choices and she came away with a wonderful non-spicy meal. I could not have chosen better either. The food was incredible!

After returning to the apartment, I was contacted by the new chief pilot, John. I found out that he was with Mark the morning after the heart attack. He was the person Mark tried to talk to! He told me Mark was complete aware of his surroundings, he knew the people in the room, and he even asked for iced tea!! It was nice to hear that information directly from the person who was there. He was the person who told Mark I was coming. He said Mark got very excited at that news. He was giving them the thumbs up signal repeatedly.

Something to remember: My cell phone is ringing during this entire day too! Just like the day before, I talk to about 10 people numerous times throughout the day. Mark's friends, his boss (the amazing Dave), Assaad (the jack of all trades), the insurance agent (idiot) and my new friends. So, if you are a person easily distracted, it would have been a nightmare!

Really!?!?! Part 1, Day 1

Do you see the Tuesday, November 3 date above?
Do you see that is says: "No flights available"?
Really!?!?!?

After a week of complete hell, this is the supposed BA flight the French insurance company (I will have to dedicate an entire post to how I feel about them. And, it will be filled with the foulest of curse words!) had Mark's remains booked on for the trip home. Yes, really!!! So how did we get to that point and how did we finally get home?

I think I can finally write this with some of my usual sense of humor. I apologize upfront if it takes a dive into the sad place my heart is in right now. I know I can't tell the whole story yet, but here is what happened on October 27th:

The morning dawned bright, sunny and hot in the UAE desert. I was told on the 26th by Tawam Hospital that I needed to go to Al Ain Hospital to get Mark's death certificate. I was told they would transport his body to Al Ain Hospital Mortuary on the morning of the 27th. He would be embalmed at Al Ain Hospital and the insurance company would make arrangements to transport him to Dayton by private jet. I guess I should have taken a lesson from the events of the night before and realized that nothing could ever be that simple! Silly me, how did I not learn that one on the 26th?!?!

So, with the help of Ted, Rose, Melanie and Hind, I headed out to get the death certificate. First stop, Al Ain Hospital to find the office of Preventative Disease. After driving thru the maze of the city, we finally got to the hospital. Hind and I asked the gate guard where we needed to go. He directed us to the main offices. The main offices directed us to another office. That office directed us to the morgue which was locked up tight. We stop a guard and ask again. He directs us to the Preventative Disease office. Hind and I walk in to find that only the head doctor speaks some English. But, he speaks fluent Arabic which is why I have Hind, thank God! She talks to him for what seemed like an hour in a language I have no hope of ever understanding. He directs us to another office to get the death certificate. He finally gives us a document which will allow Mark's remains to be transported to Al Ain Hospital. It was clear that he didn't want to give us that document, but she talked him into it finally. He further explains that we need to have a release from the Al Ain police in order to transport Mark out of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and home. He tries to explain in broken english that Mark's body will have to be prepared after the embalming. He explains that it is the custom of the country to do this and basically it is something I have to do to make Allah happy. Specifically, he tells me that I can come and wash the body and dress him in the traditional white robes (a dishda, which I am sure I am not spelling correctly!) or I can pay someone to do this and wrap him in a white cotton cloth. (Me! Wash him and dress him! He must be smoking to much of that Hookpa pipe!) I decide that I will pay 'someone' to do this for me and will have him wrapped in the white cotton cloth. That satisfies him (after a few tears) and he gives us the documents. Hind meanwhile slips him about $400 US to accomplish this task. We leave his office with strict instructions to return the next morning to verify that Mark has indeed been transported to the mortuary.

Hind and I stop to get something to eat at a wonderful restaurant. It was really good, but I can honestly tell you I don't remember what we ate. I do remember that she told me she would no longer help me if I didn't eat something! She did not say that to be mean, she was truly worried about my health. Hind kept emphasizing to me that I needed to go on with my life, I have a little boy to take care of and it would do no go for me to get sick. She was very right, but I was already getting frustrated with the procedures not to mention mad at the fact that I was even in this situation. (Meanwhile, Melanie was giving Mom, Ted and Rose a tour of the city. They could not seem to catch up with us, but that was okay because it gave Mom a chance to see the city. They took her to get something to eat and just really took great care of her that entire day.)

After eating, Hind and I headed to the office the doctor advised us would give us the death certificate. That office was no longer in that building! We were directed to 6 other places before we found the correct office!!! We were told various stories at each stop: They moved out of here last week. They were never in this building. The office you need is in the last place you were at. The office is at the hospital. You name it and we were told it!

We found the right place and headed in the door. Lesson in different cultures: In the US, you wait to be called to the desk of an official. You never really see the real person in charge. You complain and you get a supervisor who fixes the problem. Not in the UAE! We walked right into the office of the Head of the Department of Health! Hind tells him what we need, he tells her to wait and he will think about it! WTH!??! Think about what? She tells me not to complain because then he will do nothing! Again WTH?!? So, we head out to the hallway to wait. Meanwhile, everyone else catches up with us. We wait and finally he comes out and hands paperwork to the woman sitting at the desk. She had already told us that she would type the paperwork as soon as he brought it out to her. We again pay some money (about $25, I think) and finally we have the death certificate!!!

Next stop Tawam Hospital to deliver the paperwork saying he can be transported to the mortuary. We deliver the documents and head back to Mark's apartment. Once back at the apartment, I begin to look at everything there to decide how to get it all home. And, I begin to have visitors. During my stay in Al Ain, I had a chance to meet just about everyone at the company Mark worked for. Each of them made the effort to either come see me, call me or leave me a card. And I mean everyone! Fellow crew members, dispatchers, the new chief pilot, the old chief pilot, office staff, etc.

Please note that the entire time this is all happening, my phone has not stopped ringing the entire day! I talked to Mark's boss, Dave. I talked to the insurance company in France. I talked to the social worker at Tawam Hospital. I talked to the head of Tawam Hospital. And, I talked to Assaad with the company Mark worked for, just to name a few. I have been given a million instructions in various phone calls. Paperwork and information has been requested. I have given out a huge amount of information. I felt like I should have had that phone surgically implanted!

FYI: Please let me identify some of the people mentioned above. Ted worked with Mark at the former company and the current company. He and his amazing wife, Rose, were an absolute Godsend to us. Melanie is the wife of another crew member working for the company. She was amazing! Wait til I get to the ambulance part and you will know why! Dave was Mark's boss and friend. He also worked with Mark at the former company. I don't know what I would have done without him either! Assaad is the jack of all trades at the current company. His help has been and continues to be invaluable. Hind wears a few hats for the current company. Without her language skills and help, I am sure we would still be there! ( I don't want to put the names of the companies in here because then a Goo*gle search will bring people to my blog which I don't want to happen!)

Ian & Papaw

Cutest picture ever! Ian and his Papaw. Yes, those are flower stickers on both of their faces! Go click on the photo for a closer look. Too stinkin' cute!!!


(posted by Sam - I just can't stand to see the funeral stuff every time I open Heather's blog, so I thought I would share this photo with everyone. Heather will be back when she is ready.)

Mark's Funeral Arraignments

Mark Edwards' funeral arraignments:

Visitation will be on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 5pm-8pm at Adkins Funeral Home in Enon, Ohio.

Funeral service will be held on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 11am at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Enon, Ohio.

Heather has asked that instead of flowers donations be made to American Heart Association or to St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

(posted by Sam)

Headed Home Soon!!!

That's right: WE ARE HEADED HOME SOON!!! We will leave the hotel here in Dubai in about 2.5 hours. Our flight arrives in Dulles at 6AM. Then, we are scheduled on the flight into Dayton that arrives at 9:43 AM.

We are packed, beyond ready to go and pacing the floor waiting for the shuttle to the airport.

Update

After much craziness and grief yesterday, I finally got Mark to Emirates Sky Cargo. I am assuming that he is already in Frankfort by this point. I have not received a call saying the plane is still here. So that is a good sign.

Right now Mom and I are in a hotel in Dubai. (Sheraton Deira for those that travel here. Very nice and with the help of Assaad, in a lovely suite. ) My wonderful new friend, Melanie, stayed with us last night. She drove Mom and I here and will be taking us around town today.

As of right now, Assaad is working on getting our tickets changed. We had a friend look at the load on the United flight yesterday and it was pretty open. So hopefully, he will be able to get us out of here tonight. We would fly directly to Dulles in Washington D.C., arriving at 6 AM. Sorry I will be waking some people up with calls when I get stateside! Then the next flight to Dayton leaves at 8:11A and arrives in Dayton at 9:45A on Monday morning. It's NOT CONFIRMED yet. So, say a few prayers, keep your fingers crossed, rub your rosary beads, do whatever you think will work.

I will keep you all posted as best I can on here and Skype, but I realize it's the middle of the night at home.

There are too many stories to tell about this trip. When I get home and settled, I will spill it all here, but right now my focus is getting home. I do want to tell you that Mark is traveling home on an Atlas plane. (How ironic?!?!) And the crazy Russian pilot, Alex Nicolov, that he always talked about is the Captain for the last leg of the journey into Toledo. Friend, Tom Low, is also on board for that flight. So he is being brought home by friends. Can't tell you how much better that makes this whole mess.