Two hours into her flight from Athens to Dubai, Georgina Papafotiou didn’t feel right.
The Greek Australian was acutely aware that her legs were starting to tingle and swell. The pain she felt in her left calf was starting to shift and rise to her hips.
She got up from her seat to pace in the aisle thinking it would help, but things were going from bad to worse.
“Once the swelling got really tight the leg got really stiff, I couldn’t move it,” she tells Neos Kosmos.
“When I collapsed I realised it was quite serious and then the tightness of the chest and the sweating and the high temperatures developed very fast.”
Emirates flight attendants worked quickly, trying to ascertain what could be causing her pain.
With two hours to go until they could land safely in Dubai, they quickly called medical staff on the ground to get a diagnosis.
Georgia was suffering from life-threatening blood clots due to deep vein thrombosis.
Just like in the movies, the flight attendants had to put a call out for any doctors on board to come and help.
Thankfully, a fellow Greek Australian and country NSW GP Peter Calaizis was on board. A pro in emergency situations back home in Griffith, he knew the situation was bad.
“The only thing they had on board was tablets for pain and some aspirin, so there wasn’t a lot to work with,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
“It would have been ideal if we had morphine and some blood thinning type of injections, but we didn’t have those.”
Georgia was crashing and there wasn’t a lot of time to think.
“As soon as the doctor came that’s when my heart stopped beating,” she says. “He did CPR and five compressions and brought me back to life.”
The last 60 minutes of the flight were crucial. Dr Calaizis had to keep her stable enough to make it to the ambulance waiting at Dubai airport.
Without any useful medicine, he had to resort to trying to keeping her calm.
“In view of the limited things available, giving her reassurance was extremely important,” he says.
“I held her hand because it was a nice thing to do to relieve stress. You just hold on.”
That gesture went a long way, as it is the one thing Georgina remembers of her ordeal.
With the flight prioritised for landing, Georgina made it through the last hour of the flight and was rushed to Dubai Hospital.
Injected with blood thinning medicine, she was being warned if the pain didn’t subside, she would have to get herself prepared for surgery.
“They were worried there was a blood clot forming close to my heart,” she says.
With her mind racing, all she could focus on were her two children back home in Melbourne.
But thankfully, the worst had past and with a couple more injections of blood thinning medicine, she was on the way to recovery.
Now, a month on from her ordeal, she is organising a reunion with her mid-air saviour.
“I haven’t seen the doctor since he let go of my hand at Dubai airport,” she says.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him and thanking him in person. I promised him a dinner date.”
Hoping to meet close to Christmas time, Dr Calaizis is just as keen to catch up and enjoy some Greek hospitality.
“It’s really nice of her, especially because where I live I don’t have many Greeks around, so I was really touched by the offer of dinner,” he says.
She’s even promised to give him a bit of a tour of Melbourne while he’s down.
While her ordeal has given her quite a fright, Georgina is still keen to keep up her travels.
“I feel a little bit intimidated to travel long distances,” she admits. “I would definitely get professional, doctor’s advice prior to that and maybe pre-plan with dosages with whatever they have to give me.”
Georgia’s case is one to take note of. Her blood clots surfaced after just two hours of flying. Mind you, five weeks before she had completed her long-haul flight from Melbourne to Athens without issue.
While she had been advised to wear compression stockings after knee surgery 10 years ago, they were little help.
The ordeal has made her much more aware of how important it is to keep up your circulation while flying, whatever the distance.
“For anybody travelling, as soon as they feel a tingling or uncomfortable pain, they need to get up and start walking as soon as possible,” she says.
“It’s important that the blood circulates. Even if you’re wearing compressed stockings, like I was, sometimes it’s not enough.”