Lost in Istanbul

The Untold Story

With Steve frequently lapsing into unconsciousness, we have one shot at getting to the U.S. from Kosovo without being thrown off the plane.

He had a stroke in Greece. An overnight affair that left him sight-impaired. An inability to line up right images with the left. Causing dizziness and disorientation. We didn’t know it for a stroke. Steve thought maybe it was a brain tumor, and therefore best left alone. Seriously.

He had another stroke in Macedonia. This one left him almost blind, thoroughly fatigued, unbalanced, and prone to passing out. An ambulance run from Prilep to Skopje got him stabilized in a modern private hospital, and though still almost sightless, he could walk to and from the restaurants where we ate.

Concerned by such upsetting news, Shawn (his son) joined us in Skopje. Next stop, Kosovo.

First night in Kosovo, I walked out of the bathroom to hear Shawn’s urgent question, “Is this normal?” He was asking about the gibberish issuing forth from Steve. “No,” I said. “He’s having another stroke.” Later, when he had repeated this performance several times — gibberish followed by passing out — we began to call them “episodes.”

We got him to another hospital. A primitive affair meant for locals only. Requiring one family member to stay with him…