Hope your wife is better. That's scary stuff when you're far away from home. Hopefully, you're no longer stressed about the phone calls. Sounds like you weren't charged. Good luck!
When that happened to me it was because I'd inadvertently turned off my cell data. Turned it back on and messaging worked again. It's never happened since.
Please let us know when the issue has been resolved. I’ve been a long term customer without complaint and have recommended Public Mobile to many but these last few months have been very annoying with frequent dropped calls.