Bumrungrad
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2009
1
44
45
Trip End
Dec 21, 2009
Bangkok, Thailand
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
"Hey Mary, what you doin’ in Bangkok? You s’posed to be on some train in Vietnam, or at the very least, crawling over some more ancient temples in Cambodia! I’m getting tired of this craziness of you ending up unexpectedly in Bangkok!"
To be honest, so am I.
Here’s the skinny. I don’t know why I’m talking like this either, so let’s pass it off as drugs.
After all the shifting around hospitals and clinics, and minor surgery in Vietnam, someone decided to send me off for real surgery and a general anaesthetic, which is scary stuff, you’ll agree. This was also all done on my own, which we’ve discovered I’m much less fond of in developing nations. Arriving at the hospital, the specialist came down, diagnosed me with exactly what I thought I had (have) and then said I couldn’t have it, since I wasn’t a man, so I could go home to Ireland. Of course I was insulted, and of course he was completely incorrect, but I WAS FREE. I got onto my travel insurance (the Irish among you may be surprised to learn that VHI’s travel insurance section is based with a company in Holland, so you deal with Meerta and Mirska and Lynka, not Margaret and Teresa and Patricia), and begged them to send me home to Ireland. After several Skypes and fuzzy Vietnam phone lines (and lots and lots of tears), it was decided by yet another doctor who has no idea what’s wrong with me (and who – since he’s in Holland – hasn’t even seen me), that the best they could do was send me to Bangkok for assessment there.
The compromise was business class, which I didn’t realise until I got to the top of the economy queue. What harm. I sat in the soft seats of the business lounge, and had plenty of room to move around on the plane. Sadly, for it was a lovely menu, I didn’t have anything to eat, for fear of another general anaesthetic emergency. The flight was short and sweet, and after a few more confused minutes in my airport of the season, I was off in an ambulance to Bumrungrad Hospital.
The rest is uninteresting. More minor surgery was had, some GOOD painkillers were administered, and I’m in a lovely four bed ward that rivals ALL of the hotels I’ve stayed in since August (with the obvious exception of Hong Kong, where they didn’t stick needles into you and ask you about your bowel movements).
I’m kinda bored, and quite lonely. And disappointed about missing my tour. I actually have very little pain since the first surgery, but I’ve a big cut on my back, so I’m not risking splitting it open by sitting on it. I also can’t lie on my back yet, which gets old really fast. This all means that there’s no way I could risk being in another bamboo village in Cambodia after eight hours on a bumpy bus, since Cambodia is pretty much on a par with Laos as far as medical assistance is concerned. I want to go home, but the doctors want to keep me here, and keep me drugged, so I’ll play along for now.
But just know that I escaped Vietnam.
Edit: AND I was able to upload pictures for the last several entries! Yay!
Comments
Sorry to read about your problem. All a learning exprience. Hope you make a full recovery and you get back to Ireland safely. Praying for you. Tony /Florence
Ouch! That all sounds sooooooooooo sore. Safe journey home!
Lookin forward to seeing you! Chin up! You'll be home soon!
Delighted you are in safe hands now Mary. The food looks appetising too!
Mary, Its all so unfair, just get home and recover. Its nearly Christmas and you will have a bit of craic at home with family and friends. You can certainly say that you had the experience of a life time. C U soon!! safe trip.
Dang!!! Even the word surgery gives me the willies.