Thailand Hospital

You may not want to look at this if you have a weak stomach.

In order to get some of the details to this, you have to check out the previous posting. Presuming you've read it, I'll pick up where I left off. I'll try to make this short... However, it's a really long detailed story! Oh well, I'll have to share it with you upon our next visit. So, I made back to Samui to ask for assistance from my Thai friends. They kindly offered to take me to the doctor after they finished work. After work, they drove me on their motorbike to the pharmacist. I didn't really think about it, but on this island, the "doctor" is usually your local pharmacist. The "doctor" shaved my leg hair & gave me a thorough wound scrubbing. She provided all kinds of pills & even some for vomiting. Yes, my stomach hurt & I held down the need to vomit many times. Yet, at one point I had to eventually give in. I didn't know it at the time, but my body was becoming sick, my infection was spreading through my body, scary!

This is my leg after getting treated by the pharmacist doctor. I waited a full day before I realized nothing was getting better, but in fact worse. The next morning I called Rung to help translate for me at the hospital. I chose an international hospital & thank God I did! They spoke enough English that I didn't need a translator. They told me to wait 1.5 hours before the doctor would arrive for surgery. Surgery? They also said I'd be staying in the hospital for a few days. At this point, I pretty much knew it was coming. Josh & Paul, who also went with me, brought me back a darn good sandwich during my wait! Keep in mind, I don't get those too often in Korea. Finally, they called my name & in I go. The doctor I needed to see only works at this hospital for about 2 hours. So it's no wonder why he was in such a hurry to get through all his patients. He quickly looked at my wound & spoke Thai to the nurse. Josh went in the multiple bedded, open surgery room with me & we both watched the rest. The doctor injected a local anesthetic, which instantly provided some sort of mental relief. Yet, instead of waiting for it to kick in, the doctor decided to go right to work. This means that the the anesthetic didn't have time to "settle in"! I often thought I have a high threshold for pain, but this one topped anything I've experienced. Josh & I watched (and I held my breath in disbelief) as he literally ripped out the gangrenes skin from my wound. Yes, that's right! He just tore my skin off my body! I could feel it, and felt my brain being punished with the most intense pain I'd ever have someone inflict upon me! The doctor held the chunk of dead tissue up for us to see. Yup, we nodded in agreement that it looked dead. Of course, if it wasn't before, it certainly was now that he detached it from my leg. Finally, he ripped out all the remaining dead skin, with some pliers-type utensils. Then, the doctor proceeded to dig below the whole wound in order to insure that he cut out any infection. I really can't tell you how much this hurt, but the pain felt like it caused brain damage. I felt as though a specific part of my brain had been pierced with needles, and would never recover. Remarkably, I didn't get the intense throbbing pain I was expecting afterwards. Perhaps it was a combination of the anesthetic that finally kicked in & my brain shutting off any further neural synapsing. But... my brain hurt, a lot!!!

This photo was taken after the dressing was removed. If you enlarge this, you can see the depth of the hole they left. Plus, check out the size of my normally skinny legs! Where's my ankle? You can barely see my toes in this photo, but take a peek at them. Not good...

It didn't look the best inside, but at this point I was confident in their treatment.

Making the best of the situation.

I really couldn't beat the accomodations! My own room with 2 beds & a nice view of the pool. This hospital was previously a resort, which is why it looks so nice. I spent many days & nights here. I saw the sunny days...

I saw the rainy moments...

I saw the SCUBA divers...

Luckily, my friends visited me! Although, I saw them leave as well...




This video shows a portion of the dressing that was done twice a day!

I celebrated my 33rd birthday in the hospital! With my cheesy self-portrait, I made the best of it. With all that time alone, it was definitely something to ponder one's life over. It's funny that in this photo, you can see where I've had another large cut. Yeah, go figure that I end up with more stitches!

My Sunday birthday lunch & dinner! Yes, I choose the Thai meals & enjoyed them! The nurses all wished me a happy birthday as well. Course, they started wishing me at 7:30 am when the first nurses came in to do their morning check up.

My Thai friends came to wish me a happy birthday!!! Phen, Wan, Aow, Mui & Bon, came to bring gifts after work. It was incredibly nice of them! Josh & Paul were also there, but occupied with taking the picture.

These were the gifts that were not edible. I felt very lucky to have the friends that I do & also to have met such wonderful people. It was a birthday I'll always remember, for more reasons than one.

After five nights in the hospital & cleanings like this... I was ready to leave. This video shows some of the finishing touches of the dressings that were done each day. By the way, there was never any pain killers, besides Tylenol. Fortunately, I only had to use those for my fever.

I was dreading this, yet also looking forward to it. It meant I could leave!!! Another anesthetic was injected & an instant sewing! The doctor quickly yanked each side of my skin to mend together. I couldn't believe their were no internal stitches either! I had to go in for daily dressings after being released from the hospital. Upon one of my return visits, I spoke to one of the guys who was in the operating room while this stitching took place. He said that once the doctor dove into my leg, my face instantly turned white! I believe it! He also said that it scared him, because he was next!

There was so much moisture in the air right here, that I couldn't get a clear photo with a flash. These were some of the nurses that took care of me. I greatly thanked them, as they made my hospital visit so much better than it could have been. Especially now that I have a Shanghai, China hospital visit to compare to. I'll get to those postings eventually. It's not nearly as serious of a situation, but it still had me worried.

All in all, my hospital stay was a learning one. Believe it or not, I really enjoyed the time that I was forced to do nothing but relax! Well, besides the routine dressings of discomfort. I read all the time & had the chance to reflect on many different aspects of life. Of course, I really enjoy seeing the water, so the swimming pool was a blessing to have outside my window! I could go on & on about life's little lessons, but we all experience them in different ways.