Just Get Me to the Hospital

Before I arrived in Bangkok, I'd researched hotels and booked a room at a place that was highly rated on both agoda.com and tripadvisor.com.  I booked and paid for the room for my entire stay.

Then the hospital stay interfered.   Because I'd prepaid, I ended up paying both the hotel and hospital for two nights.  When I got out of the hospital I hoped to go back to Citypoint but they were full.  My first night out of the hospital I stayed at On8, which wasn't far from Citypoint and was very nice, although the room had no window and "mood" lighting which is great for romance but stinks for reading in bed.

After one night at On8, I moved back to Citypoint for a couple of nights.  Unfortunately, though, they were full again on the 27th so I had to find another place for the remainder of my stay in Bangkok.

I loved Citypoint so was surprised this morning when it was time to check out.  They insisted "No, you stay until tomorrow, the 28th!"  I reminded the clerk that I'd asked to stay until the 30th but had been told that they were fully booked on the 27th.  I'd even checked the day before when I got back from the hospital to see if they'd had any cancellations.  No, they hadn't and I'd have to check out.

The very sweet clerk showed me the check-in form that showed I was staying to the 28th.  Except it was originally marked the 27th, which had been crossed out and the 28th written in.  I felt bad- I would have preferred to stay another night - or 3.

Once we sorted that out, I was running late.  I'd allowed 1 1/2 hours to check out of the hotel, stop by the new hotel (which was directly on the way to the hospital) and then go on to the hospital.  Normally, it's a 10 minute drive.

A bellman went out to get a taxi for me and explain about the dropping off the luggage before going to the hospital.  But after 15 minutes there was no taxi so I grabbed my bags and headed to the street where I caught up with the bellman.  Several cabs stopped and refused to take me.  I don't know why.  The bellman said they didn't want to turn into the hotel and then have to go to the hospital.

At that point I was running late so gave up and figured I'd just take my luggage with me to the hospital.  After another 10 minutes, I got a cab.  I asked him to pop the trunk for my suitcase.  He said to put it in the back seat.  As I wrestled with the large suitcase, he watched.

Once at the hospital, I checked in, as usual.  Not as usual, they directed me to sit in a different area.  Ten minutes later a nurse came and asked me to follow her to the triage area, where my whole hospital experience began 9 days ago.

She weighed me (5 lbs down!) and measured my height.  Then we sat and she took my temp and blood pressure.  Then she asked why I was there.  She had my file in front of her, opened to a clean new "outpatient" page.  I pointed at the IV port in my hand and said I was there to get the IV antibiotics.  I also pointed to the appointment sheet in her hand, which documented when and why I was supposed to be there.  She smiled, nodded and copied the information onto the blank sheet.

Next she took me to wait in my usual spot, outside the injection room.  Five minutes later one of the nurses I knew came and got me to plug me in.  Yesterday it took almost two hours for the IV because the drip was so slow.  Today, 25 minutes.  I have no idea why one day they insisted it be so slow and today we were back to normal.

One of the nurses escorted me to pay (less than $30 for the entire treatment) and then took me outside where she explained to the staff there I needed a taxi and where I wanted to go.  After a short wait, the guys helped me and my luggage into the taxi and explained to the driver where to take me.

I got into the cab and asked the driver if he understood where I wanted to go.  Yes, he did.  And he knew how to get there?  No, he didn't.  But he had a general idea so off we went.

In broken English he chatted with me.  One of his first questions was how old I was.  He seemed disappointed when I told him 62.  He was only 54.  That's when I discovered that he is widowed and would like to be remarried.

Finding the hotel required a couple of stops to ask for help but we found it and he watched as I hauled my luggage out.  Then he waited to make sure this really was where I wanted to go, since it appeared to be just a restaurant.  Actually, The Dubliner is a B&B, with a restaurant/pub on the first floor and a hotel above.

Happily, I was quickly checked in and my room was ready.  It's not quite as fancy as Citypoint, but it's a great location, clean and has everything I need for my last few days (hopefully!) in Bangkok.

And tomorrow, I can just step outside for a 5 minute taxi ride to the hospital.  With no luggage and no hassle.

Observations and Tidbits

Since I'm cooling my heels in bed for a couple of weeks, working on getting over this stinking leg infection, I've had lots of time to think.  Not deep thoughts, mind you.  Just thinking about random stuff.  I thought I'd share.

• I don't think it's a good idea for the nurse to write an expiration date on a piece of tape and put it on your hand when you're admitted to the hospital.  I thought I only had five days to live.  Then day five arrived and I realized that it just meant I had to get a new IV port.  That was a relief.
  
• Who else wears all those giant pajamas that they had in the hospital?  Green is for boys, pink is for girls.  I thought they were unisex but after the first day in green the nurses made sure I only had pink.  I really liked them except for the fact that the top had strings that tied together instead of buttons.  Even when they stayed tied, there tended to be gaps which showed off my cleavage.  Not the look I was going for when chatting with the priest.
  
• Is is just me or does it seem funny that they play American country western music at the fancy new mall (Terminal 21)?
  
• Tuk tuks are quickly becoming a thing of the past.  I'll miss them.  But I do enjoy riding in the Pepto Pink taxis.  Too bad I can't wear my giant pink PJs while I ride.  If I'm ever really rich I'm going to have a vehicle collection.  Sort of like Jay Leno.  Except I'll have a tuk tuk and a Segway.
  
• Kids say the darndest things.  My kids sit in teams of 4/5.  We randomly switch up the teams every 2 weeks.  The kids are used to the drill and seem to like it.  They know they'll compete as a team and have chances to win prizes based on how they do following the rules.  After they form their new teams, they choose team names.  Some things the kids said recently:
• One boy, as he watched his team coming together, slapped himself on the forehead and said "Oh no, we are not clever!"  Then, as two more kids joined the team he started laughing and said "Oh, it will be ok.  You're clever!"
• A sensitive little girl was very distraught because her team chose a name other than "Hello Kitty", the one she wanted.  As the kids moved on to an activity, I rubbed her back and talked to her about compromise.  With tears and snot flowing, she turned big brown eyes up to me and with deep emotion said "I know but "Hello Kitty" is so beautiful!"
  
• Why do so many countries add so much sugar to orange juice?  At breakfast the OJ and guava juice both look delicious but they are too, too sweet.
  
• The hotel where I've been staying, Citypoint Hotel, is full tomorrow, so I have to change to another location.  I'm moving closer to the hospital.  It's called the Dubliner.  Yes, I'll be staying in an Irish hotel which is over an Irish pub in Bangkok.
  
• I've never owned an Ipod.  I've owned two Kindles.  No question, if I was trapped on a deserted island, I'd go with books rather than tunes.
  
• I ate Subway yesterday.  It was cheaper than in the US but tasted very much the same.
  
• People in Malawi, Thailand and Myanmar (three countries where I've spent time recently) all have much thinner people than the USA.  But it's hard to find diet sodas.  Am I fat because I drank diet soda?
  
• It's considered a syndrome when a song gets stuck in your head.  Is it also a syndrome when a craving for a certain food won't go away?  For me it was a burger and salad.  I've had those (although not an American burger) so I'm over that craving.  Now it's mashed potatoes.  Luckily, I can take care of that easily when I get home.
  
• I prefer vegetarian pizza.  I'm not that choosy about the toppings but have to say that corn and cauliflower on pizza are not my favorites.  And using ketchup as the sauce is just wrong.
  
• When the kids made pirate hats they wanted to wear them constantly.  I figured "Why not?" so let them wear them all the time.  What's cuter than 29 little pirates taking a math quiz?  Now I'm researching other hats and masks that we can make - and how I can tie them into the core curriculum.  
• At home in Myanmar I don't have a telephone, internet or television.  But I can still procrastinate and waste time like an expert.
  
• In the hospital, they checked my vital signs regularly.  That included me informing them of my bathroom habits.  Every two hours I giggled when they asked "How many peepee?  How many poopoo?"  It feels a bit lonely now that no one cares.  BTW, in Mandalay "peepee" is "light" and "poopoo" is "heavy".  It seems that #1 and #2 are not universal.
  
• The prices in Bangkok have really gone up but today on the way home from the hospital we passed a flower vendor.  Two dozen beautiful roses for about $1.50.
  
• I had to look online to find out what day it was today.  And what month.  Is that a bad thing?