When I fall, I try to make it at least 15 feet

As you probably saw from my post on Facebook on Thursday, I had an unfortunate event that sent me to the hospital on Thursday evening. 

I finished learning how to scan a document for our office at about 5 p.m.  Angela already informed me that she was on her way to the moat via song taew where I would pick her up in time to get to Spaghetti Night around 6:00.  Angela brought two of her coworkers from Grace who are also new to Chiang Mai. 

When I returned to my  office, I found the door locked and my office-mate was already out of the office.  My car key was still inside the office.



Not to scale



To set the scene, my office is in a converted two-storey house.  My office is on the second level in one of the old bedrooms next to another office/former bedroom.  Luckily, Muay who works in the office next to ours was still at work.  I asked if she had the key to the door.  She didn't, but she found a container with some extra keys--none of which worked.

Muay asked if the windows were open.  I told her I didn't think they were, but i would check.  I approached her window, looked out onto the roof below where the roofing material looked like a plastic corrugated roof material painted to look like red tiles.  I climbed out of the window like I was in 7th grade again, checking for stability.  It seemed strong enough, so I stepped down.  I made sure I was close to extra support when I wasn't on the concrete edge under the window.  I walked to the first window.  Locked.  I walked around the corner of the house.  Locked.  Slowly and surely, I walked back to the window to reenter the office. 

We continued to make calls and try keys, but came up unsuccessful.  I borrowed a few tools from Muay to attempt to open the door, but it was securely shut.  At this point, we were still unwilling to cause any damage.

Nung went back out to the windows to try again.  I thought he might be more successful if he had a screwdriver to help.  I tried shouting at him first, but he was already around the corner.  So I stepped out to follow him.  I started to follow but wanted to shout one more time.  I put my foot out a little to get a better angle, started to shout, then heard a crack.  I expected to see a crack under my left foot, but that's not what happened.

I'm not sure about the rest, but I can guess at what happened.



Efficient Displacement (mine wasn't)

I expected to see a crack or maybe see my foot go through.  I braced myself for a cut on the ankle, but I felt my whole body go.  I fell about four or five feet,  where I found myself in a dark spot.  That lasted for only a split second.  (Switch verb tense for effect.)  The next thing I know, I'm laying on my back on the tile of the kitchen floor, looking up at where the ceiling used to be.  I notice a few pieces of metal dangling precariously above my head.  As the adrenaline hits, I jump up out of the way.  At about this time, several coworkers stick their head around the corner of the doorframe with amazed looks on their faces.  Aimee's first question is something like, "Are you okay?"  Or I might have answered it before she asked, saying, "I'm okay. I'm okay."  As I feel the blood coursing through my body and hear my heartbeat, I start to check myself.  My thumb is dripping blood.  My left thigh stings below where my pants are torn.  My left elbow throbs but is numb to the touch.  I feel the sting a few other places, and my hands start to shake as a few of the signs of shock start to set in. 

I'm led out of the kitchen where dust and debris cover the floor.  After I ask for something to wrap my thumb in, Aimee convinces me to sit down.  I fight against it at first, because I realize I'm not really hurt that badly.  Eventually, she sits me down for just a second.  My body is covered in the dust and pieces of fiberglass and drywall.  I look at my torn trousers.  A few seconds later I hear another coworker run through to check on me.  Of course, I feel foolish causing all of this attention, and I immediately know that a new roof is not in the budget.  Meanwhile, Muay is preparing to help cleanup my wounds with some iodine, but the dirt and dust is too thick, plus my pants are in the way of some of the scrapes.  As I ask for some shorts, I realize that I already have some shorts . . . in my office.  Shoot!

In no time, a pair of boxers is delivered to me so that I can wash my feet, thigh, and arms. 

After a moment, I return to the chairs where the discussion continues with me.  The main question:  Should I go to the hospital?  As Muay starts to apply the iodine, I take a deeper look into each cut and bruise.  Only a few spots concern me, but I really want to get to Spaghetti Night.  As I'm thinking this, Angela calls.  Since once hand is holding the wrap on my thumb while my elbow gets attention, I ask Aimee to answer.  Naturally, Aimee doesn't want to be the person to inform Angela of the accident, so I convince her to tell
Angela I'll call her back.  Aimee answers, "Hello, Angela.  This is Aimee.  Justin's a bit tied up at the moment.  Can he call you right back?"  That bought me 20 minutes to finish getting touched up and decide to go to the hospital for a quick check.

Thank you to Muay for cleaning me up.  And thank you to P'Oil for driving me to McCormick Hospital, then Spaghetti Night, then driving all of us to home.

McCormick was a little different than when Angela and I went for our driver's licenses:  no jazz band playing and, fortunately, a lot fewer people.  After about 20 minutes I saw a doctor who made me do some bends to check my spine, moved my arms and legs around to make sure no pain resulted, and told me I could get one stitch on my thumb if I wanted.  I told him it wasn't necessary but a tetanus shot would be a good idea since it had been about 6 years or more since the last.  He obliged.  I paid my 480 baht for the visit and shot, and then we were off, me in my two pairs of boxers and orange wounds, to Spaghetti Night.

I truly feel blessed that nothing more serious happened to my body.  And I feel cursed that I caused so much damage to the house.  Either way, I'm thanking God.  Friday I stayed home, and Aimee was kind enough to drop off my car after they broke the door knob to get in.  I still have bruises and scratches, but it mostly looks like I got in a fight with a couple of cats, one who had a bat.

Hopefully, like my mom said, I've now experienced Thai medical care, so I can check that off the list.  I hope so, especially as we start riding this motorbike around . . .

Now for some pictures:



Getting shot behind the curtain