[GeoStL] Re: China musings

  • From: "Susan Ring" <susanmring@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:29:07 -0500

-
Wow, that's quite an interesting story.  I had to miss lunch today so thanks
for telling it.  And I hope you're foot heals up just fine.

Susan

-----Original Message-----
From: geocaching-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:geocaching-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Yvonne Von Der Ahe
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 2:38 PM
To: geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [GeoStL] China musings


-
At lunch today several suggested that I write up what recently happened to
me in China.  So here's the story...arrived Beijing from LA on May 18th at
5:30 am after a 15 hour flight, went to breakfast, then on a tour of the
Hutong (the old area of Beijing) via rickshaw.  At the end of the tour my
friend, Mary, and I alit from the rickshaw and were standing by the driver
when this car came out of nowhere and struck me (I was not standing in the
traffic lane).  I was knocked to the ground and the left front tire of the
car ran over my right foot causing my shoe to come off (tread marks on the
shoe to prove it).  I could not stand or bear weight on the foot and my
right arm was battered and bleeding.  The car?s driver picked me up and
placed me in his backseat and took me to the Beijing Friendship Hospital
which treats foreigners.  We were accompanied by the driver's co-worker and
the local tour guide who acted as the translator.  It took over an hour to
get there as he didn't
 know where it was AND he had another accident on the way there...a fender
bender, but that?s another story).  This man was NOT a good driver, but
after 2 weeks in China I'm convinced that there are few.

  On arrival at the hospital, all three went in and obtained a gurney which
I got on then they rolled me into the emergency room.  It was a LARGE room
with lots of Chinese people on gurneys surrounded by family members?no
nurses in sight.  Off to the side of the room were several curtained
cubicles where patients were slowly being seen.  In China all care has to be
prepaid, so the man who had caused my injuries registered me and paid the
fee.  I was then taken to a small room where the doctor (who spoke no
English) cleaned my bleeding arm and applied some bright blue-green liquid
and a dressing, and ordered x-rays of my foot.  By this time a friend of the
driver had come to the hospital and joined our group.  The group (driver,
co-worker, friend, and tour guide) then took me to the radiology department
for x-rays (again the service had to be prepaid). The group even accompanied
me into the x-ray room for the pics and discussed with the technician the
positioning of my foot.
  We then returned to the doctor with the x-rays and the group had this
animated conversation with the doctor in Chinese and all ignored me.  The
doctor with the assistance of the group put a splint on my foot/lower leg
and told me to come back in the morning to see the specialist.  He also
prescribed a muscle relaxant for the discomfort and a herbal medicine for
the swelling (again had to be prepaid).

  The next morning the driver came to the hotel accompanied by his sister
and the friend from the previous day, the local tour guide joined us and we
went back to the hospital where we had to wait in line to be seen (was only
about 45 minutes and again had to be prepaid).  The doctor looked at the
x-ray, discussed it with my accompanying group, then went next door and
discussed it with the other doctor, then discussed it with the casting
technician?all in Chinese and not a word to me.  Finally I got some
information out of the tour guide?multiple fractures (which I knew since I
had looked at the x-ray), no walking cast, no weight bearing for a month.
After the cast was applied I was taken back to the hotel, a wheelchair with
a pusher was arranged for the rest of the tour and a pair of crutches
obtained for areas where the wheelchair would not fit (hotel/restaurant
bathrooms, etc).  I then joined the rest of our tour group.

  For the next 12 days we toured Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi,
Suzhou and Shanghai.  China has more than eighty caches and I had planned on
geocaching while there.  Obviously the accident resulted in my not being
able to do many?in fact only three.  A beautiful country with MANY people
(all friendly and helpful), good food (as long as you don't ask what it is),
bad water and air pollution, wonderful gardens/parks, and so many pagodas
and temples and historic sites!  I took lots and lots of pictures...from my
wheelchair.

  On my return I went to the orthopedist, have a Lis Franc?s crush injury
with fractures of the 2nd-5th metatarsals...if I had been in the US with
this type of injury they would have taken me to surgery to stabilize the
joint.  But, alas, I was in China.  Now no weight bearing on the affected
foot?so am hobbling around on my crutches till mid-July when I have another
appointment with the orthopod.

  Additional information?In China when someone harms you they are
responsible for you and so it was that the driver paid for all the medical
care I received while in Beijing.  But, the costs for medical care are much
lower there than here.  After he returned me to the hotel he went to the
police with his friend to file the report (or that is what I was told).
Later in the trip we saw another accident where the woman hit by the vehicle
appeared to be dead.  Our tour guide explained that if the woman was alive,
the driver was responsible for all her hospital costs; if she was dead then
he was responsible for her funeral expenses, and if she had young children
he was responsible for them.

  Ladybug STL




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 Missouri Caches Scheduled to be Archived  http://tinyurl.com/87cqw

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