- What a story. And what a concept... being responsible for your actions. Eric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Yvonne Von Der Ahe" <yvda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 2:37 PM 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 > > > > > **************************************** > For List Info or To make _ANY_ changes, including unsubscribing from this > list, click -----> //www.freelists.org/list/geocaching > Missouri Caches Scheduled to be Archived http://tinyurl.com/87cqw **************************************** For List Info or To make _ANY_ changes, including unsubscribing from this list, click -----> //www.freelists.org/list/geocaching Missouri Caches Scheduled to be Archived http://tinyurl.com/87cqw