With my Open Water course finished, I managed to get one of the last ferry tickets over to Samui.  Check in was at 5.30am and I finally arrived at the Bangkok Samui Hospital around 9.30am after haggling with taxi drivers who wanted 800 baht instead of the 150 baht it should have been.

Anyway, I found Si’s room and entered to find him hobbling back from the toilet to his bed.   Oh bless, he looked very sweaty and uncomfortable  …his drip was threaded his tshirt and down to his waist which seemed very odd.   As I was there, he decided to have a shower and change into the hospital pj’s which for some odd reason have hundreds of ties on  …very strange.

With blood pressure, temperature and blood test being taken on a regular basis, he’s being looked after but I’m finding it strange that when they take his temperature and they say ‘you have fever’ that they don’t give any paracetomol to him there and then.  Si has to ring a few minutes later to ask for them.  Even when his drip was nearly empty, we had to call, someone came in, looked, left and then someone else appeared to change the bag  …doesnt seem to be very organised at all.

So, with blood pressure, temperature pretty steady, his platelets are dropping and only we’ve been advised that only when they’re above 150 (now 104) that he can leave  …as you can imagine, Simon is estatic!

The hospital food looks ok but for Si, it must be very boring, pasta & tofu.  I did order pizza delivery last night of which Si picked at the garlic bread, at least it was something.

There’s not much happening here.   Si’s watched a bit of TV,  tiny bits of UK work when he’s feeling up to it and trying to sleep, which is a struggle because as soon as he tries, someone comes in to do his blood pressure and temperature  ….so he’s not the happiest of bunnies.

This morning I went out to Tesco Lotus  …to buy a few bits for him.  Mints for his breath, as he’s not allowed to brush his teeth, just in case of a bleed and cartons of pineapple & orange juice, as that’s all he fancied.

Jen
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Well,

Its official… the blood test came back positive. The clinic wanted to keep me in overnight with a drip, but I refused as a weekend night at the clinic would not be very peaceful.. So, Jen and I went home to rest, and I informed the insurance company of the situation.

The next morning, Jenny left to finish her Open Water course, while I gingerly rode to the clinic feeling quite dizzy… As soon as I arrived they jabbed me with a glucose injection and stuck an IV drip into me.. Then it was transportation to Koh Samui..

The journey took about 3 hours, standard ferry trip and then ambulance from the port to the Bangkok Samui hospital. Once into the ER room, I had a gaggle of nurses poking and prodding, taking blood adding a new IV line (missing twice)… and then a ton of documents to sign to acknowledge all costs (so far about £2,000 !).

The easiest way to monitor Dengue Fever and make sure it doesn’t turn into the bad type is to count the platelets in the blood.. The last 3 days they have been 164,000 , 143,000, and today 120,000… So still dropping and probably will for a few more days. With this count, my levels are still pretty healthy although below what they should be..  we shall see what happens.

Body temperature has been up and down like a yoyo… Fever for a couple of hours, and then fine for a couple of hours… highest temp was 39.7C !!

Anyway, I am glad to say that Jenny came over this morning to keep me company for a day or 2… Here is a picture of me in my hospital glad rags.

Quick update.

Last night I started getting pain in my back and knees… then on came a whopping fever, dizziness and headache.

Today, it continued, so I have wasted no time in getting a blood test for Dengue Fever. If this turns up positive, then I am heading to Samui in the morning… Just phoned the insurance company to let them know etc….

Fingers crossed its just a basic fever… I shall update you when I can… and please don’t worry!

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