Tag Archives: x-ray

Day 220 – Pain

As expected, we did very little today. The first night after the accident was rough for me. I did not find a good position to lie without pain in the arm, even with the ibuprofen. Groggy and deflated, we got out of bed to go find breakfast. Turned out we got more than we hoped for. Both of us were actually defeated by our set breakfasts.

"scanning" the x-ray for the insurance

“scanning” the x-ray for the insurance

The sheer amount of food we had for breakfast plus our low energy levels meant that we would retreat and coil up in our room for the rest of the day. The pain was ok while immobilized, but I very soon started to get annoyed with the utter uselessness of my right arm. This set out to be a long and annoying recovery for me.

We did get one thing managed: I got in contact with our travel insurance and they promised to get their doctor to look over our documents and get in contact with us tomorrow for the next steps.

That night we went out to another place in town. Their local Lao food turned out to be really nice and pretty reasonably priced.

One day of recovery done … how many more to go?

Day 219 – Grinding to a halt

One could take up a boat ride to remote villages but we are on a bike ...

One could take up a boat ride to remote villages but we are on a bike …

Three weeks in Laos felt like a decent amount of time. So from beautiful Nong Khiew, we had two more days to go: To Luang Namtha today and then on to the border town of Houei Xai tomorrow.

From here on, the road seemed to be new. Perfect tarmac in a stunning setting. We made very good progress while cruising along, enjoying the ride rather than pushing it. 230km for today was nowhere near yesterday’s push so we really took it easy.

Nice turns!

Nice turns!

Arriving in Oudom Xai at 11.30am, it seemed a little early for lunch so we continued on, starting on the last 100km for today. Not too bad to arrive early and have some time to catch up on blogging. Nothing really changed: The tarmac was perfect, we cruised through the corners. One of the corners was in shade with the surface seeming wet there. When we rode it though, it turned out to be something entirely different than water. Something slippery as hell. In milliseconds, the tyres slipped, the bike dropped from the tyres onto the pannier but continued riding the corner until it fully tilted onto the broadside of the pannier which resulted in a spin and then dropped us on the ground where we and the bike stopped.

... looks like road, rides like an ice rink

… looks like road, rides like an ice rink

Quickly checking that I was okay, I turned to Flo who said he needed a minute to sort through the different pains. To be safe, I turned off the engine. Not knowing what to do next with Flo still on the ground, I took a photo of the scene. Because pumped with adrenaline, you don’t exactly have the best ideas about what to do. It was then that a horn sounded: A truck announcing its presence from around the corner so nobody would overtake. We sounded the bike’s horn because it was lying in the middle of the road. Luckily, the truck driver understood and slowed down to a crawl being able to stop and help us get the bike up and to the side of the road without any further issues.

Got the stuff off to get it out of the way

Got the stuff off to get it out of the way

Well, the bike had no further issues. Nothing was broken, just the plastic from the front indicator fell off. It is still in one piece so can be glued back on. The pannier has new scratches but not many considering our slide and the military haversacks we use as front panniers were completely unscathed.

However, Flo’s right arm was not okay. He could tell pretty early on and you can see it on the picture that I took after the accident. Pumped with adrenaline, he thought it would be okay in an hour or so while I thought it might be broken. I fell onto my hip and didn’t feel much pain yet because of the adrenaline so if Flo was in pain…it must be something.

So I started to stop cars. Surprisingly few would actually stop with me waving like a madwoman in a corner of the road. The second car that stopped was from a NGO or something like it. At least, the people inside spoke English. They offered to drive us to a nearby hospital but we didn’t feel like leaving the bike here was a good idea. We settled on them driving off, asking a truck in town to come pick us up. Slightly relieved, we sat down, calculating that it might take up to 1 1/2 hours for this to happen. In the end, it didn’t take nearly as long.

Setting a point of interest in the GPS so we would be able to find the bike again

Setting a point of interest in the GPS so we would be able to find the bike again

An ambulance showed up. Obviously called for us. The driver then realized that he couldn’t also transport the bike. With a heavy heart, we shoved our luggage into the ambulance, parked the bike out of the way as best as we could and left for the hospital.

The “hospital” was not exactly that. Yes, they had doctors and nurses but almost no equipment. They touched and bent Flo’s arm while he was obviously in pain before letting us know that we had to get to Luang Namtha’s hospital. By this point, Luang Namtha was 70km away. A world away without the bike. No one here really spoke English and while I discussed with the ambulance driver and a doctor that I will NOT hand over the keys to the bike so a local can drive it here, one of the nurses wanted to give Flo an injection of something we didn’t know. Overwhelmed by the situation, we decided that we will all stick together and nothing except for a cooling cream will be done until we are in the bigger hospital.

Strapping down on greedy doc's truck

Strapping down on greedy doc’s truck

Once everyone understood that we were adamant of finding a pick-up truck to pick up Rocinante and then drop the three of us at Luang Namtha’s hospital, plans were made. The doctor himself offered his pick-up for the ride…for the steep price of 1.000.000 kip. That’s a fortune in local currency. About NZ$200 for a car ride of 70km. Well, we were desperate and under time pressure (and in pain) so the doctor got himself a deal. Repacking our luggage from the ambulance into the pick-up, we went back for Rocinante. It wasn’t easy to get her up, another local passing on a scooter was volunteered to help as well and then everything had to be tied down. Flo didn’t look too well but he had to help to make sure the bike was secure.

Leaving at 3pm, it took 1 1/2 hours to reach Luang Namtha. Our drivers were in high spirits (no wonder for that price) and even agreed to stop at a hostel first so that we could securely park the bike and store our luggage before hitting the hospital. Luang Namtha is bigger and more touristy so the hostel owner spoke English which made us hopeful for the hospital.

Worse for wear

Worse for wear

The hospital still was a provincial hospital in Northern Laos though. Mimicking an accident on a motorcycle and pointing at the arm, we were brought into an examination room were more people bent Flo’s arm. We asked for an x-ray and the hospital actually had one. Flo was wheel-chaired off to radiology while I paid what google translate said was “service/examination fee”.

A short wait later, we got the x-ray and nothing is broken. Much relief for both of us. Flo was still in pain though so we got Ibuprofen as pain killers and a sling for his arm to keep it still.

Nothing more could be done today so we had food and then collapsed for 12 hours of sleep.