Wednesday

I should be transferring in about 4 hours. I have settled my bill here, and it wasn't cheap. My insurance only paid about two thirds. I really do need to get out of here. I won't have a private room at first, so I will be on a public ward until a private room opens up. Oh well. I'll contact again when I am able..

Tuesday

Some days it seems like I take two steps forward and one step back. Then there are days I take one step forward and two steps back. I feel like that now. My foot has swollen up again, so I cannot have surgery yet. Also the doctor who is going to do my tendon surgery wants me to move back to Nakhon Ping hospital (his hospital) so he can monitor me and do a special Negative Pressure Wound Treatment that he thinks will work well in my case. It would be much cheaper there, but it is far from the city center and I would get fewer visitors. I would also have to have people bring me food, since I was unable to eat the food there and digest it.

I probably won't have internet access there (or only sporadically) So I won't be able to communicate as easily. I will decide tonight what to do. If I transfer to Hakhon Ping I will try to blog about it before I go.

Monday Afternoon

I am feeling kind of happy today. My orthopedic surgeon came by and looked at my foot today. He told me the wound on the top of my foot had healed enough to take a skin graft. That means it is no longer oozing scabbing material or bleeding. It now looks rosy red, like a freshly cut well marbled steak. So he asked the plastic surgeon to come take a look at it later today. There is going to be a big ugly scar on top of my foot when this is done, but I guess they want to make it look as good as possible. Hopefully the surgery can happen in the next couple of days. They will repair the tendon in my big toe, then do a skin graft to cover the top of my foot. I just hope it gets done soon. The sooner it gets done, the sooner I can get out of here and back to my apartment, and back to work. Although that won't happen for at least five weeks, since I don't have any classes this term.

Sunday Evening

It is Sunday and it has been a quiet day. I had a short Physical Therapy session today. Mainly we just reviewed what they taught me yesterday about walking with crutches and going up and down stairs. That is a necessary skill since I am going to be in a cast for six weeks. One of my friends brought me some DVDs yesterday so I watched the newest Star Trek movie. Not the same on the small screen as it was on the big screen.

This afternoon we had a strong thunderstorm. The electricity went out several Times but seems to be back on now. Everything outside looks well scrubbed and fresh now.

In Hospital

Well, I am back to blogging. I had a little motorcycle accident last week and now am in the hospital recovering. I will need surgury (hopefully soon) to repair a tendon in my foot and to do a skin graft on the top of my foot.

I am not in too much pain, but I am bored and lonely. Most days I get a few visitors, but I am not expecting any today. The teachers at work will be working all day today, so I don't expect any of them. But tomorrow is a day off, so I may get quite a few. I pass my time reading, watching TV and surfing the internet.

The Doctor is going to write orders for me to use crutches, so hopefully I can get up some more, maybe walk around the ward some.

Birthday Surprise

Well, I am leaving for Doi Ang Khan in the morning. I am excited about seeing a part of Thailand I have not seen yet. I will certainly take lots of photos, and hopefully post some of them.

I did have a birthday a couple of weeks ago. I turned 48, only two more till I hit the big five-oh. It doesn't bother me at all, I am quite comfortable with my age, and don't particularly want to be any younger. (I would like to have the healthy constitution of a 25 year old, but I don't have any desire at all to actually be 25 again).

I told my students in Summer Term Two that my birthday was in April. I don't normally do anything to try to draw attention to myself, for sure I don't try to encourage my students to give me gifts. I occasionally get a gift from a student or a class, but I don't encourage it. I appreciate the gesture, but I don't want my students spending money on something I may not want, or be able to use. I thought I would be safe this time since my birthday was over a week after the end of that term. But they had other ideas. The last day, after I had handed out grades (unfortunately giving three failing grades to students who had not passed the level 8 test, they threw a party for me, with a cake, a silly pink princess stein, and a big poster with their pictures.



That is supposed to be me in the lower left, although I don't usually have a bird perched on my stomach. They know I am a birdwatcher, so that is in honor of that.

Well, a good time was had by all, even the students who failed. That is one of the things I really love about my students, no matter how disappointed they are, they can shift moods to happy and celebrating in only a few seconds.

Anyway, I need to get to bed so I can get up early.

Musings about this and that

We have finished Summer Terms here in CM, and it couldn't have come soon enough. The last two weeks I have been at the end of my tether. I haven't done a great job of teaching, but my students are a forgiving bunch. In reality they probably didn't even notice the downward slide of my teaching, but I did. Next year I will have to make some other arrangement during Summer Terms. If I am still here I will only work part-time.

Now I have a few days off. I have been cleaning my apartment, exercising, and on Tuesday I will be taking a trip up North. I will visit Doi Ang Khan, the "Little Switzerland" of Thailand, for its high altitude, cool weather, and Swiss architecture.

I also talked with my mother this morning. It was good to talk to her. I should call more often, but time just tends to slip away.

My best wishes to the people on the Gulf Coast, who are being hit by another catastrophe less than five years after Hurricane Katrina.