March 22nd A happy Bob had new trousers today so a walk was planned to test them out. Being long ones my legs should have been much safer from the wilds of the jungle. Here I am modelling them for Huan, and a local worker.
Our planned route was up the centre of this view to have another go at finding a way onto the landfill road and hence back into town.
We took a slightly different path today and passed another des res.
Here’s Huan in the back garden, dreaming of what can never be, unfortunately.
And here’s me with a warning that I really should have listened to. I thought I was just short of breath due to the slightly steep hill.
Once around the corner the hill became a little easier and we could see a pretty good track heading up the hill so off we headed.
Sure enough, it led to a small farm complete with solar power.
I popped into the farm, took a couple of photos, Huan took the high road.
The farmer was in attendance so Huan asked him if there was a way ‘over the top’. He said there was, Huan was already on the way, I followed her up, beginning to feel a little short of breath again. Eventually, having found no path, she started on her way back down; I sat down and admired the scenery.
Soon I was bum scrambling to catch Huan up, she thought she had found a way down.
All too soon that way was blocked, Huan then thought she had found a way up. Not only that but she thought she had seen a road. (I keep trying to explain the differences between a road, a path and a track.) She even had me climbing lianas like George of the jungle!
Despite being a little breathless, again, I managed to make the top, or as we would have called it in the army, a ‘false crest’. There was no way up but we could see the dry stream course heading down the hill so we followed that. It wasn’t very easy!
The photos do not really show just how hard it was, sometimes the bed was deep, sometimes it was full of roots trying to eat you, and we were both fighting hard. Huan, being younger, still had some energy when she surfaced at the other end. As for me, my chest was getting worse and worse, this was something a little worse than shortness of breath. When I surfaced I couldn’t walk another step, I had to have a rest then and there. What Huan did to the camera, accidentally, I have no idea but the dark borders sum up the situation perfectly.
Huan went and found some water for me; I must have slept for fifteen to twenty minutes before she came back. The first thing I needed was an army ‘dump’, some builders empty tins made a suitable shelf. We found something else was sharing my trousers, two things in fact! I had managed to remove the smaller one before Huan snapped the photo.
That photo was taken with Huan’s phone, she used the camera to take the last ‘walk’ photo of the day, rather apt I think.
Needless to say our walk down the hill was very slow, I had pain across my chest and down the inside of both arms by now, definitely not just short of breath. Passing our local clinic Huan, who didn’t realise just how bad I was, asked it they would put me on a ‘drip’, they directed us to the main hospital. I needed a motorbike taxi to get me there.
Once inside and after showing our health codes on our phones I made my way to the ‘chest pain’ desk and explained what was wrong. They sat me down to take my blood pressure. After that everything moved fast. I remember seeing that my BP was 188 over something and that the machine had flashing red lights all over it. Into a side room I went for an EKG where obviously the results were not good. In short shrift I was in a wheelchair being wheeled into the heart of the hospital, throwing up in a bucket on the way just for good measure.
Somewhere along the way I was transferred to a gurney and prepared for who knew what. I certainly didn’t, I was just confused. Huan managed to snap these two photos before I was taken through the door in the second one.
We then had two people with very different reactions. As I was being wheeled in Huan asked if I would be OK now. Sometimes Chinese doctors do not have the same ‘bedside’ manner as we are used to so his answer threw her. He basically told her that I may or may not come out, and that it was a very dangerous situation. Meanwhile, inside, I wanted to sleep, partly because of the exhaustion and partly because I was so uncomfortable and that’s all I kept asking the doctors. It seems that I was in there for almost two hours. A nurse had come out after an hour so Huan knew that I would be fine. When I came out and saw her, the tears came for me, and again for Huan, it seems that in the first hour she had really been worried. Before too long I was in the CCU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit), hooked up to various machines and intravenous drips and showing Huan my finger.
Through
all of this I never felt that it could be touch and go for me. There was no
fear at all, apart from the usual pathological fear of needles. Had I known
about the warning signals I might have been a little more concerned. It’s all
so easy looking back! In 2015, before we left
March 23rd So what had they done to me yesterday? The doctor told me that I had
undergone a better PCI than they do in the
As well as the cocktail of drugs being fed into me from hanging bags, something else was also being fed in via a machine.
By ten o’clock my arm was being exercised.
What happened for the rest of the day I don’t know. I do know that Huan had to go and get a Covid test which, if negative, would allow her to stay in the hospital with me. Otherwise no visitors were allowed. Just remembered, made a little recording, breakfast was rice noodles, lunch was vegetables and rice, dinner was chicken and rice, all three meals were terrible.
March 24th Huan managed to get a couple of photos from the CCU balcony early in the morning. If you look vary carefully, you can’t see our apartments but you can see the villas and also the ‘bridge to somewhere’.
She also took one of me having another needle, this time they were taking some blood. You can’t see my face, but I was very unimpressed. Needles in my arm or backside are bad enough, put them anywhere else and I become an even bigger baby!
Breakfast was fried rice, probably the worst I’ve ever tasted. Uncle Roger would definitely not have approved. Huan’s Covid test was fine, she now has her own bracelet but she is no longer allowed out!
Lunch was egg, tomato and rice, something that is very easy to make, and very difficult to get wrong. Most of my students could make that if their parents were going to be late home. Mine was atrocious, the egg was almost invisible. After lunch, I was deemed fit enough to be moved from CCU to the normal cardiac care ward, here I am with Huan’s blanket.
If you are wondering why I am not hooked up to machines any more, then let me explain. I am still hooked up, but now via WiFi, here I am demonstrating for Huan.
And
Huan was so interested she fell asleep in the ‘top and tail’ position, well
remembered by all those who come from big families. In
Dinner was pork and broccoli, it was mildly better than all the previous meals. However, in Chinese hospitals the food is not provided by the hospital but by the patients themselves and or their families, utilising either local restaurants or home kitchens. Because of Covid regulations home kitchens are out at the moment. We did find another restaurant that is approved by the hospital (Covid wise) so we will change to that one tomorrow.
After
dinner I was allowed to walk around the ward, all one corridor of it! I took a
few photos to let you know what it was like. First we have the hall of fame
showing all the doctors, I don’t think the
Walking all the way to the end of the corridor, not far enough for me, I could see the outdoor market and of course mountains and nature.
Down at the other end was the entrance to CCU.
Very near the CCU was a smiling Huan.
From our toilet balcony we could almost see our house again but the Nurses’ college blocked the view. More mountains can be seen in the distance.
The last three for today are one that we think is a chart for where the belly needle has been put, one showing how black and blue my arm is and one that I may have to use!
March 25th Changing our ‘caterer’ didn’t work for breakfast, my fried noodles were hopeless. Huan’s breakfast was a little better though. We were still recording bits here and there on the phone to make sure I remembered what to put into the ‘words’ at the end of the week. Today’s recorder reminded me that I am bored out of my mind and have been since I’ve been compos mentis. The reason for this is that the doctors said I couldn’t bring my computer in, something to do with my excitement levels we think they said. Consequently we are both using our phones, Huan to stay in touch with her friends and family, me to try and watch videos with a not very good Wifi signal. Bad news, I am not allowed out of the hospital yet. Good news, the dressing has been removed from my right arm.
In the morning I had to have an EKG and a CT Scan. I’m fairly sure that the EKG was wrong, they sent to an office not on the screen waiting list and then did a lot of checking of my liver, kidneys and other vital organs.
Lucky me then had a bus trip to the old part of the hospital.
The reason for the trip was to have a CT Scan.
Back in the new hospital and being in a part where we are not allowed to go, i.e. the lifts, I was able to take a photo of another view from the hospital, albeit through the window. The building on the left with red writing on the roof is the old hospital, the blue roof is the new one.
Lunch was a marked improvement, Xiǎobāo (小包, "small bun") and made us both glad we had changed restaurants. Having a little snooze after lunch I was rudely awakened and told I needed to go for ‘another’ EKG, or heart test. Off I went to yet another room where this time they did check my heart, although I felt it was an ultrasound just like this morning. The important thing is that they said everything was fine.
Before dinner the nurse was round again with her portable bicycle. I quite enjoyed it but she kept telling me to slow down. Where have I heard that before?
March 26th Another day where I am not allowed out, I’m going stir crazy! Outside of Covid times it wouldn’t be so bad because you can usually take some fresh air in the hospital grounds or at least walk further than just your ward. Before breakfast I had a little walk around again just to stretch my legs a little. This sign is an interesting one, it has on it the dates of various procedures becoming available, I think what I had is the second from the bottom.
Prior to that I would have had to go to either Sanya
or
Huan asked me to tell you that she slept under a mosquito net last night. There are no photos of course. We all slept better last night, I was the only patient in our little three bed ward so Huan had one bed and a woman looking after her father next door had the other.
Lunch was soft pork with vegetables and rice, not bad at all. After that they made me go on the bed bike again. It was a male nurse who brought it but he set it up so that the bike moved my legs and not the other way round. I managed to get the female nurse to revert it to me doing the work, I’m not that ill or bed bound yet.
Three bottles of stuff in my arms today so walking in the beginning, it does get boring after a while. Once they were finished they took off me WiFi monitoring system so at least I could have a little unencumbered walking before bed time.
What did I spot on my walk? Someone had a laptop computer with them! Ah well, I guess it’s too late now even if I don’t get out tomorrow. I also spotted this sign outside one of the offices, although I couldn’t say what the good doctor is famous for.
March 27th This was to be my last day of jail time, but I still had to have two more bottles. As I had promised Huan yesterday here is a photo of her under her mosquito net, not that you can see a great deal. The bed she is sleeping on is a chair in the day time and then for a small fee, around £1.50, it converts to a bed at night time.
Would you believe that we have no more photos for today? I did take a couple of views from the windows again and one of topping and tailing, nothing new though.
March 28th I wasn’t the happiest of teddy bears this morning, I still wasn’t sure if I would be going home. By half past nine I still had to have two more bottles of juice and I hadn’t seen a doctor anywhere. I had seen a lot of tablets though and I guess I’m going to be seeing a lot for the foreseeable future.
My right arm is looking better but it will be a while before it’s back to normal. I’ve been told not to life anything heavy for at least two months.
My left arm was still plumbed up for the last two bottles.
While I was on my last bottle Huan went down to the cashier’s office to settle the balance of the bill. This is what she came back with.
What was the damage? How much did we have to pay? The total was about ¥31,500.00, almost four thousand pounds. Luckily we had enough in my pension bank and in Huan’s savings banks to cover it all. The worry now is if anything else happens before we build up the balance again.
Soon my left arm was released from its trappings and we could go home!
The good thing of course is that I am still alive, even better than I was before, and with extra bits inside. I’m bionic now! Obviously our weekly missives may not have as much in them for a while but we will endeavour to keep you abreast of whatever we are doing.
If any of you men out there refuse to listen to your doctors or your better halves or even other family and friends, take note, I almost wasn’t here anymore!
Be safe all, take care, we will be back next week!
