Hong Kong Hospital Visits
During the 3 years we have been in Hong Kong we have managed to avoid a hospital visit, until 3 weeks ago. Now that we are only a month away from leaving, I have had to visit 3 different hospitals in 3 weeks. Jack hurt his hand 3 weeks ago playing baseball and badly sprained his finger. As I didn't think it was a serious issue, I went to a public hospital after school and we had a 4 hour wait to see a doctor and have X-rays. Granted, it wasn't expensive, but it was a fairly dire experience. It was only sprained with bad bruising (no fracture), so a finger splint and off we went.
Then on Monday this week, I got a strange email from Jack at school saying he thought he had broken his foot and would like me to come and get him from school....... I obviously asked what the nurse thought and he replied by email with, 'I'm in the library, I don't know what she thinks !!!'
Apparently he had fallen awkwardly on the stairs at school during the lunch break, and decided it was easier to hobble to the library to get his laptop and contact me, then go to the nurse - seriously !! Jack does have a tendency to exaggerate things, so I casually made my way to school by public transport and chatted with some friends outside school before heading to the nurse (eventually someone at school had told him it was best to be at sickbay where he had now been waiting for over an hour !). One look at this foot and I was fairly sure that he had a problem.
Off to the nearest public hospital (another mistake by me) and we managed to get seen quite quickly and have an x-ray to confirm that, yes, he had broken a bone in his left foot. However, no one was available for physio treatment. We would need to wait two days due to the public holiday on Tuesday for Buddhas Birthday. I decided that 'this' was the time to head to a private hospital and get it sorted quickly.
So, off we ventured in yet another taxi (we have now sold our car and are using taxis and public transport until we leave) to the nearest private hospital - hospital number 3. After some 'no cannot do' conversations (which seems to be my daily experience in HK at the moment), we managed to see a physio and get a custom boot and crouches for him. Of course, the process was a lot more efficient but also a lot more costly !
Jack doesn't seem to be in too much pain but the bigger pain is missing out on his school football games, where they are leading the competition, and his upcoming AFL games. He is going to spend quite a bit of time on the sofa and I may even get him to do some schoolwork (unlikely!). I am now his nurse and at his beck and call - what’s actually different with any other day??
Then on Monday this week, I got a strange email from Jack at school saying he thought he had broken his foot and would like me to come and get him from school....... I obviously asked what the nurse thought and he replied by email with, 'I'm in the library, I don't know what she thinks !!!'
Apparently he had fallen awkwardly on the stairs at school during the lunch break, and decided it was easier to hobble to the library to get his laptop and contact me, then go to the nurse - seriously !! Jack does have a tendency to exaggerate things, so I casually made my way to school by public transport and chatted with some friends outside school before heading to the nurse (eventually someone at school had told him it was best to be at sickbay where he had now been waiting for over an hour !). One look at this foot and I was fairly sure that he had a problem.
Off to the nearest public hospital (another mistake by me) and we managed to get seen quite quickly and have an x-ray to confirm that, yes, he had broken a bone in his left foot. However, no one was available for physio treatment. We would need to wait two days due to the public holiday on Tuesday for Buddhas Birthday. I decided that 'this' was the time to head to a private hospital and get it sorted quickly.
So, off we ventured in yet another taxi (we have now sold our car and are using taxis and public transport until we leave) to the nearest private hospital - hospital number 3. After some 'no cannot do' conversations (which seems to be my daily experience in HK at the moment), we managed to see a physio and get a custom boot and crouches for him. Of course, the process was a lot more efficient but also a lot more costly !
Jack doesn't seem to be in too much pain but the bigger pain is missing out on his school football games, where they are leading the competition, and his upcoming AFL games. He is going to spend quite a bit of time on the sofa and I may even get him to do some schoolwork (unlikely!). I am now his nurse and at his beck and call - what’s actually different with any other day??
We have parties and junk boat outings ahead that he will need to sit and watch all the fun rather than be in the middle of. Hopefully, he will be up and running by the middle of June when we head to Japan for a couple of weeks and then our holiday in Australia.
Following on from my previous post - another life lesson learned the hard way 'don't run down concrete stairs !!' And please no more hospital visits.....
Comments
Post a Comment