on sunday (or maybe it was saturday...you know how the days go when you're on vacation), maddy and i rented a motorbike while tahsh went out diving. we got really into the bike and ended up taking this long drive over what we found out was a hilly-ish part of the road. we reached the literal end of the road, so maddy tried to drive the bike up this tiny little baby hill to the parking lot, but the bike was like "HA no way, suckers!" and started to slip backwards. we struggled to keep the bike from falling over completely, and in my thoughtlessness from the back of the bike, i accidentally hit the inside of my calf against the exhaust pipe of the motorbike.
idiot.
it wasn't extreme pain right at first. (you were expecting me to say something different cuz of the title of the post, huh? just wait.) it sort of felt like someone had just smacked me really hard on my leg. we biked back to our guesthouse (after making a trip to town to refill our empty-at-the-end-of-the-road-far-away-from-a-gas-station tank...lol. seriously, morons) and i decided i should go to the clinic. the doctor-type person told me to keep it clean and stay out of the ocean (ha, yeah right...this was day two of our five-day beach vacation), then she gave me sesame oil to put on it. it worked for her when she had her burn, she said. great, i love getting anecdotal cures when i go to official medical clinics.
anyway, i kept my burn as clean as possible for the rest of the trip. for our snorkeling boat ride around the island, doctor tahsh wrapped up my leg nice and good with gauze, a plastic bag, and lots of waterproof medical tape. the burn looked the best after that day, actually.
when i got back to suphan yesterday, i got to thinking that maybe i should go to the doctor and get some antibiotics. when i showed the desk/cleaning ladies downstairs the burn--which was a yellow/red scab at this point--they all gave me concerned mother looks and really really insisted that i go to the hospital to get some antibiotics. so this morning, i asked my doctor, webmd, what i should do.
"seek medical attention," he said virtually. so i called kanchana, and she said she could take me to the hospital at 5 pm. when she and her husband picked me up, i showed them the burn, they gave each other concerned looks, asked me when it happened, spoke in thai a bunch, and off we went to the hospital.
at the hospital, kanchana took me to the emergency room (i'm assuming this was because we didn't have an appointment). the emergency room is literally a room, about the quarter of the size of a football field, with a reception desk in the middle and beds lined up along the wall. the only privacy is some curtains that can be pulled around to shield each bed.
so anyway, i sit up on a bed under a sign that says "MASS CASUALTY ZONE D" and a doctor brings over a thing for me to prop my leg up on. "when did you get it, what've you put on it," blah blah blah. then she brings over some iodine and a water-type substance, and decides to RIP THE SCAB OFF. holy shit, it was the most painful experience i've ever had. she rubbed it--THIS IS FUCKING SENSITIVE SKIN HERE, WOMAN, STOP RUBBING THAT SO DAMN HARD--with iodine first, and i thought that would be it. then she pressed a cotton ball against it, poured water on the cotton ball, then continued to TEAR MY VERY FRAGILE SKIN AWAY FROM THE BURN. she grabbed some tweezers and just tore away at this incredible sensitive injury. this intense fucking pain went on for five minutes. my face was contorted in an expression of super pain the whole time. i literally said, "GEEZIS, this hurtsssss!" out loud.
she and kanchana, meantime, are just shootin the shit, chatting about god knows what. then they both look at me and, sort of giggling, kanchana goes, "don't cry."
OH MY GOD, SHUT UP, WOMAN.
"kanchana," i said, "when i was 10 years old, i broke my arm. this hurts more." she laughed.
the doctor woman finished ripping off the scab and i'll have to give it to her--it did look better. she put some cream on it, gauzed it up, and told me not to get it wet. "don't shower," kanchana half-joked later in the car ride home. the doctor told me i'd have to clean it and wrap it like this for a little while, but i'm supposed to get a doctor to do it every day, which is probably not gonna happen seeing as we're headed to phuket with an honors class for english camp in two days. but seriously, it's just dabbing some cream on the wound and wrapping it--i think i can handle it myself.
oh my god, but that pain. i'll do anything again not to EVER have anybody inflict pain upon me like that again. they gave me some antibiotics and some painkillers, which i took about half an hour ago and haven't kicked in yet. boo. i'm gonna make some campbells chicken noodle soup and watch new york, i love you now.
p.s. sorry for the profanities, but seriously, if you felt that pain, you'd have used the f-bomb a fair amount, too.
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