Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

A rest day at last, and I intend to do just that... rest...

But first I wanted to get the blog more up to date, so spent a relaxing morning writing up some of the recent events, and then when sufficiently tired, went to lay back on the bed. Just as Jim discovered his room key no longer worked and he needed letting in. Then the phone rang. The doctor was here and had examined Nick and sent him off to have his head examined (actually to have a full scan, but it sounds less serious when put like that). As the doctor was already in the hotel, Nick had suggested that he comes and sees me too, so I agreed and 5 minutes later there was another knock on the door. The doctor asked me what happened and seemed most concerned when I mentioned that I'd been knocked out for a little while. He did a decent examination, getting me to pull faces like his to check that things worked normally, then moved on to check my ribs, asking me to inhale deeply and repeatedly say “trente tres” (thirty three) whilst he played my ribs like a xylophone. Finally he concluded I had 2 problems. The first was my ribs, which were sore (no shit, Sherlock!) but would probably only be treatable with pain killers. The second was my head, which whilst it seemed fine might be hiding something, so he wanted me to go to the same clinic as Nick and have a brain scan. Great. So no just resting, then...

After I'd paid the doctor and he'd left, Jim kindly offered to come with me to the clinic, so the 2 of us jumped in a cab and off we went. On arrival they took my passport and then I was shown to a nice room with a bed where they sat me and a pretty nurse (aren't they always?) took my blood pressure (normal) whilst a doctor that spoke excellent English asked me about the crash and then proceeded to repeat the same examination as the doctor in the hotel. I was then brought a wheelchair and wheeled (they wouldn't let me walk, I asked) to the CT scan room. Here another pretty nurse asked me to remove my earring (which I couldn't as the balls are locktited in place and can't be removed without special tools) then gave up and laid me down on the CT scan bed and strapped my head down. Then I was inserted into the machine for no more than 3 minutes whilst an image of my brain was taken and I was wheeled back to my room to wait. Whilst waiting, we met Nick, who was about to go for an MRI scan and obviously concerned about what they might find. Our words of encouragement (that they might actually find his lost brain) clearly helped. Some time later another doctor appeared, this time a very attractive woman, and played with my chest. She seemed to like walking her fingers up and down my rib cage, and to be honest, after this long from home, despite the pain, I enjoyed it immensely too. She proclaimed that she thought it worth me getting it x-rayed and disappeared. I wondered if I'd dreamt the whole thing, but Jim was there and confirmed it all. Some time later another doctor, this time an old gentleman, appeared and proclaimed that my head, and my brain, were perfectly normal. He repeated this several times so there was no mistake, I'm officially normal in the brain department. So there...

After he'd gone we waited some more, and then I started feeling unwell. I got really hot and started sweating, thinking I was about to pass out. Jim got the doctor and within seconds I was laid on the bed with my feet up and a needle in my arm as they extracted 5 vials of blood whilst testing my blood pressure (dropped to 100/71 way below what it normally is) and then put me on a drip. I did tell them I'd had nothing to drink since breakfast and was feeling dehydrated...

They then came and wheeled me in my bed round to the x-ray room, where I was made to stand up (no longer a problem now I had some fluids inside me) and raise my arms so they could x-ray my side (bloody painful given my sore shoulder). Then back to the room to wait some more. Nick reappeared at this point and the 3 of us waited in the one room, until Nick was taken away by a doctor to tell him his results. The news was good, there was nothing wrong with his brain either and his episode in the van looked like it was little more than a trapped nerve. He was obviously relieved as when he reappeared again he was back to his usual self, taking the piss out of the cripple laid on the bed with the drip in his arm...





Some considerable time later, just as the bag of saline was about to run out, the attractive woman doctor returned with news of my x-ray and a seemingly insatiable desire to walk her fingers up and down my chest. The news was that I'd fractured my 8th rib, the crack running along the rib. That was the reason for the pain, she explained. I could have guessed that, but as her fingers were still walking, I wasn't about to complain. She said that treatment was best with just painkillers, and asked if I had any strong ones, to which I replied that I had some cocodomol (paracetamol and codeine) which my nurse wife had given me (didn't want her getting any ideas). When she'd finally dragged herself away from my chest a male nurse came and removed the drip and we were free to go … and pay... the whole thing was 186,000 pesos, or around £150 so I can't complain, at least I now officially know what I knew anyway.

We had a drink in the hospital café before grabbing a taxi back to the hotel, this time with me sat in the front so I could get back out again without crippling myself. Once back Nick and I reported to Kevin & Julia's room to tell them the good and bad news (good news, there's nothing wrong with us, bad news, we're continuing the trip). Then I retired to my room and a long hot bath, deciding to skip the group evening meal to have a very early night, crawling into bed around 7.30pm and falling soundly asleep...