We were the last four of the group to leave the city of Maoxine the others had left early morning. The weather overnight had been very bad with heavy rain and we waited back a few hours hoping it would clear. No indication that the weather would improve anytime soon. We rode off in light drizzle hoping that we had avoided the worst of the rainfall for the day.
My first observation was that there was very light traffic on the highway not a good sign as it is usually very busy.
The second observation further down the highway was miles of stationary traffic. Being on bikes we weaved our way through the traffic to the front. Kimberley and Vaughan were stuck in the traffic jam. Jon was sitting in his truck with a despondent look on his face. A tunnel was the cause of the holdup which was blocked at both ends with landslide rubble. Large excavators were working hard to clear the rubble from the roadway. As soon as there was a path wide enough for a bike we slipped through. We went past miles of cars and trucks on the other side of the tunnel which were stuck waiting for the road to be cleared.
We encountered several other landslides which blocked the road especially for larger vehicles than ours.
The highway winds it way through mountain gorges and valleys. The highway is world class with some tunnels being six kilometres long. We crossed several bridges one of which was later washed away by floodwater.
The accident occurred after I entered one of the tunnels. The heavy rain, debris from the landslides and other rubbish was being washed into the tunnels making the road surface dangerous. That is where I came to grief. The front tyre lost traction and I briefly tried to control the bike before realising it was a lost cause. I let the bike go from underneath me and it slipped down the road with me following. Unfortunately my hip took the impact of the road and I felt it break.
I was the last in the group so the others saw what happened in there rear view mirrors.
No one else was injured - just me.
There was not a lot of traffic on the road but an English speaking Chinese couple stopped. The couple offered to take me to hospital. I got into the back seat and left my group to sort out the accident scene.
An hour later I was at Chengdu Hospital . Chengdu has a population of eleven million people. Roll Melbourne and Sydney into one city and gives you an idea of the size. The hospital is equally as large to cater for the number of patients that use the facility.
The assisting couple sourced a stretcher for me from inside the causality ward. They then aided me in getting from the back seat to the stretcher. There was a long wait at reception and some money had to be paid to the cashier to advance me to the next stage. I had no money so the couple had to pay for me.
Typical causality ward, everyone needing help and only so many nurses to go around. Long wait before the stretcher was being pushed down a corridor. Alright now I am waiting in a corridor. The couple come out of a doorway and discuss having to pay more money. They ask if I have money to repay them if they pay for me. I re-assure them that I have access to funds just not now. They return with a receipt.
A young orthopaedic surgeon comes out of the office with the receipt in hand twists my leg and says "It's broken". Thank you for that.
Down another corridor I go and a long wait with other injured people. An elderly Tibetan couple were nursing a young boy who was unconscious and appeared to have a high fever. How lucky am I? The child looked near to death and everyone to busy to intervene.
A door opened and the orthopaedic surgeon re-appears and pulls my stretcher into an X - ray room. He does the X-ray himself and the pushes me back into the corridor where I continue my wait.
Several hours pass before Clive, Artur, Lun and Jon arrive and find me in the corridor. They reimburse the young Chinese couple who would not take any extra to cover their expenses. They discuss with the surgeon my situation. It appears that I need a new prosthetic hip fitted. They contacted the insurance company that sold me travel insurance and reported the accident.
Artur when he arrived also saw the unconscious young Tibetan child and started splashing money around to expedite the child's treatment. It worked because a doctor intervened and the child regained consciousness. Hate to think what may have happened to the little fella otherwise.
Decision time. Have a new hip fitted now - this afternoon in Chengdu or wait for the insurance company to Medivac to a better facility. I decided on the latter. My travel insurance covers the cost of Medical Evacuation and Repatriation back to Australia - worth every cent of the premium.
The surgeon was surprised that I decided to wait. He had the view that his hospital is world class and my treatment would not be better anywhere else. If I was going to wait I needed to have my hip stabilised. For that to be done I was taken a treatment room.
No matter how bad things are there is always someone worse off. Prone on the stretcher being rolled into the treatment room I could hear painful groans coming from the room. I had to have a look at who I was sharing this treatment room with. Horror of horrors - is that an Epee pierced through that man's penis and scrotum? The young man had hold of the fencing blade with a white knuckle grip against his chest. Ouch.
Anyway I left that room with a plaster caste from my belly button to my knees. Thank you Clive and Jon for services rendered beyond anything I could have expected.
Now the wait for the Insurance Company to come to my rescue. That should happen very quick - maybe not. Only available place for my stretcher until then was in a very big 'observation ward'. Chinese hospitals work on a very different system to Australia. Families take much more control of the patients treatment.
The observation ward where I was 'warehoused' was clean, there were a lot of nursing staff, the equipment modern and not unlike an Australian hospital. The big difference was the numbers of people gathered around each patient. Each patient had at least two or three family members with them. These family members were doing bed washes, laundry, meals, collecting and administering medication as well taking care of toileting the patient.
It wasn't long before I needed to urinate. Not a job that the nursing staff should be helping with apparently. I had to buy a bed pan and bottle. "Where is your family to help?" I asked that question dozens of times.
Day one and night one came and went at a snail's pace. No food, no medication, no assistance with toilet. I get the impression that these people don't see Europeans in the flesh often - if at all. It was not unusual to have my curtain pulled back and for over a dozen Chinese folk to gather round my bed and have a good long gawk. "He look funny this white monkey boy".
Day two and men from my group arrived. Food - yes. Medication - pain relief at last. Urine bottle empty - great I can use it again.
Another night and a morning in the observation ward proved to be just to much to bear. The boys arranged for an ambulance to take me to their hotel. They could monitor me and my treatment could continue from there. No onlookers - television - food - socialisation - all good. What the hell are the insurance company doing? Four days since the accident and still they have to admit liability - their shareholders should be comforted to know they tried every way to avoid my claim.
Day five - the insurer finally admits liability and is putting an action plan in place. First back to Chengdu hospital but into a VIP, Gold Pass, room with a personal assistant through in. Out of the hotel bed - Jens had the job of doing the bed washes - thank mate - how can I ever repay you.
A couple of days in Chengdu hospital waiting for something to happen. Eventually on day seven the insurance company flew me from Chengdu to Bangkok in a private jet. I now have a room at the world class Bumrungrad Hospital.
Shirley flew in yesterday to be with me.
They replaced my right hip with a shiny new metal one. I was rather attached to the bone one.
Lots of questions have been asked. So here is a short Q&A
And when?
Friday the 9th July - I think ( on heavy doses of morphine )
When and where will you be able to get the operation? Done
Are you staying in the Chengdu hospital until then?
I was Chengdu for seven days waiting for the insurance company to accept my claim and then organise the operation. That is a story in it's self. Once they accepted liability their service has been great. Hate to think what it is costing.
There must have been so much going through your head after it happened, what are your feelings now?
My thoughts were family and then family again. The impact on family and the implication on my health going forward which impacts on family. I have been in vehicular accidents and incidents that should have killed me but didn't. I consider myself fortunate to have avoided major injury until now after almost sixty years.
Thank you for the telephone calls and messages of support. I am doing well and will up and about soon.
