The morning after Full moon I got off the island and flew
back to Bangkok. I was so exhausted I
ended up paying for a private 1700 baht taxi the 2.5 hour journey to
Kanchanaburi. When I arrived, Dr. Tip
welcomed me with open heart to the hospital.
She is a wonderful person who is my same age, and just recently finished
her pediatrics residency. She spent a
month rotation at UCLA last year and had remained connected to Dr. Arora in the
global health department, and hence how this whole connection was
fostered.
When I arrived, apparently it was still Songkran by the
sound of loud music, and people armed with water buckets and face chalk. The hospital was still in holiday mode with
skeleton staff. The hospital and area
itself is quite beautiful. It is set
right on the Mae Non Dam. The
street signs are gold and blue with beautiful elephant and temple
sculptures. Street lights are also
ornate elephants with lights at the end of their trunk. On the front of the building is a massive
poster with a well-known monk on it.
Across the street is a large park.
Some street vendors peppering the area, and the main road has only local
shops, a few convenience shops and of course a couple lively day markets. Tha Muang is the actual city about a 20
minute drive from the city of kanchanburi and is not a destination for
travelers. I am the only farang (white
person) around, but it has not been a problem at all. The city and especially hospital seem very
excited to have me visiting. They called
me the “volunteer of the hospital.” I believe I am
the first foreign medical rotator to visit.
My first day was met with an overwhelming amount of
saw-wa-dee-kup and –ka greetings from the various staff in the relatively small
community hospital. One of the doctors
said it has about 120 inpatient beds.
There is full service ICU, operating suite (but no surgeon until next
month, actually Dr. Tips husband! Who is just graduating), ophthalmology
services, pulmonary/copd clinic, alcohol counseling, Chinese medicine clinic, Thai
massage clinic, X-ray (No CT on site), labor and delivery, pediatrics
interspersed with adult wards, dialysis, rehab unit, TB ward, HIV clinic,
outpatient pharmacy… I am sure there is more but that is what I can remember at
this time. The many nurses and few
doctors are given housing on the hospital grounds in the staff quarters. They are basic 1 bed-room apartments that
serve most needs. I am staying in Dr.
Tip’s apartment, which is not used really because she lives not too far away in
her own home. Luckily there is an air
conditioning… otherwise I think I would die at night! At the hospital is a nutrition department that serves amazing Thai food every lunchtime for 30
baht. In the morning are a few local
food vendors on make shift motorbike with cooking apparatus attached on the
side where they make some strange soups and fry meat balls/sticks… haha. A lady in the basement sells various buns
filled with custard, some congee and other soups I have never seen before. There is a workout facility that is busy with
the young nurses and doctors at night, but there is no air conditioning... so hott. The Tha Muang hospital swimming pool is
unfortunately closed because 2 months prior a 2 year old drowned. So sad, I heard it was a popular hangout.
Actually when I arrived it was a bit chaotic. My flat’s a/c was not working so after some
phone calls Tip directed me to my alternative room… We walk into the male ward
and she hands me a key. Turns out is a
wonderful little private hospital room that is usually 1000baht per night if a
patient were to pay. I soon found out
that I was on the trauma ward and also some of the TB isolation patients. It was quite funny being this random American
doctor staying in a patient room and seeing the nurses daily. I would joke with the intern doctors if they
would mind if I brought my TB friends along to dinner =D. The nurses and cleaning staff would bring me
water, towels, and change my bedding.
The bed was a hospital bed, which is good to protect me from falling out
of bed haha (or as they write in Thailand, 55555 = Hahaha).
My first night I explored Thai Muang. It was a bit darker and quieter on the one
main road than I had expected. But there
were a number of street food vendors and little restaurants with menu’s only in
Thai… I came across a lively restaurant that looked good. Communicating was basic at best, with me
pointing at things that looked consumable =D.
I ended up with fried morning glory and some cured pork dish with
rice. The owner came with a bowl and
said, “free soup for you” and smiled.
How nice! The soup never tasted
quite right… duh duh duh. The next
morning I went to participate in the Kanchanburi songkran water fight. It was going well until after a foot massage
and I had trouble standing from lightheadedness. I drank a ton of water, and stumbled my way
over to the Jolly Frog, a local backpacker joint with 70 baht single rooms
(2.50 USD!). After a resuscitation
attempt with coconut shakes the inevitable emesis took hold haha. I was like a zombie sitting there. I chewed on ginger provided by the
kitchen. After a few hours of sitting
there I made it to a bar for carbonated soda and just sat until the traffic
grid lock and insanity subsided. It is a
bit like watching documentary with all the jubilation, dancing, water fights,
random people interacting and then of course someone gets seriously
injured. You see people running and a
bruised and bleeding young adult being taken by stretcher. I do not think it is possible to have a
national holiday without some level of morbidity and mortality. I saw similar in Brazil for Carnival. I digress, as per usual. I finally was able to find a taxi willing to
take me the “farrr” 12km way to Tha Muang.
It involved a bit of begging because of during songkran no one wanted to
drive without a large price tag. 600
baht was the first offer, then got it down to 300 from a lovely taxi driver
named Crystal. She said she worked too
much and was not married and had no kids. In
the evening I told Dr. Tip that I was ill and had chills. An hour later there was a knock at my
door. It was one of the intern doctors,
Dr. Tan, who was on call. He arrived
with a small nurse, and thermometer. I
had a temp of 100.2 axillary, so probably 100.7. They offered me paracetamol, but I declined
and decided to ride whatever was happening in my body until the morning. I had occasional chills at night and sore
throat. Probably was more likely a URI
from all my full moon activities and drink sharing, but maybe was the
soup. The next day the doctors found it
quite funny that I had “free soup” and of course blamed that. Even my taxi driver handed med back the tip i offerred to her, “no no, you take the money, buy some soup for yourself, then you won't have to have free soup” haha. She got me on that one. The next morning I was leaving the ward and a
women was walking around selling little bags of fresh fruit!! Amazing, a little mobile food vendor for the
patients. Too bad this would never be
kosher in America. I bought fruit for
all the nurse, watermelon, pumelo, green mango (not a huge fan…)...
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