The Accident!

I was actually planning on telling my parents about this in August but over the phone Dad blatantly asked "have you had an illnesses over there." Seeing as I'm volunteering with the MC's lying seemed out of the question. Now the word spread from Dad to Mom (go figure), why not tell everyone...

Here goes:

It was last Sunday morning when I woke up in our hotel in Gaya, India, to use the bathroom at 6am. Up until that part of the trip my digestion of the seemingly inedible Indian food had been going well. This morning my stomach was tossing and I figured I'd use the bathroom, take some Cippro, then go back to bed. I used to bathroom then got up to wash my hands when I started feeling incredibly dizzy and reached for something to stabilize myself. After that I found myself on the floor. Apparently Mike had woken up from my nose breaking my fall and came in to see me lying face down in a small pool of blood (my nose was cut) besides a few other minor things to clean up...

Mike, being a great friend and the son of two paramedics, helped me up, got some water, bandaged up my nose (which may or may not have been broken) and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital, which happened to a 30 to 40 minute ride by auto back to Bodhagaya. There was also a medical facility just down the road from our hotel, but that one opened up at 10am (apparently these workers need their 8 hrs). I ended up deciding to go to the clinic in Bodhagaya, which made us miss our train at 9:30am which we had already paid for.

The auto driver we found (Gupta) couldn't have been better! He not only did he take me slowly to the clinic (over all the potholes), but he also stayed with me all day while I was there. Its funny looking back on it. On the way there, he slowed down and stopped and said to us "just one minute." I was thinking is he going to get some food or something. I soon found out that he was praying to a Hindu god whose shrine was on the side of the road while my dehydrated self was hanging out it back.

We made it to the clinic where I remember a shot in my nose as well as some stitching and a shot in the backside (I'm thinking was for a the concussion). I remember the doctor saying that I should go get some rest. Part of me thought that I shouldn't sleep after the concussion, but he drove a hard bargain as I was exhausted. I got some sleep on a metal table in the clinic as IV packets ran through me. As I slept Mike figured everything out for the next 24 hours; he left with Gupta to purchase new train tickets for that night. We stayed at the clinic and until around 4pm. and Gupta graciously took us back to our hotel.

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Meanwhile 6 days later I have not had any major problems. Today I volunteered with a nurse from Spain who took out the stitches for me. He then told me that they were put in wrong (perpendicular to how they should have been). He took them out without a problem and the cut is healing up nicely so I'm not worried.

Hope you all enjoyed the story.

Take it easy and God Bless,

Kyle