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When they're a long way from home - the end!! (I hope)


Adrienne

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My son (22) and his long term partner (21) of 5 years left NZ two weeks ago this morning to travel through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. After regular emails over the first days we had a phone call last Friday evening to say she had been hospitalised in Vietnam with a urinary infection and put on a drip. On Monday we had another short email to say they were moving on again. Until yesterday I had heard nothing and was starting to wonder if everything was okay.

They say no news is good news - huh! don't believe that one anymore.

Yesterday we had a phone call from my son to say they were being medivac by Southern Cross to the hospital in Bangkok as she is very sick with what they now think is appendicitis. A nurse travelled with them as she needed IV drips on the way (its about a 2hr flight). As I sit here at 4.18am in the morning, waiting to here the results of the scans etc she is currently undergoing I really want them back home!

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Gutted. Trips like that would be awesome.

I went to Australia last year with my school hockey team, last game we played I got hit in the face by the ball (rock hard btw). Smashed one tooth right out, pushed 2 teeth up and back into my palate ripping the top of my mouth, huge swelling. Had a heap of anaesthetic (like 15 shots I think), and had $1500 in a couple of hours done. Insurance only covered stuff overseas, so when I came back my parents had to fork out about $2000 on root canals etc = not funny. Lesson here; make sure you get FULL coverage.

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Well, she's still in hospital in Bangkok, still on IV fluids but says she's not as sore as she was. Its not her appendix, well its not showing up as inflammed in the scans she's had. Theres a conference in 24 hours between the insurance company and the medical teams to decide the next step. We're thinking that if they let her out it will have conditions with it like not leaving Bangkok for a while or maybe even that they have to return to NZ but not certain if they can risk letting her on a long distance flight.

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Hanne has just been released from hospital. However Southern Cross is refusing to pay the costs as they reckon it may be a prior medical condition. Theres no way it was so it will be disputed!

Stephen (my son) and Hanne phoned home in hysterics - the hospital bill came to 96,000 which they thought was American dollars however it does appear that its probably baht, which works out to $4,250. They still have the medivac flights to pay for as well. We are still sorting out how its going to be paid as the hospital has taken a copy of my sons debit card which has all his savings on it.

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We are still sorting out how its going to be paid as the hospital has taken a copy of my sons debit card which has all his savings on it.

Tell him to transfer funds to an online account, not linked to his chq acct.

Hope everything sorts out! Insurance should cover it all.

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Hope so Josh - its been one hell of a week :an!gry

He's putting it on his debit card. He does have access to his savings in a completely seperate account which he has for teachers college in 2011 and so far they have declined financial assistance from us or her parents in the way of our credit cards. They do know if they need funds we will bale them out.

All I want is for them to now enjoy their next 6 weeks of holidays as the last 2 of the 3 weeks they have been away have been a bit rough for them. They are staying in Bangkok for another 3 days then heading south to a beach for a few more days, then northern thailand (Stephen has been before with us), and working their way back through to where they left off in Vietnam.

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Wow, what a terrible adventure. You must have been worried sick. Great that you will have them home safe very soon.

Reminds me of a dreadful 'examination' I had from a 'doctor' in a Bangkok hospital once. I am pretty sure inappropriate touching is not a valid medical procedure! :an!gry

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Goes from bad to worse - after a 17hr travel period they arrived at lunch time today. The airline did not want her on the plane but because she walked in carrying her pack they finally let her on. Came to our house then her parents took her to her dr. She's now in the admissions ward at Auckland hospital with suspected appendicitis - which is not a pre existing medical condition.

My sons asleep - I sent him to bed as he has been up for over 30 hours and wouldn't take his eyes off her on the flight. I have all the phones in case she is going to theatre and if necessary I will wake him and take him up to see her.

I am so very proud of the way he has dealt with the whole thing - he decided to give up on the holiday he had been working so hard for and get her back home to better care. Now he needs time to wind down as its been a hard two weeks for them both but what they did see they so really enjoyed that they will go back I am certain.

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Hopefully its sorted - after waiting until Monday pm for an ultrasound she went into surgery yesterday. They removed her appendix and some fluid from her abdomen which has gone off for testing. Was it appendicitis, we don't know however in a couple of weeks when the results are through we will approach Southern Cross again. Fingers crossed. She's now at my house recovering.

Hopefully now the pain will be gone and we will have some sort of closure. :D

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