Wednesday morning I was driving from Pattaya to Bangkok. When I got close to the Suvarnabhumi Airport, around 6:15am, traffic was moving at high speed. So was I. There was a pickup truck in front of me and I was keeping what I thought was a safe distance. Then the traffic suddenly stopped. I hit the brakes, but I guess I wasn't fast enough and I crashed right into him.
The police were actually very nice and very helpful. They took me to a local hospital - a zoo type of government hospital. They X-Rayed me and said they don't see any broken bones. From there I took a taxi back to Pattaya.
By the time I arrived in Pattaya I was in a lot of pain and major swelling and bruising along my chest. Despite that I was told I had no broken bones, I thought I better get myself checked out at Bangkok-Pattaya hospital. They did a CAT scan and found that I had not one, but two fractured ribs plus a large contusion and hematoma in my chest area. I showed them the X-Ray from the government hospital and asked why the fractures didn't show on the X-Ray. The doctor laughed and said with the X-Ray equipment the government hospitals usually have, I was lucky the X-Ray even showed bones at all. Bangkok-Pattaya hospital kept me from Wednesday afternoon and I was released Friday about 6:00pm.
Fortunately my medical insurance, Cigna Global, is excellent. I had a private room in their trauma ward and when I was billed the hospital had already received confirmation from Cigna and the only money I had to part with was the deductible. The car insurance company might even reimburse me for that, but I don't know yet and really don't care much whether they reimburse me or not.
I'm still in a lot of pain. The doctor told me the pain won't even start dissipating for another two weeks. The bruising will start dissipating in a few days. The fractured ribs will heal themselves. That takes about six weeks. I will have to wear a chest brace for four months.
It's a miracle I wasn't killed and even more of a miracle that those were the only injuries. If I had not been wearing the seat belt, I probably either would not have survived or the injuries would have been much more severe. The driver of the pickup truck was unhurt and only minor damage to his truck. He was very nice about it and actually apologized to me for suddenly stopping like that.
Now I have no car, but I'll be able to get another car as soon as I'm capable of driving again. In the meantime several of my Thai friends are taking very good care of me.
If I had to have an accident like this, I'm grateful I'm still here to talk about it. It will take a little time, but I will be fine. It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me . . .
