Our last trip to Hong Kong proved to be an eventful
one. Craig has been struggling with a
hernia for about three weeks. He first
experienced pain while we were in Taiwan.
I turned around on the subway and saw a gray stark grimace on his face
and knew that something was wrong. He
limped along that weekend hoping the pain would disappear, but it intensified
instead. When we returned to Guangzhou
we contacted SOS, the international health organization that supports TriCare,
our health insurance. We were scheduled
to see a doctor at the United Health Care Clinic in downtown Guangzhou. After an examination and an ultrasound Craig
was told he did have a hernia. He really
had two choices he could have the surgery done here or manage the pain and wait
to have it done when we returned to SLC.
The first impulse was to manage the pain.
We left the next week during the Chinese Tomb Sweeping
Holiday for the Three Gorges Dam trip with the BYU teachers. It was mostly a
calm trip no hiking or climbing stairs but the pain continued to escalate. When we returned back to Guangzhou we decided
that it wouldn’t be wise to wait for the surgery. We called the Doctor back to schedule the surgery;
we elected to have the surgery done in Hong Kong. The surgeon in HK required a CT scan before
he would schedule the surgery so we were off the closest hospital in Guangzhou
to get a CT scan. It is a very
intimidating experience to be a mute in a medical situation. We could not understand anything we were
told, barely understand where to stand and what to do. Good thing we have great pantomime skills, we
must have been very entertaining to the hospital staff. We knew for sure after that we needed to have surgery
in HK where at least we could understand the directions.
The surgery was ultimately scheduled for Tuesday, April 22
and none-to-soon I might add. The pain
seemed to intensify the longer we waited.
The Matilda International Hospital was the location with Dr. YP Tai as
the surgeon based on the recommendation of the doctors we had seen in
Guangzhou. We bought tickets for the
early train from the East Railway Station arrived in HK around 11.00AM. Met with Dr. Tai then proceeded with surgery
prep for 2:15 PM. It would be fairly
routine to repair and place a screen in the area. All would be done laparoscopic. Two hours
later Craig was in recovery and beginning to rally. He ordered a hamburger with French Fries for
dinner, that was a good sign. Everything
was falling into place. After a peaceful night’s rest we were ready to tackle
the next hurdle. That would be crossing
the border back into China one day after surgery.
Matilda International was located on Victoria Peak, so there
was transportation down to the subway then crossing the water to Hom Hong and
catch the train. We decided earlier not
to purchase return train tickets to Guangzhou in case there were any
complications or if Craig was unable to walk to get to the train. What time would be really be able to get to
the train? Too many unresolved questions to commit to a bullet train ticket.
After the final examination from Dr.Tai, medication to take
back with us then of course in China you must pay for all of your medical
services before you leave the hospital then file your own insurance
papers. (Our credit card has really
racked up the frequent flyer miles this last three weeks.) Matilda
International provided a shuttle bus to the subway so we were on our way around
2:30 Wednesday afternoon. We snagged
seats on the subway so all was going well for us, only two subway changes to get
to the train station. When we arrived at
the train station a large sign indicating that all tickets on all trains to
Guangzhou were sold out for the rest of the day greeted us! Not good news. What to do now?
One last resource was to get back on the subway and go to Shenzhen,
cross the border there and hope to get a train out of Shenzhen back to
Guangzhou. That meant that we would need
to walk the whole distance instead of take a train across the border. I wasn’t sure Craig would be up for that, but
we decided to do the best we could. If
we needed to stop and rest we would take whatever time we needed to do to get across
the border. We were not prepared for
this little adventure so we didn’t have the immigration paperwork filled out to
depart HK and arrive in mainland China so that was yet another add on the to do
list. I was beginning to wonder how we
could pull this off.
We were blessed, the paperwork went smoothly, we managed to
stand in the right line for an immigration officer that allowed us to complete
some blanks as we stood there and not resubmit and go to the end of the line.
China immigration officers are known for rigidity, if you don’t have the correct
paperwork filled out completely correct they send you back to try again and
again. They rarely make exceptions, we got an exception! Walaa we made it through the border. Craig was beginning to fade on me so I went
directly to get a train ticket. Thank
goodness for charades at the ticket counter, I managed to communicate I needed
the first train available to Guangzhou.
We got on the train leaving in four minutes, I took second-class instead
of first-class and hoped I wouldn’t regret it.
The train ride was great and Craig slept the entire
trip. We put the key in the door of our
apartment around 8:30 PM and were so thankful to be back in our apartment with
the hernia surgery behind us. It is
onward and upward from here. A few pills
and lots of knock off DVDs will keep Craig entertained and healed I am sure.
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