My husband and I have just come home from Thailand. It's a country which we love visiting, every year if we can. Wonderful people, beautiful beaches, warmth, sunshine, excellent golf courses and delicious Thai food seduce us and ensure that every year we can't wait until we can book our flights for our next holiday.
Unfortunately, sometimes holidays and life don't go according to plan though.
The first three weeks were idyllic, as we met up with old friends in Hua Hin, about three hours south of Bangkok. We've been going there so long that we know all the staff at the Hua Hin Golf Villa where we stay, and we enjoyed a friendly, wonderful start to our trip. It's the base where my husband organises a golf tour from, so the first week was spent with him playing a couple of rounds, going out for lunches by the beach, swimming and in the evenings, lots of leisurely meals with friends.
Then we took ourselves off to Dolphin Bay, in the National Park of Sam Roi Yot. This is the third time we've stayed there....it's so unspoilt, and even quieter than previous years. We spent 14 long days, swimming in the bay and the pool, reading, cycling around and enjoying being completely relaxed.
Then we headed north again, about thirty minutes up the coast to Sanae Beach Resort at Khao Tao, where we were due to stay for three nights. The first day, overlooking a sheltered little bay, we lounged by and swam in the pool, went out for dinner and had an early night.
That's when our holiday plans derailed and fell off track completely.
I woke up the following morning and could hear Rob moaning as if in pain. I ran around to his side of the bed - he was giddy, feeling sick and needed to sit up,. He couldn't without help though, couldn't stand and was cold and clammy. I knew by his speech something was seriously wrong, and ran to the club reception and asked for an ambulance. One arrived very quickly and after a brief examination, we were off to Hua Hin about 25 minutes away with blue lights flashing and the siren blaring.
He was seen immediately in recuss and within an hour was being given an MRI scan. I was shown the results quickly and kindly. This was a major stroke plus smaller pea sized one in the cerebullum. The words "life changing" won't be forgotten in a hurry.
The care Rob received at Bangkok Hospital in Hua Hin was marvellous, but after thirty six hours in the intensive Care Unit we were told he was being moved to the world renowned Bumrumgrad Hospital in Bangkok for further treatment at Specialist Stroke Unit.
Bumrungrad sent their own mobile ICU to collect Rob, and within ten minutes of a doctor and two paramedics arriving from Bangkok, we were both on our way north for 120 miles once again accompanied by blue flashing lights and sirens.
For the next seven days, our world became very small, but very focussed. Rob was in ICU first and then onto the stroke ward on the tenth floor of this huge hospital.
He was confined to bed at first, more scans, numerous tests and procedures and another MRI scan which showed another three little bleeds, again in his cerebellum.
Our world revolved around that room, and the constant visits of nurses, a neurologist, a cardiologist, haematologist, an orthopaedic doctor, and physios who were all so focused and encouraging, giving us such confidence.
In time, he could walk a little with a rollator and the support of two nurses or physios. Each day brought a new joy, a new achievement like the first time he was allowed to shower on his own or to leave his room and walk down the corridor with help, then on his own. The nurses made him laugh, the hospital food was excellent, and after a week [yes a week] Rob was ready to leave but would need further tests and examinations before being allowed to fly home. His consultants called him the miracle man, as he shouldn't have been able to walk or talk properly according to the MRI scans.
We went back to Hua Hin, where more of his friends had arrived for a few weeks of golfing. Hell would have frozen over before Rob would be allowed to play, but being back at a place we call home when we're in Thailand, with lots of banter and support from our friends was such a boon.
Nearly two weeks later Rob was allowed to fly home. I found out I had COVID and that's when you wonder what's next. The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse perhaps?
Since we've been home, there's been time to rest, reflect, and realise how lucky Rob has been.
Lucky that he's survived, lucky that we had such wonderful health insurance and a company that pulled out all the stops to help right from my first call from the hospital foyer in Hua Hin. It was about 2am UK time when I called the Collinson Group Medical Ops, yet the warm, capable voice of Kerryn reassured me that everything would be done to get Rob the best treatment care and I eould be looked after too. She kept in touch, and her colleagues too ..always at the end of the line, with information and plans, fixing me up in a hotel just across the road from the hospital in Bangkok. Handholding over the phone from nearly six thousand miles away was such support during those first nerve racking days.
From the first morning Rob was whisked off to the hospital from Sanae Beach, the staff kept in touch to see how Rob was. In Hua Hin, the owners and staff of the Golf Villa went out of their way to help. A visit to Bangkok to see Rob in hospital with flowers and cards all gave us comfort. At the Best Western Hotel in Sukamvit where I was staying, the maitre d'hotel would greet me every night as I returned from the hospital, with a warm welcome and chat as I sat alone to eat, asking how my husband was.
And as for everyone who was involved in Rob's care in both hospitals, you have our most sincere thanks, You don't forget things like that, the kindness, courtesy and support of strangers and friends.
We can't forget how much we love Thailand too. That's why Rob is already planning another trip for us next year, to see our friends, to visit our favourite places and new ones, to relax once again.
In the meantime, Rob continues to make progress and is hoping that it wont be too long before he's playing golf. He is taking the tablets he now needs daily, exercising each day and eating healthily. One thing he won't be forgetting to do under any circumstances is organising our health insurance for next year.....
