The end of Thailand...a Month later

I obviously never finished writing about our Thailand adventures. Sadly, I have forgotten a lot of the details, but I do remember a few things ;)

How it ended up working was that, after some incredible experiences and inspiration, Melanie and I knew we had to get Eric home. We decided this on a Sunday and once we got Eric and the Doctors convinced, they couldn't get us shipped out until Friday.

They agreed to Medically Transport Eric with medication and accompanied by a doctor. It took days to get all the paperwork and doctors lined out but we knew we were doing the right thing and it all worked. Monty put in a lot of time and phone calls to make it all happen and we were so grateful to have someone to correspond with the doctors and hospitals from their same time zone. The 13 hour time difference was quite the challenge.

Eric's condition went up and down for the last few days, but it was manageable.

Melanie and I actually got to leave the hospital room twice at lunch time on the last 2 days of the trip. We walked down to the Ploen Chit center and got another Thai Massage. I still can't believe they were only $10 for an hour. I Loved it! We walked through the little grocery center in the bottom of the mall and I found some Crispy M&M's. This sounds like the craziest thing ever but I used to love them when you could get them in Vernal and then they went away and I hadn't seen them ever since- until just then in Thailand. Needless to say, I bought a few packets ;)

We found a little Restaurant in the mall that was hidden under the back corner set of stairs, and they had the best grilled/brothy vegetables, so we went back and had them twice.

The ride home was interesting. We left the hotel at 2:30am Friday morning. We were at the hospital by 3am, where we came upon 14 nurses dressing Eric. They all had a crush on him and he loved all the attention. They had Eric loaded in the back of an ambulance with the Doctor that accompanied us and a crew of nurses. The hotel was so accommodating and sent their airport concierge to drive us to the hospital, then followed us to the airport while we were in the ambulance with Eric. They unloaded everything and helped expedite us through the airport.

Eric had to go through a medical terminal so the Doctor came in and got ticketed for him and Eric then he turned back and went with Eric the rest of the way. While Melanie and I were sitting at our gate, we saw them lift Eric up on a scissor lift into the plane, just like they do with the food/cargo- and they let us board first, so we were the first ones on. Eric slept through most of the first flight, and did great.

We left at 6am and it was a 6 hour flight to Tokyo.

Once we got to Tokyo, they took us to the Premier access lounge where they let Eric sit and rest for an hour before we had to go get on our second flight. When we got Eric on the plane the 2nd time around, he had an "episode" from the stress of moving so much and the pain meds were starting to wear off. There were other people on the plane, so it was hard to deal with everyone panicking around him and keeping him calm. The man that was in the seat next to Eric watched as I stretched out his arm and tried to get him relax, and whoever this man was- he was incredibly compassionate. He started to cry while he watched Eric struggle, and once Eric passed out, I got up to go back to my seat and he said "No- You stay here with him. I don't care if I have to fly economy- you stay with him,"

It was an incredible gesture and reminded me that there are still people out there that are human. I thanked him and assured him I was fine and went back to my seat.

The rest of the way home was smooth sailing. We got in and out of San Fran. in no time, and Eric did really well. When we landed in SLC, they escorted Eric to the Ambulance that was waiting out front and Monty picked us up. It was so good to see some familiar faces and be in a place where I could understand people.

We went to the IMC Center with Eric while they admitted and examined him. They quickly determined that some changes needed to be made with the medications he was taking, which stopped the tremmoring, and they moved him out of ICU into a regular room that night. YAY!

Justin came out to pick me up, and he stayed and visited with Eric and their friends- the Taylors, that came to see Eric.

It was an amazing adventure, and I will never forget a lot of the things that happened there. It helped me appreciate different cultures, for their different values, and appreciate my own even more. We were so very blessed and watched over on this journey.

Thanks again to Melanie and Monty to letting me go and be a part of this and see a whole new world.

A few Thailand Pictures...

I took the majority of pictures on my camera, but I decided to upload the few I had on my phone.

Early morning Thursday June 21st to head to SLC. I needed a Dr. Pepper.

Melanie caught some zzz's while we waited for our super delayed flight.

The Embassy Suites in San Fran. was beautiful!

All my luggage was checked so we ran and grabbed a new outfit for me to wear. It was cute and comfy for the long flight!

We boarded in San Fran. ate dinner, then laid our seats back and slept. It was so nice to have room to relax and sleep! Thanks again Monty!

Switching planes in Tokyo.

Day 1 in Bangkok, Thailand = Tunic and leggings. It was super humid.

All of their food is so beautiful. I loved it.

Looking out the window on the top floor of our hotel where we ate breakfast.

It's hard to see, but traffic was always a mess!

Yep. You read right. That's a 7-Eleven.

Cute little boy gave me the Peace sign, while his mom worked around their street cart selling breakfast treats.

A Panorama view out the window of Eric's first Hospital room.

There were many Buddhist Shrines all over the place. They were always draped with marigolds and Jasmine.

This was the Super Yummy Red Velvet cake that we took back the Eric the day he started going down hill. He asked for it the rest of the time we were there, but we never made it back for any. Darn the luck..

I have lots more/better pictures than these, but it's a start!!

Thailand. Day ?? I don't remember

These last few days have honestly been a blur. They moved Eric to ICU on Thursday afternoon and he has been here ever since. It has been a constant battle to keep him calm or out of pain or tremmor-free. I'm just going to throw out some highlights. After moving him to the ICU they did an EEG and MRI to rule out seizures- which was his doctors initial thought- that it was not a seizure. It resembles one and is difficult for people to deal with him or help him or to even watch. I don't shake easily though so we've been able to help him through most of them. The tests did come back to confirm that his brain activity was normal- remarkable even and that these were indeed muscle tremors. They are not life threatening and he is sable. He had four more "episodes" on Friday and required iv muscle relaxers which basically knock him out. Yesterday he only had 2 episodes that required iv meds, and the second one was actually for an excruciating pain after standing-with help- and twisting his foot causing a flare up with his hip pain. Then he choked on a watermelon seed and coughed and that sent his pain over the edge- starting the shaking and making the pain worse- thus iv KNOCK OUT. He's been sleeping quite a bit- luckily- and they've kept him on iv fluids to help flush his system. He went in for a full spinal MRI with contrast yesterday morning at 7am, and that came back normal- as well as a second spinal tap they did checking for proteins and white blood cells to suggest infection. Since they were both normal they have stuck to their initial diagnosis of immune mediated rediculitis. (I've been spelling it wrong for days now) the good news from all these tests is: no fever, no infection, no nerve damage, no progression of any symptoms/diseases. His tremmors are now slowing and have been reduced to stress triggers that set it off since the meds have evacuated his system. We have also been able o "calm the tremmors out of him" using pressure points in the shoulder and stretching of his arm and hand and fingers- it "releases" somehow and makes the shaking stop. Hallelujah! We have been receiving many blessings and special experiences here and we are praying that what we have been instructed to do in our minds and hears will actually happen. We feel that Eric needs to go home. There is not much further care they can give him here, where as in the states he can see doctors that deal with neurology as well as naturopathy and have a more wholesome treatment approach. That is our belief but Eric is the one that needs to believe it now. We have no authority or control over him and the financial burden of health care in the us is a major weight to him and all of us so he is resisting. We can not and will not force him. All that can be done, will be done but we want him to go home. He can be med evac'd with iv pain meds to Utah. Just pray. We had a sweet experience in the elevator on thursdaybi forgot to write about. An elderly crippled Indian woman in a wheel chair was wheeled into the elevator with us. The backs of the elevator doors are glass and I could see her eyeing us. She wouldn't make eye contact though and it was kind of crowde. After We "unloaded" some people and I could step back she could see Melanie more clearly. She had 2 little flower buds in her hands. She had been twisting them in her fingers in front of her nose and just enjoying them. When her stop came, the door opened and she finally looked over at Melanie and without saying anything just reached out and handed her the flowers. It was the sweetest thing and she didn't have to say a word. It brought tears to Melanie's eyes. She was a little angel. Eric has eaten better today than he has in days, which is a relief. He has been more awake and coherent than the last 2 days also. Things are looking up. Now If we can just get him home.

Thailand. Day 8. Thursday.

Yesterday started off with a lazy-daisy morning. Nothing out of the ordinary. We took our time getting ready at the hotel and had to hurry up to the Lounge for breakfast before they closed at 9am. It was super busy and loud in there for breakfast- note to self. Melanie and I both felt like we were intruding on a conference room full of business meetings, lol. After breakfast, we headed to the hospital with no problems and when we got to the hospital, we visited with Eric. His pain had not really improved overnight, and he remembered having some strange dreams in the night where he woke up and felt like he was jerking. He did it twice, but didn't think much of them- besides that they were strange dreams. He was extremely tired and couldn't keep his eyes open. He would be in the middle of a sentence and his eyes would start rolling back in his head, so we told him just to sleep- we would go out and let him get some rest and be back soon. We walked down to the Ploen Chit shopping center again- passing the Pakistan Embassy again. I didn't see my little girl.

We walked around and found a little Malikali Thai Massage shop that looked nice and clean, so we sat down for our 1 hour Thai foot and leg massage. It was awesome. A quiet room, comfy chairs and relaxing- amazing massage. They worked over our feet and legs and even did a head and neck and shoulder massage that moved down our arms and even included our hands.

We have a thing for getting a little more than we paid for lately! haha. The little ladies would gossip amongst themselves in Thai and giggle and it made us feel like they were laughing at us. I finally made eye contact with one of them while she was giggling and I smiled like- "I know you're laughing and if it's at me- that's not very nice ;) lol" She just smiled and the giggling stopped after that.

Melanie and I both spent our nice, quiet relaxing hour thinking prayers in our hearts for our family and especially for Eric.

We came out and paid for our massages- 300 Baht- so $10 for an amazing massage. Awesome. When we were finished, we went downstairs to the food court and ate something called Roti Spring Rolls for lunch at Lee's cafe. Neither of us were very hungry, so 3 springrolls each was more than enough to fill us up. We weren't entirely sure what was in them, but it resembled a white cheese, ham and seaweed. Surprisingly, I couldn't taste the seaweed- it was just more...stringy...and kindof "Gaggy"...is that a word?

Anyway- after lunch, with our Coke- in a can- with no ice and seaweed spring rolls, we stopped at a street vendor and bought some Mangosteen to take back to Eric. Then went to the Tajmahal custom tailor shop to pick up Monty's shirts and order Justin some custom shirts. I felt bad that I hadn't thought to order some for him the first time but without measurements I didn't think they could make any. Well- I asked-- and they said they would. Cause Sonnee is awesome. So I picked out some rad colors (babe, you're going to be so proud ;)) and they said they would have them ready the next day.  Super cool.

At this point in time we thought that with some pain management, we might be breaking Eric out of the hospital early and getting him on a plane back to the US with us as early as Saturday. So we thought we would need Sonnee to hurry on the shirts.

Well- I paid for Justin's custom shirts- I'm so excited to see how they turn out! I hope he loves them. I'm kindof worried one of them might be too "Kablam! on the color, but we'll see!

We headed back to the hospital. We passed the fish tank full of dead fish again. Grody. I took a picture this time. I'm sure they fed those fish to some poor unsuspecting people too! (Not really...it's actually customary in Thailand to allow customers to pick which fish they want to eat- like we do with Crab or Lobster- so they know full well that their fish was already dead- and they don't care).

We passed by the Pakistan Embassy again on our way back and our little girl was there again, so Melanie gave her some of the Mangosteen she had bought for Eric, and the little girl giggled her little shy giggle again and it just pierced my heart. I just love her.

We got back to the hospital and Melanie and I settled onto the couch- as usual- I would do my writing and visit with Eric and Melanie cut up some fruit for him and would catch up on E-mails. Eric was still incredibly tired and wasn't feeling or looking very good. He kept saying that he felt disconnected and we couldn't get him to finish his sentences very well- like he would get lost in thought.

He called the nurses in to help him to the bathroom- like he usually does- and when they came to help him up, he got super dizzy- like you feel when you stand up to fast- and that's just what we thought he did, but he was super shakey. The nurse got him over to the bathroom but it took a long time and he was moving extra slow. We worried that he hadn't been eating much because of his lack or urgency to use the bathroom- he wasn't havin much of an appetite. He came back out of the bathroom and it took 2 nurses to steady him to get him back to the recliner by his bed. Melanie decided to heat up some soup for him so we could try to get him to eat and he sat in his chair half asleep while she was in the other room.

She brought his soup out to him and put it on the table in front of him and came over and sat back down by me. I looked up at him and he was slowly taking a bite of soup. I looked back down and back up a second later and he had his arm out to his side- not a normal "eating position" and he had glassey eyes and a confused look on his face. I asked him "Eric! Do you know what you're doing?" and that's when IT happened.

We ran over and took the spoon out of his hand and sat him back in his chair and his eyes started to spin and the right side of his body started to shake like he was having a seizure. I had Melanie hold his head to the chair while I ran and told the nurse to get a doctor. I went back to the room and Melanie held his hand while I held his face in my hands and tried to help him focus. His eyes were bouncing all over the room and he was getting frustrated and confused and tears started to roll down his face. He had no grip in his left hand and couldn't control the shaking in his right, and he was struggling to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head. Time stood still while Melanie ran out and demanded that the doctor come NOW. I just had to keep his eyes open and keep him talking. He couldn't muddle more than a few words, but that was good enough for me.

The doctor came after about 5 minutes. Felt like 5 years, and his tremmors had slowed down and he was starting to relax, but the shaking in his right arm and right side of his neck didn't stop completely.

She assessed him and asked him some questions. He could respond when she asked him to, but had an elevated heart rate and couldn't stop shaking and couldn't focus his eyes or attention. The nurse gave him an IV injection of a strong muscle relaxer/sedative that knocked him out and stopped the shaking.

Dr. Prinyurat (his neurologist- who has been primarily treating him since his diagnosis) called the ICU and they came and had to shove a blanket under him to lift him from his chair to his bed. They moved him downstairs for monitoring, and EEG, and an MRI.

We packed up the room and went down and talked to him. He wasn't very coherent and didn't understand where he was or what was going on. He kept waking up saying "This bed is so much more comfortable than my last one." We finally told him enough times to get him to understand where he was and why- what was going on and what they were going to do. He was frustrated and exhausted.

They called in the specialist who deals with seizures, and he assed Eric and said that he did not think this was a seizure for several reasons. Eric could control the muscles in his hand to grip the doctors fingers when she asked him to- and that's not typical with seizure victims, he was also coherent and responsive during his "episode" and that is also not typical. They have diagnosed it as a rare side effect to the pain medication which is affecting his muscles and causing them to spasm uncontrollably. He's also experiencing extreme fatigue and cottonmouth- which are other side effects of the medication.

They ran the EEG while we were there and it came out clean, and they kept Eric sedated for the rest of the night.

10 O'clock rolled around and they told us visiting hours were over so we had to leave. It was hard to leave him, but there was nothing else we could do for him, so we headed back to the hotel and tried to sleep.

*** I really wish I could post some of the pictures I've been taking** If you're like me- you don't like to read posts without pictures- haha, but I don't have any camera cords or SD card readers...so, you'll have to wait.

Sorry friends

Pray for Eric.

Thailand. Day 7. Wednesday.

Yesterday morning, we got up early and rushed through getting showered and ready. We condensed our purses and backpacks as much as we could since we knew we would be carrying them all day and didn't want them to be super heavy. We got breakfast in the Lounge so it wasn't so crowded and it was great as usual. After breakfast, we hurried to the lobby and changed our cash for smaller bills. We met our tour guide in front of the Concierge desk. Her name was Chenya, and we were so glad to find that she was a young, fun, English speaking (mostly), clean girl. She escorted us out front to a little car, and there was an nice little gray haired man driving.
They loaded us in the car and we took off, heading West out of the city, before we would evenutally turn South. She informed us that we would pass through 3 Provinces on our way to the Floating Market.
As we passed through traffic, we learned that Bangkok is home to 12 Million People and about 8 million cars. In just the city. Thailand itself is home to about 68 Million people and that the word Thailand means "land of the free." Until about 30-ish years ago this was the Kingdom of Siam. We also learned that public school in this country is free- for a Primary education. Secondary Education and Private... {Pause- Eric just had a seizure. I will tell more about that in a minute} Educatoion have to be paid for separately, which means that very few kids get private or secondary education. English is now the 2nd national language for Thailand, and is currently required in all schools. The previous Prime Minister did not believe it was important for the children to learn English, so he didn't support the programs being pushed through schools. Now tourism is one of the largest industries for Thailand, and the older generations that do not know English are at a huge disadvantage.
Chenya also told us that Thailand is divided into 77 Provinces, and those 77 are divided into 4 sections, like counties in states. 77 counties/4 states.
The largest industry for the first province we drove through (I wish I knew the name), was Sea Salt production, or Slat Flats. They basically dug large shallow rectangle "pools" and laid pipe from the Andamans Sea into each "salt flat". Each piping system was powered somehow by being connected to a large industrial sized windmill, which would pump the water from the sea into the pits. Once the water evaporated from each pit, they gleen the salt from the pits, bag it, and sell it on road stands, or export it to neighboring countries. i.e. Malaysia.
The next province's industries were Fishing hubs, honeycomb production and crab catchers (very technical term huh?) lol. We passed lots of stands on the road sides with Sea Salt and Mackerel fish for sale.
Once we drove into the village that we thought we were going to the floating market in, we were driving very slowly through what looked like a large market. We passed a cart full of little brooms- which the street sweepers use, and I have thought are so cute, so I wanted to stop and buy one. We asked Chenya if we could get out of the car and just walk to where we were going, and she said yes. She did the negotiating for us, which was very cool, and we bought some brooms. Maybe weird- but I think they're cool.
As we kept walking, Chenya explained that it was a "locals market" that was over 100 years old. Each vendor would come each day and sell their foods/goods to the other locals, and it had originaly been like a trading post. People used to come and exchange goods or food with other villagers, I thought that was awesome.
We found one sweet old lady whose eyes didn't track together, who was selling really cute little wooden carved spoons out of different kinds of wood- coconut wood, bamboo and pineapple tree wood. I wanted to buy some, so I got a few medium sized ones, and Melanie decided to buy some from her too. She bent down and told her that she was a beautiful lady, and I pointed to show Melanie how cute some of her tiny tiny spoons were. She saw that we liked them so she gave one to Melanie "free for you madame" and we laughed and told her "Thank You!" and everyone around us laughed (it was very crowded) and she thought it was funny when we laughed, so she handed me a "free spoon" too, and this went on a few different times. About 4 spoons later- we handed her the change from our pockets and moved on. It was funny and sweet.
After we came out of the locals market, Chenya took us over to some train tracks, and told us that there was a train that came every day, and the vendors usually sat right on or next to the tracks, until they heard the train, then some would move back, and move their stuff out of the way, and others would sit right still and move their stuff. Chenya said "they not scared of train, it could touch their noses, they sit so close and they no care."
So- apparently this was quite the touristy place to be because a large group of people gathered right on the tracks, and the railworkers came and hand-lowered the crossing guards and had to 'shoo' the dumb tourists off the tracks.
Here I am expecting this loud, roaring, fast moving train to come by? And here comes a 5-6 car, going 20 mph- maybe, little blue and orange passenger train. Pppft?? What?
It was fascinating to see how the vendors just flocked back to their original positions though- as if nothing had ever happened.
Life went on.
After we witnessed "the train," we walked to the car where Chenya told us we were going to visit an Elephant village. A What!!!?? I had no idea we were going to an Elephant village. I instantly got my hopes up. Once we got to the village, you could see the "stalls" on the East side of the road, and the actual "park" on the West side of the road. We pulled in and they said we could buy an Elephant ride for 600 Baht, and we could buy a basket of bananas to feed the elephant for an extra 100 Baht. Of course, it didn't take long for us to shill out our money, and climb up what largely resembled an oversided tree house, to "load up" on our elephant.
They called to him over a large microphone in the tree, and here they came, out of his stall, crossed the road, and up to our 'tree house'.
Can you imagine if a car drove by. There should be a sign that says "Elephant x-ing"!!!
So cool.
They had built a seat for us, that was just a bench mounted to a saddle that looped around his tail, around his sides and back around his legs. The lady loading us into our seat told us that we were extra lucky because our Elephant had Ivory tusks, and not many of them did anymore. Chinya told us the only condition to riding an elephant was that we had to make a wish. So cute.
His name was Bou Bam, and he was 10 years old. His "driver" said he eats over 700 lbs a day, and all he does is "eat, toilet, eat, toilet" haha..
We rode around the swampy park area for about 25 minutes. We stopped at one point and the "driver" climbed off and asked for our cameras- he took some pictures for us, and Bou Bam put his trunk up on his head, between his ears- right in front of us, and we fed him the basket of bananas we had brought. He was funny and when the man came over to climb back up, he said something in Thai, and Bou Bam bent down so the man could climb back up. He balanced by keeping his toes behind Bou Bam's ears, and he steered him with his heels. Like a really big, leathery horse, lol. Right before we were about out of the park, our "driver" stopped Bou Bam on some quiet little corner and brought out a little tin of hand carved little ornaments- elephants, beaded necklades- all very white and "ivory looking". Melanie asked him and he said "No Ivory Madame" and was really pushy about us buying some so we got the smallest cheapest trinket, and moved on. The driver kept saying "To feed Bou Bam- to feed," I'm not sure if I believed him or not, but it was interesting. They wanted it to look like ivory-- just capitalizing on the appeal.
After our Elephant ride was over, Chenya had cold waters waiting for us, which were just little plastic bags full of water, with what resembled a canning lid on the top and a straw poked through the top. Very interesting. Our driver took us to the loading dock for a Canal Tour on a motorized long boat. We asked why the canal tour- we thought we were going to the floating market- and Chenya told us we would take the canal for 35 minutes, and it would take us to the floating market. Awesome! We got more than we bargained for. Our long boat ride through the canal was interesting. All the little shanties along the canal were neat to see. They were built in the original Thai style out of Teak and painted all sorts of funky colors. There were some that were beautifully kept, and some in terrible disrepair.
The water in the canal was filthy- and it was hard to think that the people that lived along that canal used that water for everything- cooking, cleaning, bathing, drinking, sewer- everything. I just don't know how everyone that lives there isn't dead or very sick. It was pretty gross. We even passed a lady hanging her (maybe) 1 year old boy off the side of the Canal in the water to bath him. He loved it and was playing in the water. He just doesn't know any different, and I had to remind myself of that. These people are resourceful and use what they have, and are grateful for it. It helps me to appreciate the ugly things- because they are what help us to seek out the beautiful things- and appreciate them even more when we find them.
About half way through our long boat ride, we stopped to see a very large bronze/gold looking statue along the canal, and there was some sort of large lizzard- a cross between a snake and an iguana, sitting on the sidewalk in front of our boat, just staring at us. Chenya said we must have really really good luck to ride an elephant and see a lizzard all in the same day. Go us!
We finally got to the floating market and they unloaded us from the long boats, and we walked through the many markets set up on the sides of the canal- where the merchants gathered to create the floating market. They had all sorts of little handi-crafts, just like the locals market. We bought a few things- with the help of Chenya and then she loaded us into a little paddle boat, which took us up and down and around the different streets of the floating market. We kept finding really cute (fake) Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Hermes knock off purses, and kindof looked at them- maybe wanting one and Chenya stopped us and said Very Quietly "If you like- I know better place. Better quality and good price- but tell nobody. Us secret." Hmmm..okay?
Chenya told us that the canals had become a major tool for transportation and trade in that part of the Province, and had been expanded to include over 200 different "canal streets". Incredible.
We bought a few things, and rode along and enjoyed all the unique sights, then went back to where we started and unloaded.
We made our way back to the Car and drove back towards the city. We were both tired and hungy, and about 20 minutes outside of the city, the driver took an exit that took us back into the city- just through a different part than our hotel. Chenya explained that she had a friend that ran a souvenier shop and he had the purses in the upstairs, butu they would take us since she was with us. Melanie asked if they ever had trouble with the Police and Chenya said "Yes- but only for locals if no pay taxes- not for foreigners," She told us that her friend had already paid the taxes on these bags so we shouldn't have any problems taking them back to the US and wouldn't be causing trouble.
We did it. Maybe we shouldn't have- but we did. And it was fun and exciting..haha. They snuck us through the back door of the Souvenier shop and up 3 flights of dark stairs to what I expected to be a dimly lit dusty little room- and it was better looking and cleaner than the souvenier shop was. They had put a lot of time and expense into making it look like a high dollar showcase.
Melanie and I each bought a few fun little finds-- They accepted Visa ;) And decided we better go back to the hotel before we caused any more trouble. Oiy.
We went back to the hotel and unloaded our bags (our many many bags) and walked across the street to the Holiday Inn and ate lunch at their little Cafe "Cafe G". I got a wok fried chicken with Vegetables and steamed white rice and Melanie got a Soup she knows and likes called Tom Kha Gai and steamed white rice. It was really good. We grabbed a taxi and came to the hospital.
Eric had been feeling much better that morning and had walked down to the nurses station in the hall and back a few times, but since he had gotten back to the room he had started feeling a lot of deep aching pain in his hip and leg again and was suffering a little bit. We visited with him and tried to joke, but he still wasn't feeling well. He hadn't had much of an appetite and since he had a laxitive induced bowel movement 2 days earlier- has had no other urges since. It was becoming concerning, so we tried to get him to eat something substantial and visit, but he was in pain, so he took his pain killers and went to bed early. They had increased the amount of the "pain killer" they had given him called "nytriptoline" (sp?) which is actually a antidepressant that they were using to suppress the pain in his nerves. He had been taking about 15 mg, and they upped it to 35mg. The docot had said that they have used up to 200mg on patients- safely-before, so we were not concerned.
We headed back to the hotel and had an early night.
We had experienced a very long and very entertaining day.

Thailand. Day 6. Tuesday

Yesterday morning, we got an E-mail early saying that the servers were still down for the body scan, which was what we were waiting for, so we slept a little later than usual. After getting up and showering, we went down for breakfast on the Mezzanine floor again, and we realized why Eric liked going to the Lounge for breakfast if it was after 7am. It was super busy. There were people everywhere, but we decided to brave it and eat down there anyway instead of going back up 37 stories to the Lounge. The staff was incredible and there was hardly any waiting for us to get our breakfast- with our "custom cooked Omelettes/Eggs" again. It is incredible that they put on such a high quality of breakfast for so many people at one time. Everything is clean and decorated beautifully and well arranged. These people impress me.

After breakfast, we headed to the concierge desk to book a tour for the next day. They gave us a pamphlet of options and we decided to do the floating market the first day, so we had to be ready at 7am the next morning for our tour. Then we got our usual-green cab to the hospital. Eric had continued to improve and they had finalized the diagnosis as immune mediated luticulitis of the t-10, and were treating it with a final day- day 5, of the IV steroids.

He was getting tired and frustrated from laying on his back for 7 days straight, so we rolled him over and took turns massaging, and I popped his upper back for him. It sounded like dominos. Once one popped, the others followed. I bet it felt good ;)

After that, the nurses came in to help him shower (super painful right?), so we went out on our adventures, yet again. This time we took a taxi to Central World. Its crazy how, in this city, it takes between 10-20 minutes to go a single mile. It's also crazy that it's so oddly named and twisty between roads, and so filled with crude men that we would rather pay the 80 Baht cab fee (almost $3) to drive 5 blocks.

I don't know how to describe Central World, aside from saying that it occupies half a block, and is at least 15 stories tall. It is filled with all different kinds of shopping. It's absolutely obnixious, and massive and mind boggling. There are different towers and each are named different things- i.e. Zen, and each tower has halls that connect to the other towers, it's an absolutel maze. Talk about overwhelming.

We walked through a few different sections- Jewlery, Clothes- etc. Then we found the food court and got some lunch. There was a little sandwich shop called Sweet Molly's that looked good, so we sat down to order, and low-and-behold a man/woman (he/she-it) came to take our order.

It's different in Thailand, but transvesdites are commonplace, and even accepted as a "3rd sex." So this- professionally dressed-dolled up- man dressed as a woman came and took our order and made our food and served us. It was just weird- and hard not to grimace. His voice was deep and you could tell he wasn't even trying to sound "feminine"? I just didn't get it...

Anyway-- I got a regular club, and Melanie got a Ham and cheese sandwich. Even though they sound the same on a menu, the food is still different. The breads here are thinner and have no crust. Each slice is perfectly square, and sliced boiled eggs are on almost any sandwich you order. They don't typically use Mayo/Miracle Whip like we do- and the only place you see butter is at the breakfast buffet at the hotel.

While we were eating our lunch, we noticed that kitty-corner from our little sandwich shop was a little Gelato shop called "Ge-la-te". The different containers were dressed up so pretty, we just couldn't resist. I got a mint chocolate chip scoop and Melanie got a Ferrero Rocher scoop. We noticed that in some of the fruit flavored Gelato's the tags were marked with a picture of the king and said "The Kings Projects" on them. Melanie explained that the king had created projects that would help the locals and homeless work to earn food, like farming fruits to sell to the local shops to use to make different foods out of- such as the strawberries used to make the Gelato's. I thought that was cool.
He encourages his people to be industrious and work for what they have and help one another. The Gelato was delicious also.
 They had the coolest little spoons too- they had like...traction bumps on them? Weird, but I loved it- haha.

We got to stop at the Okley Shop that Eric frequents and see his Personal Collection that is on display in the store. We bought some things, then decided to walk back to the hotel and explore the little shops that were in the "Arcade" down stairs. I had been looking for some fresh water pearls and found some at a quiet little jewlery counter, and I was thrilled. We found a ring that Melanie and I both just absolutely loved, but it was big enough that it would match the "flinstone pearls" (the huge pearls Monty got her for her Anniversary a few years ago) perfectly, so I talked her into buying it. I'm sure she won't regret it ;)

After our Pearl adventures, we got a taxi to go back to the hospital. The traffic was terrible and it took us almost an hour to get 3/4 of the way there, before we came to a deal hault and didn't move for almost 20 more minutes. The people in the taxi's in front of us all started to bail out, so we did the same thing. We were right in front of a school and had been having fun watching all the school kids walk out in their uniforms, eating their afternoon snacks. We walked past the school and walked the other 4 blocks to the hotel. We got to pass some pretty rough and smelly street stands, and we were only 1 block away from our turn into the hospital, when we saw almost 30  police trucks and motorcycles that had the entire street blocked off. They were riding in a formation and were making everyone stop in their tracks. We wondered what was going on, if it was a protest? or a parade? or a demonstration of some kind. By the time we had walked up the block, the cops left and let the traffic go again, so we turned and came into the hospital. When we asked Eric what he thought was going on, he said that anytime a member of the Royal Family had to come through town, they shut down every street 5 blocks in front of and 5 blocks behind the car, and the entire city comes to a hault.

They love and revere their king and royal family so much. We learned that the current king has been reigning for 66 years. The longest ruling monarch in the history of the world. Longer than the current Queen of England and King of Spain.

After we got to the hospital, we contacted Destin and he said that the Servers should be up at 9am Utah time, which was 10pm our time, so we caught up on our E-mails and visited with Eric. He decided he was hungry for something Salty, so we got (terrible) directions from him on where to find a 7-Eleven, and went exploring out the back alley ways of the hospital. The 7-Eleven's here are not the same as back home. At all. No coffee/hot chocolate bars. No Dr. Pepper. No crackers. We had to try to decide what things were from the pictures on the containers because none of the writing was in English. We found him some Salted Cashews and some Sun chips and headed back. I took a nap until it was time to do the body scan, then I woke up and got it running.

Destin connected to us and ran the scan and confirmed that the Immune Mediated Luticulitis was in full effect, as well as having Lime disease fully fledged and attacking the nerves. They discussed how it was problematic because the treatments were cotradictory. Suppressing the immune system to stop the attack of the antibodies would allow the Lime disease to run wild, and pumping him full of antibodies to fight the Lime Disease would only compound the problem with the Hyper Active Immune system.

After discussing what we had discovered, Melanie and I headed  back to the hotel. We had the concierge at the hospital get us a cab, like we always did, and this time the driver was a skinny, lurpey little guy. He saw me in the mirror and kept telling Melanie "You have very beautiful daughter. I have no beautiful daughter. My daughter Fat. She love to eat. Like wife. She Fat. She like to eat and she talk too much. Eh? I no lucky. I never have son in law. I no lucky."
He was cracking us up. He asked us through very broken English why we were in Bangkok and if we had been there before. When we told him that we had a son/brother in law in the hospital, he asked "Why here? Good doctor but good doctor study in America to come be good doctor here. You have better doctor in US huh?"
We just laughed and explained that Eric was here when he got hurt so he couldn't go to the US, he had to stay here until he was better. The guy kept saying "Lucky us- we take your money, good for Thailand. Good for me. Good luck for me- maybe my good luck find me a son in law cause me no lucky. My daughter fat. She like to eat. Like wife. She fat. She eat too much and talk too much."
It was hilarious.

 It was nearly midnight before we got back to the hotel and showered and to sleep. We had an early morning so we could be on time for our tour!

Thailand. Day 5. Monday.

Monday morning we got up and Melanie was feeling better. We got dressed and ready and went down to breakfast with the "normal people" on the Mezzanine floor. The selection was bigger on that floor. They had everything the Lounge had, but they also had a Noodle grill, a No-pork egg station, and things like baked beans, stir fry, Fish soups and "stone" waters.

They were waters that had been stored with certain rocks in them for different qualities- Amethyst, for example, was used to give people strength of heart and soundness of mind. So you basically drink water that has rocks in it. Some people are crazy.

After breakfast, we did our usual- get a green cab- go to the hospital- check on Eric. He had been improving since they started him on an IV Steroid. They had been speculating that what was causing his weakness and pain was an autoimmune response triggered by surgery that they were calling Immune Mediated Luticulitis, which meant that the Immune system was being hyper active and the excess antibodies were attacking the nerve bundle around the T-10 vertebrae, causing the pain in the hip and weakness of the intestines.

Not fun.

After we visited and struggled to get the Body Scan software downloaded, Eric got tired again, so Melanie and I decided to go on another outing. We walked down to Sukumvit road again, passing by the Pakistan Embassy again, and the same little girl was there with an elderly lady this time. She was sitting crosslegged on the ground in front of the lady, and was smiling this time. I saw her while I was walking so I grabbed the packet of Starbursts out of my purse so I wasn't digging through my purse right in front of them. She saw me coming and her eyes lit up, and I bent down to hand them to her. She put her head down and her hand out, so I bent over and looked her in the face and smiled when I handed them to her. She was so shy, and so happy- but she let out a little giggle and it completely broke my heart. I just wanted to pick her up and bath her and feed her and give her a warm bed to sleep in. She was darling.

 We found some change in our pockets to give to the toothless elderly woman and she sang to us as we walked the rest of the way up the street. Once we reached Sukumvit, we walked East this time, instead of West, like the day before. Eric had given us directions to a new shopping center called Terminal 21, so we decided to go check it out. We walked about 7 or 8 blocks before we found it.

Walking the streets of this city is just repugnant. The smells and transvesdites and crude cab drivers are just crazy. There were a few really fun and cute street vendors that had fun trinkets and toys that we had to stop and buy some. The little handicrafts were fun and the merchants are always wheeling-and-dealing you. From the second you walk in-- "Madame- 500 Baht/ no I give you 350 Baht- special price, just for you." They were fun.

We found our little trinkets and walked back out onto the street and walked past a tall Arab man who was "guarding" the entrance to his little shop. He saw us coming and just shook his head and kept saying "Very lucky ladies, Very lucky ladies." Almost like he wad disgusted at us.

We got to Terminal 21 and it was really neat. It was 9 stories tall and each floor was designed after different parts of the world. There was London, The Carribbean, San Francisco, Tokyo- etc. They had miniature light houses, a miniature version of  the Golden Gate bridge, Sumo Wrestlers, Trolley cars etc. It was really cool.

Melanie and I found a little grocery center on the ground floor and bought little brownies and sodas, and we bought some Red Velvet cake for Eric. The steroids made him cranky, and I love lifting peoples spirits with treats :D

We walked through a few more floors and found a little noodle shop and decided to stop for lunch. Melanie got a Carbonara Fettuccini and I got regular old Spaghetti with meat sauce. Ya can't go wrong with spaghetti in my opinion.

After lunch, we walked back down to the hospital, passing the same Arab man again, and he told us the same thing when we walked by "Very lucky ladies, Very lucky ladies." On the corner across from the road we had to turn North on to get back to the hospital, we spotted the Custom Tailor shop that  Eric and Monty use for their trousers and button up shirts. We decided to go in and talk to the man and order some shirts for Monty for his birthday. His name was Sonnee and he was an Arab man that wore a purple Turbin, but he had excellent English and he remembered Monty and Eric perfectly. He described Monty (Bless his heart) with his hands around his belly section to suggest Monty's belly.

I loved their shop becauses the walls were lined top to bottom on both walls with rolls and rolls of different fabrics. You got to walk around and choose the different fabrics for whatever it was you wanted made. They were measuring out a British Man while we were there and were so specific in their measurements, it was really cool to watch- down to the 1/4". They also had a lot of really neat Old fashioned wooden yard sticks on all the counters. They were triangle shaped and I wanted one so bad. I figured they would think I was crazy if I asked if I could buy their yard stick from them.

After we ordered the shirts, we passed back by the Embassy  and the little girl was gone this time. The same elderly woman was there and recognized us and sang to us again as we walked past.

When we got back to the hospital, a few of Erics friends had stopped by, so Melanie and I sat in the other room and visited with a few of them while the others sat in and talked to Eric.

We were still fighting to get the body scan to work. We had finally gotten the software to download, but now were having problems connecting to the Servers, so we had to wait until it was business hours in Utah to call the technichal help line, so we waited...

A little while later, we got hungry and decided to brave the food court on the Mezzanine floor, and found a neat little soup station. I got an Asian style (of course) chicken noodle soup, but it was made with the vermecelli noodles instead of larger- spaghetti sized noodles, and Melanie got a fish/sprouts soup. We brought Eric back a Green Tea Iced Latte', since he hadn't been able to eat much, and after we ate our dinner, we both crashed for an afternoon nap again. We woke up in time to go down to the Garden Floor with Eric in a wheel chair because he was going stir crazy. While we were there it started to drip a little rain on us, so we came back inside, and by the time we had gone up 5 floors to his room, it was a torrential downpour. I couldn't believe it.

We waited for the rain to stop, and visited a little bit, then we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Another day down in Bangkok Thailand.