Bangkok Hospital, Chiang Rai, Thailand 

I didn’t sleep as well as the night before but when a person doesn’t do anything all day it’s not like you’re tired. I sleep because I’m bored and the drugs make me dozy as well.

I had a visitor - Nok-

She is my friend Don’s friend.  She doesn’t want him to call her his girlfriend! She is a very independent woman – she just spent time in Australia doing some archeological work. Her mother lives in Chiang Rai so she was here visiting her and she came to meet me. She brought watermelon, grapes and oranges, as well as a piece of birthday cake because yesterday Don turned 61. It was awesome to meet her!

The doctor also came to visit and my surgery will be tomorrow night, Friday at 8 PM. It will take about two hours and of course he had to go over all of the risks which I don’t like hearing about even though I know chances of any of that happening are slim to none.  I will be released either Monday or Tuesday and then will probably stay in a guest house close to where Nok’s mother lives for a couple of days until I can figure out if I can manage my backpack or not.

I finished a book and started another.  I slept a little bit, had a shower, washed my hair and walked a few laps around the unit.  All of this is trivial I know but there’s not a lot going on in ICU.

My meds-

For breakfast I had Tom Yum Goong soup which was fabulous and then for lunch I had a chicken caesar salad which was also delicious-

Tomorrow I will not be able to eat or drink anything after 12 PM.  

The staff is wonderful – my main nurse, because she speaks English, is called Watermelon (Tængmo) in Thai and her daughter is called Wave.  Her daughter is two and has been in this hospital for five days with a high fever so after Watermelon finishes her shift, she spends the night with her daughter.

My bandages were replaced and this looks way worse than it actually is-

I’m hoping for a restful night.