Pelvic X-Rays

In the event that you happen to feel so inclined as to see what one of my x-rays look like, I happen to have some to share with you:

(click for a larger image)

These were taken on September 19th, 2006 and November 8th, 2006, respectively.

Unfortunately, I don't have a 'Before' shot to show you, but do you notice the right side and how it's different? It's not that I'm just lying crooked, which is what the technicians thought at first. See if you can pick out all the fractures... :(

However, I do have a bunch of 'Immediately After' and several 'Recovering' shots, but they're the actual x-ray films themselves, larger than my torso and we had to carry them back from Shanghai. In fact, this wouldn't be a bad time to write about the journey home...

I believe I left on September 16th. My dad's company's insurance company was paying for it and all of my medical expenses which ended up coming to a total of approximately $100,000 USD (Correction: I'm told it was closer to half a million dollars). Shocking, isn't it? Not so much, considering I stayed in two hospitals; the first one for a few days in the ICU and the second one for approximately 8 weeks. In the latter, part of it in was spent in the ICU and the majority of it in a bedroom with two adjustable hospital beds, a flat-screen television, air-conditioning, a bathroom with shower, some furniture, a convertible sofa bed, meals included, and a small refrigerator. And a 24/7 maid.

On the return trip, they sent a nurse from Washington DC and a physiotherapist from somewhere else in the US (Atlanta? I can't remember) to pick me up and bring me back. My brother and dad left earlier not much for school and work, and my mom had to leave a couple days before, because those were the only tickets we could get. By then, I no longer had to be pushed on a gurney (they're awful), but I was in a wheelchair and I could even take a step or two if I was holding on to something. I took the ambulance with them to the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Not only was it a strange coincidence that I happened to get the same ambulance with the same doctor on board, but I even remembered him and he vaguely remembered me, so we chatted a bit just before I had to be lifted off on a stretcher and seated in a wheelchair.

This was around the time when they weren't allowing any liquids in carry-ons. I had some lotion and Polysporin in my backpack, which they made me throw out. It just so happened that the elevators were broken, so I had to be tilted backwards with a female attendant supporting me and the physiotherapist holding me from the step above on the escalator. How long have the elevators been broken? A very long time. And will they ever be fixed? Uncertain. At least the escalator wasn't broken or else I would have had an exciting time getting down the stairs. I wonder what they would have done.

I got to take a break in the lounge, but there wasn't anything good there to eat or read, because the United Airlines lounge was being renovated or something, so there was one that was being shared with the Japan Airlines. The physiotherapist was a vegetarian of an Indian background and the Korean nurse was working for the insurance company, Sunlife, I believe. I had to walk up one step and down the aisle to get to my seat right at the first row in First Class on the United Airlines plane. The two had managed to buy a few faux brand name purses and I was worried about them getting through customs, but the flight attendant said not to worry. First Class wasn't as spectacular as it had been made out to be. The seats were wide and allowed the passengers to lie down, almost to 180 degrees. The meals were okay, better than most vegetarian meals, but nothing amazing. Individual screens and cassette tapes to choose from to watch at any given time. I watched Thank You for Smoking, which was great, and Failure to Launch as well as a few others that really...weren't. I was given a percocet and the nurse kept taking my temperature and blood pressure every hour or so and keeping a journal of everything. My story spread very quickly between the flight attendants and they were all very friendly. Almost at the end of the flight, I was having trouble breathing so I got to use the oxygen tank.

When we landed in Chicago about thirteen hours later, I had to walk back off the plane, then directly back into a wheelchair, where another attendant, male this time, pushed me to the destination I was supposed to be at. I think a lot of them were Polish and they weren't speaking English to each other. The physiotherapist was very nice, but she had to stay in Chicago for the night before she returned to her home. She had never done one of these trips before, while the nurse had to do them all the time, all over the world.

The only items I was carrying were my backpack and the enormously heavy and bulky x-rays, which are why I finally decided to write this story. The nurse had a huge bag of equipment and medications. From there, we took an air ambulance with two pilots and a nurse back to Buttonville Airport, just a few blocks from my home, but that wasn't where I was headed. The ride was not pleasant at all. It was freezing cold, I had to use the washroom and there was a lot of turbulence. There was no way I was going to be lying on that cold metal stretcher, so I sat in one of the tiny seats. There was popcorn just before the exit to this mini-plane and we took some onto with us for the flight. There were better snacks, such as granola bars, potato chips, bottled water and drinks, in the back, but I didn't take any of them. I'm not sure that I could reach either, because I couldn't get to my backpack that contained the hoodie Angie had bought me just before I left. She was having lunch with a client that day and was running late, but she showed up near the end and brought me fried rice and the Paul Frank hoodie. Very kind of her. The fried rice was delicious, too.

It took just over two hours to arrive at Buttonville Airport, where I was picked up by another ambulance via a convertible stretcher/gurney (I really hate them) and driven to Markham-Stouffville hospital at about 1 AM. I got my own room and then was quarantined, because I was coming from Asia, which obviously meant that it was highly likely that I was carrying SARS. Being crippled and having to take the commode wasn't nearly as bad, but that must have been the worst part about staying there. My parents came, brought me some food and my mail, which was rather depressing as a good part of it were letters from the university I was supposed to be attending, packages describing the orientation weeks and events and the residence I was supposed to be sleeping in, not the hospital. There were also a few letters from my high school to inform me that I should go to Commencement to pick up my awards. That just rubbed it in even more; the awards and diploma I had earned before. The few days after that just got worse, so I think I'll end with the best part: While I got wiped down every day in Shanghai by the maid, I was finally able to take a shower the next morning - the first one I'd had in over 8 weeks. Exhilarating.