Guest Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Maybe I can just take care of it myself, I thought. Maybe it isn't that big of a deal. I could just wash it and bandage it and be on my way. Or maybe not. My entire shoe was soaked in blood and I was at least a 20 minute walk from my hotel. I'm in Pattaya, Thailand, en route from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was on my typical morning walk when out-of-nowhere I experienced a brutal assault by one of the many street dogs of Thailand (typically seen sleeping in the streets and scavenging for food, NOT attacking fitness-enthusiasts). He (male assumption) was "ominous black" (is that a Crayola color?) and had started following me and giving me a menacing, guttural growl. Not knowing any better I decided that feigning ignorance was my best bet but before I knew it the mongrel unleashed a sneak-attack from behind, putting a mighty chomp into the meat of my lower calf just above the ankle. Now it might have hurt had I seen it coming, but from behind it was more shock than pain. I let out a loud "Aiiii!!!" and jerked my foot, causing the dog to retreat instantly. A few moments later blood was seeping out of the wound, and pouring water onto it from my water bottle was doing little to help. Being as it was fairly early (7am) and I wasn't exactly on a main strip, the streets were fairly empty, save for the omnipresent motodops (motorcyle taxis) sitting in the shade across the street. They had witnessed the tragedy and my subsequent futile attempts to remedy it, and seeing as the situation was quickly moving from ouch-status to potential epic proportions, I decided to get a ride back to my hotel. I crossed the street and produced a business card from my hotel which had a small map of its location on the back. Two of the motodops discussed it while a third offered me a strip of cotton torn from some random dirty sheetcloth perhaps saved for an occasion such as this. I bent down and flicked off some fat and coagulated blood from the wound before tying the rag around it, grimacing at the thought of what bacteria might be stowing a free ride into my open gash but eager to stop the flow of blood (hey, my vintage Pony athletic shoes were at stake here). I hopped on the back of one of the motos and off we sped to my hotel- a few minutes (and 20 baht / 50 cents) later I was at the front lobby. I explained the situation to the desk clerk and she pulled out a nice new first aid kit, complete with...... Gauze. Huh? No tape? No antiseptic? "Sorry, no have". Great. Well, ok thanks... Up to my room I hobbled, gauze in hand, now realizing that I might soon be foaming at the mouth. Upon removal of the rag I realized that I was definitely not in very good shape; the flesh around the bite had swollen up a good half inch and it had all sorts of coagulated gore and tissue hanging out of it. I rinsed it off in the shower and then used some alcohol pads to perform a half-assed sanitization and inspection- there were multiple small bite marks on the left side of my ankle and a large 3 inch by 1/2 inch gash on the right. I covered it all in gauze and tied it in place with a plastic 7-11 bag. Voila! Ok, I'm fucked. Time to go to the pharmacist- there was one just down the street. "You must go hospital!" The wrinkled Chinese pharmacist held his hand up to the opposite shoulder and mimed an injection. "Cheed yaa... must get shot!" He told me where the hospital was and I was on my way, again via motodop. I turned down a wheelchair offer at the hospital lobby (but in hindsight it probably would have been fun), and made my way back to the emergency room. The place was swarming with good-looking Asian females in nurse-garb.. a personal porn-fetish come true. After 20 minutes of cleaning, bandaging and injecting (as well as figuring out what the hell they were saying), I was presented with my bill: Vaccination.................................650 baht Medication..................................290 baht Medical Supplies.........................360 baht General Medical Equipment.........70 baht Other Medical Service Charges...50 baht Physician Evaluation.....................300 baht The gash was to be rebandaged daily, and I was to receive additional rabies vaccination shots on days 3, 7, 14, 28, etc.. I would also need stitches in a few days, after any potential contaminants (thoughts of shit-eating dogs flood my head) had had a chance to rise to the surface. The nurse that cleaned me up told me that I was "lucky". I gave here a baffled look and she clarified: "Lucky you can have Thai people take care of you." Outwardly I smiled, but inside I furled my brow. Yah, ok lady, I'm real lucky. But maybe she was right. The universe often operates in mysterious ways (or at least sometimes it's reassuring to think so), so maybe getting bitten by a street dog on my way to Cambodia was part of some greater cosmic plot that, in the end, would all work out alright (whatever "in the end" and "alright" means). I counted my blessings (four) and headed back to my hotel, wondering what the greater cosmic plot had in store for me next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Yes you very lucky. http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/907109508.html Nice story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun_Kong Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Sorry to hear of your experience. But... What a well-written, easy to read story! Nice job. Maybe we can see s story from you that does not involve mastication-by-canine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 Preowun, Good story. A new guy huh? 1st post and here in the Stories section! Good, new blood! (No pun intended here.) Hope to see you post a few more whenever you have the time and inclination. And yeah, you were lucky. At least this is inexpensive really to do here in Thailand, go to the hospital and get all this done. I have a doctor friend who warned me long ago to be very careful with the dogs in Thailand. Seems rabies is rampant here, and very few of the dogs have ever had a rabies/distemper shot/s. Good thing you went to the hospital and got started on the series of shots. Did this screw up your trip to Cambo? Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 Thanks for the input everyone.. I never ended up going to Cambodia, but my stay in Pattaya was very enjoyable nonetheless. Also worth mentioning is that this story was written in a somewhat sarcastic and fictional tone; though it is all true, my reaction was way more relaxed and mai pen rai than the text suggests. As for other stories this is the only one I have written that relates much to Thailand, and I usually do more of a poetry / flash fiction type thing. If anyone is interested in that stuff, I can post it. Cheers, preowun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 Thank God it was man's best friend you endured.. Could you have imagined what you would have looked like it if it would have been a beast that doesn't like man... But they are asleep at that hour anyway... CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidy Ho Posted April 7, 2005 Report Share Posted April 7, 2005 >>Yah, ok lady, I'm real lucky.<< If it was in your karma that you were to be bitten by a potentially rabid dog, it's much better that it happened in Pattaya than Cambo ... Perhaps the cambo trip was not in your karma. OK, now I'm going back to reading my ka®ma sultra :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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