I was so excited for Tuesday's afternoon elephant bath. The cool
water was going to feel so refreshing from the beating, hot sun. I imagined the
water fight. The elephants would be splashing and commanded to spray everyone
with water from their trunks. I was for sure going to get the mahout who had
dumped water on me the day before. It was going to be a blast. By the end of
it, I knew I would be soaked from head to toe!
Only that water fight never happened. We never made it to
the river. Upon crossing the main road, I knew something was wrong. Suk Chai
tucked his head down as if searching for food, but there was no grass nearby.
Immediately after, I felt my mahout grab a hold of me right as Suk Chai made a
complete U-turn and began running back across the road.
Elephants are such large animals that even when they're just walking, the ride isn't smooth. Their entire body shifts with each step. Suk Chai had walked briskly before, which made it difficult to stay on. So imagine an elephant running scared...
Immense fear came over
me such that I had never experienced before. The feeling was of pure terror. I wasn't sure what to do as I felt myself slipping off the
elephant. I looked to see what I could grab onto. I saw the chain, but thought
twice before taking hold. In that moment, I couldn't remember which leg the
chain was actually attached to and which side was just draped over the neck. I
knew if I happened to grab hold to it and it was the draped side, I would be
dragged on the ground and possibly even stepped on. My next best option was to
grab hold to his left ear.
My mahout fell off almost immediately, given he only had me to hold onto and I
was already being thrown halfway off. Once my mahout was off, I wasn't sure if
it was safe to stay on this elephant that was running wild. By this time my
right leg was still around his neck, but my body was hanging halfway off the
left side. I held onto that ear with both hands as tightly as I could. The
thought crossed my mind, whether or not I should keep holding on or if it would
be safer to drop. That thought didn't last long though because shortly after Suk Chai crossed back over the main road,
I hit the ground hard losing my right sandal in the process. I honestly cannot
tell you if I just slipped or if I let go on purpose. I can't remember for the
life of me.
I do remember landing on my back and thinking, "That hurt". I sat up
and saw my mahout run past me chasing Suk Chai. I immediately stood up and
walked back toward the street looking for someone to help me. I was trembling
as I screamed, "Somebody help me! I just fell off my elephant! Somebody
help!" I was in shock. I was later told that my face was pale as a ghost.
I wasn't even aware of my injuries at this time. The sweetest European man
stopped to help me. I felt so alone, not knowing what to do when he stopped his car in the middle of the road to help me, a stranger. I remember his right wrist was injured. He had it
wrapped, but that didn't stop him. He sat me down and gave me bottled water to
drink. He then began to pour the water over my cuts and scrapes to wash off the
dirt and blood. By this time, the mahouts, volunteers and elephants who were
ahead had turned around and were headed back to check on me. The European man
asked me where my shoe was. I pointed to my right and he said, "Good
memory!" He retrieved my shoe then proceeded to gently put it back on my
right foot. I kept thanking him for helping me. My mahout had now returned, as had all the others. The mahout who
had poured water on me the day before, was helping me get my left sandal on,
which had come half way off during the fall.
They helped me stand up and my mahout put me on the back of a motorbike. I had
no idea who was driving this motorbike or where he was even going to take me.
But I did know I didn't want to get blood on this guy's shirt. I was going to
attempt to hold on with one arm, but my mahout grabbed my bloody arm and
wrapped it around this guy's waist…so much for trying to save his white
t-shirt. The experience itself was traumatizing enough and the fact the mahouts don't
speak English made it even worse. So all I could say to the random guy on the
motorbike was, "Jin! Get Jin!" He understood and said,
"Yes." He drove me to a patio area where he helped me off his bike
and sat me down on a bench. He held up his hand implying for me to wait and he
would go get Jin. As I sat there alone, I began to cry.
The random guy on the motorbike was back in minutes and Jin was right behind
him. Jin immediately asked what happened and put me on his motorbike to take me
to the local hospital. As we were about to drive away, the random guy felt the
need to tuck the strap of my watch back under the loop. Jin almost took off while that guy was still holding my arm. That would've been bad. I had never
worn my watch to bathe my elephant before, but for some reason I decided to
wear it this day. It now has a nice scratch across it to remind me of the fall,
as if the scars on my body aren't enough of a reminder.
The ride to the hospital was short, but the breeze stung my
scraped body. We passed the other elephants, which were finally headed to the
river for bathing. Before entering the hospital, we had to take our shoes off.
This was quite difficult, considering I had just fallen off an elephant, so Jin
had to assist me. When we walked in, Jin spoke in Thai to the doctor explaining what happened.
The doctor looked at me then replied to Jin that my injuries were minor and I
could go bathe my elephant then return to get cleaned up. When Jin told me this
later, I just laughed. The medical treatment is so different in other
countries, especially when you're at a hospital in the jungle. Luckily, Jin
told the doctor to clean me up right away. My mahout actually came to the
hospital to check on me and bring me my room key. He was so sweet. I could tell
he was very concerned, even though I couldn't understand what he was saying.
Jin later told me that he said he was running after the elephant and was trying
to catch me, but he just didn't get there in time. In case you guys haven't
seen the picture of me and my mahout, I am bigger than he is. He is this tiny gentle man. I'm pretty sure I would've squished him if he attempted to catch me,
but the thought was nice.
I was brought into the only exam room in the hospital and
was instructed to lay down with my arm stretched out so she could clean my
wounds. I had two scrapes on both sides of my left forearm, which are now scarred. My elbow is still bruised. I had a cut on the palm of my hand, which is scarred now. My right forearm was scraped as well and the tip of my middle finger is still jammed. My right knee was swollen and cut. My right shin was scraped and is still bruised. I had a scrape on the side of my right ankle and foot. Both of my feet ended up swelling slightly. My left knee was scraped, along with my entire left thigh. The first part of the cleaning process wasn't so bad, but the iodine stung like a beast. The
doctor told me I was funny because I was slightly freaking out over it all. After she
cleaned my arm, I sat up for her to clean up my knee. This is when I noticed my left hand was swollen and I began to feel nauseous. After pointing it out to her, she
touched my wrist and said it was only a sprain. She said I could wrap it in an
elastic wrap if I wanted. She gave me some pain medicine and told me I could go
take a shower to get all cleaned up. That was that. No forms to be filled out. No bills to be paid. I told Jin, "In
America we take X-rays!” He laughed and said that they don't have that
equipment at this hospital.
After returning to my room, I took a shower to get cleaned
up. Surprisingly, I did pretty well at washing my hair with only one arm. My
roommate, Antonia, was a Godsend though! She helped me out so much. She even
made me a makeshift sling for my arm. I couldn't get dressed by myself or even
put on deodorant. It was very trying emotionally and mentally. I had never felt
so helpless before.
I didn't realize how sore my body was until later that
night. I also noticed something wrong with my right hip. When I was lying down,
I could straight lift my left leg but not my right. I would try so hard, but my
right leg wouldn't move. I also could only lie down for roughly an hour before
my back would begin to hurt. The only problem was that it hurt to get up from lying
down. I couldn't just roll over to the side because on the right my knee and
hip were messed up and on my left it was my arm and hand. I wasn't about to
wake Antonia every hour or two, so I would lay there for about ten minutes
trying to talk myself up to it. Then I would finally count to three, take a
deep breath and sit up. It would hurt my neck the worst. After sitting up for
an hour, my tailbone would begin to hurt so I would have to lie back down. It
was a vicious cycle. Morning couldn't have come soon enough.
 |
| Me and Suk Chai Wednesday Morning |
Wednesday morning at the camp, I was known as the girl who
fell off the elephant. Not that anyone actually called me that because most
people at the camp don't speak English, but I knew the story had circulated.
Everyone was coming up to me, checking out my injuries. They were all very
curious about my arm, which was still in the makeshift sling. I was the talk of
the camp.
I left the camp that day at noon to head back to the city so
I could go to the city hospital and get X-rays done. It wasn't until the
Orthopedic Doctor, who spoke English, pointed out my elbow, that I even
realized it was swollen. I had only been concerned about my wrist and hand. The
doctor ordered X-rays on my hand and elbow. The X-ray technician kept trying to
make me lay my arm and hand in a position it would not go. Finally he got two
X-rays of each. Luckily, they came back clear of breaks and fractures. The
doctor told me it would take at least a week if not longer for my arm to fully
heal. I asked about wearing a sling and he just said if it makes me feel more
comfortable. I was like; can I at least have a real one? (I was using a sarong,
which was actually my bath towel.) So he gave me a sling and a bunch of meds to
take, half of which weren't even FDA approved in the United States. But hey,
they worked and I never got any weird side effects.
Luckily, I had made some really good friends at the Friends
for Asia volunteer house, which is where I returned after my hospital visit.
They were all so helpful, well except for Mai. We were in the kitchen fixing
food one night when she left me stranded. She just poured herself a bowl of
cereal and went on up to our room. I was down there struggling to make a peanut
butter and banana sandwich with my one good arm/hand. Twenty minutes later I
came hobbling up the stairs trying to balance my sandwich on top of a mug of
water. I jokingly said, "Gee thanks for the assistance, Maibritt!"
Her reply, "Well you could've yelled for help! I would've heard you."
I said, "Yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot."
But all jokes aside, she was actually very helpful. Since Mai's room was only up one flight of stairs, she let me stay
in her room for the remainder of my time there. She assisted me in getting dressed and carried my bags for me when
needed. Well, actually only when Kaj was a weakling and complained that my backpack was soooo heavy when it really only weighed around 14kg (30 lbs.). She and Kaj were really awesome though! I'm so glad I got the chance to meet them and hope we will actually stay in touch through the years.
Before I left for the elephant camp that final week, I had mentioned to Mai and Kaj about wanting to come back early. They were all for it. Since it was my last week in Chiang Mai, we all wanted the chance to spend more time together. But I told them it was highly unlikely I'd be able to return midweek with there being four other volunteers at the camp. So when I did show up at the volunteer house that Wednesday afternoon, Mai and Kaj were so surprised. Although bummed about my accident, they joked saying, "Hey, at least you got to come back early!"
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| Mai, Kaj and I in front of Tha Phae Gate My Last Night in Town |
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