One For the Books

I've been called plenty of names before. Had my name butchered into a million pieces. But this one's the kicker.



There are all kinds of letters in there that don't belong. Maybe the Hongkie behind the registration desk is better off as a personal trainer.

I got back on the campaign trail, and as of Sunday Campaign Weightloss 2008 was in full effect. I was doing a decent job too. Sunday had good jog and Monday attended my very first spin class. I was very scared but survived it and had a lot of fun. The spin room is teeny tiny, completely blacked out and blacklit. The worst part, as you can imagine, is the bike itself since they are not the most comfortable things in the world. More than anything my hands hurt from holding myself up in that forward position and it kinda feels like I broke my butt.

I was really really proud of myself for surviving the class. Until the following day. When I stepped outside my office to throw away the rubbish and took a nasty spill down the stairs. I've had plenty of experience rolling down stairs, but this one was bad. And different. It was like someone pulled a chair out from under you. I kept moving, but my foot did not, or something. And then, like wind getting knocked out of you, my face was on the floor. I was so startled that I didn't catch myself at all and landed flat on my left knee.

Thankfully none of the illegal smokers were in the stairwell, and it took me a few minutes to be able to get up and drag myself the few feet to the office. For a minute I thought I could shake it off but as my ankle was growing to gigantic proportions and I could no longer walk, so I hauled myself to the ER.



Ew.

I had a great experience at Queen Elizabeth hospital. Checking in was a breeze. I didn't even need to fill out any paperwork. Just handed them my contact info. Paid $500 HKD upfront, which is about $65 USD. Hongkies only have to pay about $12 USD. Waited a little over two hours, which was what the estimate was for semi-urgent needs. Tons of old people were hauled in as I waited. Some people were walked to the bereavement room. A nicely dressed guy who had been crying, maybe a little older than me was escorted to the bathroom by police. One of them had his arm around the guy, which I thought was really interesting and touching. I also saw another policeman with his arm around a kid, walking him to the waiting room. Anyway, this crying man was taken to this roped off area that was right next to me, gave a police statement, and then was walked away again. I wonder what the deal was, if only I had a clue about Cantonese!

Once my waiting period was over, it was really efficient. Saw the doc who was very nice. Got my x-ray. Waiting period for that was 1.5 hours, but it took no time at all, with the good news of no fracture. Just a torn ligament. Ew. Picked up my drugs at the pharmacy which also took no time, and thrilled to learn my initial payment covered the x-rays, drugs, consultation, all that. I keep asking myself, what did we do wrong?

Got some crutches and a had a really hard night at home, but today is actually not so bad. Tomorrow I might try walking without my crutches, and I hope I'll be ok since I have to go to China.

PS if anyone asks, I kicked the moogoogaipan out of those evil ninjas.