Accident and a stroke of luck
N 20°39'14.6'' E 105°04'01.5''
Date:
06.08.2016 until 29.08.2016
Day: 406 – 430
Country:
Vietnam
Province:
Hòa Bình
Location:
May Chau
Latitude N:
20°39’14.6”
Longitude E:
105°04’01.5”
Daily kilometers:
10 km
Total kilometers:
18,166 km
Soil condition:
Asphalt
Maximum height:
180 m
Total altitude meters:
54.835 m
Sunrise:
05:35 h – 05:42 h
Sunset:
6:35 pm – 6:19 pm
Temperature day max:
28°C
Temperature day min:
22°C
(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).
“You’re still here?” I greet Louis with a questioning look as we sit down at the breakfast table. “Ha, ha, ha. You won’t believe it, but Ben is ill.” “Ben is ill? What’s wrong with him?” “Food poisoning. He’s lying in the cathedral under his mosquito net, throwing up all the time and going to the toilet is hell for him.” “I can’t believe it. Something really seems to want to keep you here.” “It looks like it. But like you said, nothing in this world happens by chance. I’ve come to believe that too and this place is really nice. I hope we can leave tomorrow,” says Louis. “Tomorrow? That would mean a flash recovery for Ben. Well, we wish him a speedy recovery. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that you can finally conquer Vietnam,” I say. “What are you actually doing today?” Louis wants to know. “We’re going to climb the small mountain behind our hut. It should be a great view from up there and in the late afternoon we want to have a look at the market in the village up ahead. If you want, you can come with us.” “Great, I’m in,” says Louis happily
At 4 p.m. Tanja, Louis, our dog and I climb and crawl through a dense bamboo forest. I use a stick to cut a narrow path through the bush, always taking care not to accidentally hit a snake. “Did Two (one of the lodge’s new partners) tell you about a trail?” asks Tanja. “It has. It’s either overgrown or well hidden,” I reply, panting heavily. After climbing over many jagged rocks, we reach the summit from where we can actually enjoy a fantastic view of the Mai Chau rice paddy valley. As soon as we get back to our hut, we hop on our saddles and ride to the market. Louis rattles along behind us on an old rusty ladies’ bike.
It is already dark as we make our way back to the lodge. “I’m so hungry!” I shout. “And me first!” Louis replies with a laugh, pedaling hard on his aged steed. “Denis! You took a wrong turn!” Tanja calls after me. I immediately pull the brakes and follow Tanja and Loui. Tanja stops at the bamboo bridge to let me pass. “Drive carefully!” she shouts. “Ha, ha, ha,” I laugh, rattling the bamboo canes. I pull the brakes on the rickety bridge to control my speed. Too late. My front tire gets caught between two boards nailed lengthwise to the bamboo. As if I had been shot at, I disappear into the dark nothingness without being able to show the slightest reaction. “Shh. Crack. Sharp pain. Everything black. What’s going on? Dizziness. Booooooohhhhh. Humming. “Denis? Deeenis!” Did someone shout? “Deeennniiis!” “Yeah.” “Are you okay?” “No.” “Where are you?” Get up. I have to get up. “Here,” I say, staggering along in the darkness. “Oh God. You were suddenly gone. Are you okay?” “Yes, yes. I’m okay,” I hear myself reply and realize how it’s bouncing back and forth in my head and the dizziness is forcing me to the floor. “Everything will be fine,” I hear Tanja say and wonder why my head is suddenly resting in her lap. “Denis? Deniiis? Are you still there?” a familiar voice penetrates my brain. “Yes, I’m here.” “What happened?” Louis asks from afar. “Denis has fallen. Please drive to the lodge, get help quickly, we need transportation,” Tanja’s voice blares into my temples. “Are you in pain?” “Yes.” “Where?” “The shoulder,” I hear my own words, as if they were coming from someone else. My gaze falls on my left shoulder. Something is sticking out that shouldn’t be sticking out. “It’s just the shoulder. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it. “I feel sick.” “Louis is getting help. They’ll be here soon.” Spotlights cut through the tropical night. “Can you walk?” “I think so.” It staggers. Dizziness. “Oh, my shoulder hurts like hell.” “Sit in the buggy. Is that all right? We’ll drive you to the hospital,” says someone. Was that Tanja’s voice? No matter. “Why the hospital? I want to go to the resort. If it’s bad, we can go to the hospital tomorrow,” I hear myself say. “We’ll definitely go to the hospital immediately.” The ride is hell. Every bump in the ground stings my shoulder and draws a cry of pain from within me. “Hang in there. We’ll be right there.” “Ahh! It really hurts.” “We’ll be right there.” Next to the buggy, which is normally used to ferry Vietnamese tourists through the rice fields, rolls an iron bed without a mattress. “Are you coming up there?” “I don’t need a bed.” “Lie down,” says Tanja and feels a number of hands lift me onto the cold, uncomfortable thing.
In the X-ray room, someone places me against a white wall. The door closes. Suuust. It sounds from the device in front of me. Oh, I feel sick. Just in time, the door opens again and once more a few hands are there to save me from collapsing. The cold, ugly and uncomfortable bed rolls out of the X-ray room with me. Neon tubes flicker on the ceiling and illuminate the corridor you are walking through. The squeaking wheels come to a halt in a large room. Only now do I notice several smiling faces around me that I know from the Nature Lodge. Tanja says that the entire new management team is present. The architect and naturopathic doctor Two. A senior official from the Ministry of Finance named Hai, the filmmaker Hung, Man Do, who has built the Nature Lodge so far, and Ka, the manager of the lodge. Everyone is there, smiling at me with encouragement and assuring me that I will recover quickly. “Shoulder joint fusion” is the diagnosis after checking the x-ray.
The doctor gives me an injection and a backpack bandage that is far too small. Of course, the Vietnamese are small people. “We’ll get you a bandage from Hanoi,” promises Ka. Meanwhile, the doctor wraps bandages around my shoulders, which cut in such a way that a little later they dwarf the pain of my injury. A second X-ray is taken to check whether the bandage has been applied correctly. “Man Do paid the hospital bill. “I wanted to give him the money but vehemently refused,” Tanja says later. Next to me lies a woman in an identical rollaway bed. But on a mattress. Her face looks green and white. “Food poisoning,” someone says. “You should stay in hospital,” I hear a voice I can’t place. “Absolutely not,” I reply.
The drive back to the lodge is hell, despite the syringe. The increasing pain shows its disgusting side and claws its way into my body. Even the neck sends out nasty signals. I wonder if my cervical spine has been damaged. “You fell on boulders. Your helmet got a scratch. No wonder your neck hurts too. In the end, you were very lucky,” says Tanja.
Back in the room, Tanja takes me to bed. The filing is awesome. I roar with pain. Lie on your back like a bug. Both arms go numb. “I can’t take it anymore. My arms are dying. We absolutely have to loosen the bandage,” I ask Tanja. So back up again. “Ahhh!” I scream indignantly as Tanja pulls me up by my right, healthy arm. Tanja holds me by the right arm again as I lay down. “Ahhh!” I roar like a shot lion. “Sorry. I’m sorry.” “Sorry for what?” asks Tanja. “That I was so stupid to jump off the bridge. That shouldn’t have happened,” I say and feel the tears rolling down my cheeks. “It can happen to anyone. Just don’t blame yourself.” “All the way from Siberia to here and then there’s some stupid bamboo bridge. I should have pushed over it like you did.”
The next day, after a terrible night, the management of the lodge sends the x-rays to specialists at the German-Vietnamese Hospital in Hanoi. They advise surgery on the shoulder joint. But it is also possible without surgery, they say. Takes longer, but should heal. We still don’t know whether my cervical spine has been damaged. My headaches and neck pain are almost unbearable.
We immediately send the x-rays to our friend Hape Meier, one of the best physiotherapists in Germany, who has brought me/us back to sporting life after every injury so far. He reacts immediately. “It looks like it’s an acromioclavicular joint sprain. You’ll feel much better in two weeks and you’ll be back on your bike in four to six weeks.” Hape builds me up, straightens out my battered psyche. I am confident he is right and hopefully we can continue our journey…
After falling from the bamboo bridge, Denis Katzer is recovering from his shoulder injury.
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