Xin Chao!

Well some of you may have been wondering what i have been doing with myself since i last wrote. well the answer is not a lot! So my last day in Nha Trang i was supposed to go on a boat trip (AKA booze cruise) with Julia, however in the night i developed a fever and breathlessness, and was too ill to go and spent the day in bed, which was very annoying. that night we got the night bus to Hoi An, another 12 hour journey of which i didnt sleep as was still witha fever. Arrived in Hoi An the next day, which is a really beautiful little twon, i imagine as Vietnam used to be, lots of coloured lanterns and also pretty french buildings on the waterfront. realy cute. the main thing in Hoi An to do is get custom made clothes, every other shop is a clothes outfitters, so my frined Julia was in heaven!! We also bumped into a freind we met in Saigon, Sally, who was born in Vietnam but moved to Australia as a child, so she still speaks vietnamese but has an aussie accent. this is very useful as she can tell us all the nasty things the locals say about us. Anyway, so the day we arrived i spent the whole day in bed, trying to get over my fever. went to the pharmacy and bought antibiotics and fever drugs. Next day went for a walk around and got measured for a pencil skirt (which is very nice to have a skirt that actually fits me and my weird body) but early in the acfternoon i developed chest pains and went back to the hotel. i ended up calling a doctor out to the hotel as the pain had got so bad and i was struggling to breathe who gave me an ECG. he said my heart was fine, but said i had tonsilitis and tendonitis in the chest and shouldnt go out or lift anything. he gave me drugs (which i was completely ripped off for $48 no less) and went away.
However by the evening i had become so short of breath and was in so much pain that i could no longer sit up or stand without help from Julia and couldnt eat as i couldt get enough air in at a time. I kept thinking the tablets the doctor had given me would kick in and i would get better. but in the end i was unable to do pretty much anything and was in excruiating pain. I finally conceeded and Julia took me to the hospital. They gave me another ECG and a blood test, put one of those tablets under my tongue and put me on oxygen. from the results i had from the ecg tehy told me i had a heart problem, and transferred me up to the international ward. i was taken to my own room which had two beds, so julia stayed the night with me, was kept on oxygen and a drip and given lots of drugs to ease the pain. in the morning i was given every test under the sun, more ECG's, ultrasound scans, blood and urine tests, x rays and more scans that i dont know what they were. a really brilliant heart docotr who spoke amazing english (as well as many other languages apparently) told me that i didnt have a heart problem, that i had something called viral pluritis (plurisy), whcih was caused by a virus attacking my lungs causing there to build of fluid in between the membranes in my lung, which is why i couldnt breathe. after that i was constantly monitored, had bloods taken (always at 6.30 in the morning, why? why did they have to do it at 6.30am? i would be wheeled down to the testing ward to have bloods taken in my pj's with all the locals starring at me. white skin and pj's was just too interesting for them.) i ended up spending 5 days in hospital and my breathing improved and i was taken off the drip and oxygen pretty quickly, but still had pain and the docotr kept monitoring me all the time checking what the virsu was doing. at one point they told me i might need a chest drain with a needle to remove the fluid, eek, but in the end i didnt need it thank god. I managed to persuade the doctor to let me go this evening, 5 days in one room with only 2 english speaking tv channels and 3 days in bed before that had become to much and i needed to get out. i will still have a bit of chest pain for a while, but i am pretty much sorted now and just glad to be out. the nurses and doctors were so nice, and i would talk every day to one nurse who would practice her english on me and taught me some vietnamese. they were so sweet, they would come in and say, 'you so pretty' or 'i love you', giggle and run out. ah you gotta love it here. they had a board showing photos of peole they had treated in the past all being held up for the camera by two docotrs, standing with the nurses and doctors trying to raise a smile and looking extrememly ill. there were even pictures of peoples appendix (whilst still inside them) just for good measure. it was if to say, 'look we have treated other westerners before, and they lived!'. very funny. the hospital was excellent, very clean and modern, excellent food, honestly brilliant, and i had my own room with tv, window, air con and a fridge, so was better than the hotel i am staying in now. We figured out that two of my other friends also had the virus, Kyla had it when we were in Nha Trang as she had chest pain and fever and Julia also had some chest pain. the doctor said that they would have had it too, but for some reason it just seemed to really take hold with me.

So i made up for it all when i left hospital this afternoon and went shopping. i picked up my pencil skirt, bought three dresses and a winter coat, all of which were made to measure for me. not bad for a few hours work. i am going to have to cut short all of my travel plans now, so am heading straight up to Hanoi. leave tomorrow at 8am, a four hour journey to Hue, where i would stay longer if i had time. then at 5.30pm get back on the bus for a 13-14hour journey to Hanoi. phew. after that i plan to do a tour of halong bay, then back to hanoi to catch my flight to bangkok on Monday (providing they are not still shooting people then).

Thanks for all your messages whilst i was in hopsital, it really helped me but especially tahnks to sally and Julia if you ever read this for looking after me when i was sick, getting me to hospital, staying with me and sorting all of my insurance stuff out. i dont know what i would have done if i was on my own. Julia left for Hanoi herself yesterday, so am on my own again now, but really looking forward to getting on the road again.

hope to update you more in Hanoi!!!!!