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July 12, 2006

Melissa Crashes - Hospitalized

Click on image to play video (high speed connection advised).

LOCATION: Pak Chong, Thailand
SEE WHERE WE ARE!
Longitude: N: 14.60830°
Latitude: E: 101.06709°
Miles from Singapore: 1613

Melissa has taken a bad fall on one of the long, steep hills leading down into Pak Chong here. She was 100ft ahead of me traveling at around 35kmph when I looked up just in time to see her fighting the front end of her bike which was wobbling out of control. Next thing she was pitched over the front and sliding downhill with the bike on top of her.

When I pulled up she was face down, not moving. I feared the worst, that she'd either broken her neck or been knocked unconscious. But as I knelt down beside her I could hear that she was groaning quietly, which I took as a good sign. Her airway was clear, enough for her to breath. Her teeth all seemed intact, and she responded to my voice with a slow nod when prompted. Luckily she fell within the hard shoulder lane rather than veering out into traffic where she might have been run over.

Other motorists started stopping and we quickly had an ambulance on the way from (thankfully) nearby Pak Chong hospital. The next thing was to establish the extent of the injuries to her head, neck and back before moving her. Her right cheek had already swollen out the size of an apple by this time, and her nose looked broken. Thank God she was wearing a helmet! It undoubtedly saved her from serious head inuries. On examination she seemed OK to move into a sitting position, and around this time the paramedics showed up, cleaned her wounds and loaded her onto a stretcher and into the back of the ambulance.

Will update this blog as soon as I've found a place to stash our bikes and found where the hospital is....

jason

Posted on July 12, 2006 10:37 AM

Comments

Posted by: Carl Weaver at July 13, 2006 1:02 PM

Posted by: gl. at July 12, 2006 5:22 PM