Last Flight Out

The ambulance came back to get me in the morning and I had to have the driver tie my shoes for me. (You try tying your shoes one-handed.) They took me to the airport for my flight to Beijing and helped me check in, but I had to go through security and immigration alone with my carry-on bags. I struggled to gather my belongings on the far side of the checkpoint, but fortunately a kind man, seeing my difficulty, helped me. I had to arrange the wheelchair assistance myself, even though it was supposed to have been set up for me. It seems silly, but they arrange this for you for several reasons: boarding priority, help carrying your bags, and believe it or not, the slight movement from walking was very painful.


The flight attendant was really nice. Seeing my condition, she reseated the person to my left so I would have space for my arm and got me a pillow to place under my elbow. I slept through the bulk of the flight, exhaustion finally trumping pain. When I awoke, the same flight attendant sat next to me just before we landed and fed me. It was really sweet.

Someone wheeled me through immigration and check-in in Beijing and I was lucky enough to be in business class for the flight to Hong Kong. I was starving, but didn’t eat because I was expecting to go into surgery that night. After sleeping through most of the flight, I woke to a pretty sunset.
The wheel-chair person in Hong Kong was not very friendly. She complained about having to lift my bag onto a luggage cart and I ended up having to find someone else to carry my bags and help me find my driver. My transport insurance company had arranged a driver to pick me up in Hong Kong to take me to the hospital, so I used this opportunity to make some phone calls to work out my accommodation, etc. Fortunately, my transport insurance company also chose my hospital, so I was treated at a top-notch facility, Matilda, which is on the Peak.

It took about an hour to check in at the hospital, which feels more like a spa. Then I met with the doctor, who wanted to wait until Monday to do the surgery. If I had known, my stomach wouldn’t be growling at him.