Hanoi Sojourn plus Cellulitis!!

Day 17 - 19/10 to day 21 - 23/10
Things on the health front are improving all the time but the leg actually looks awful being swollen and reddish/purple!! Still, we're being very diligent as regards taking the antibiotics so hopefully as time progresses things will return to normal.
However, on Day 19 we returned to the hospital as we had been becoming anxious that the leg wasn't healing as it should. A blood test showed that the bacteria count was off the Richter scale which was not welcome news. Very dangerous if not dealt with. So,it was decided that Jim would have further antibiotics by IV every 12 hours. After all tests were done a broad spectrum antibiotic was started. There has been a blood culture taken to try to specifically isolate the actual bacteria but at the time of writing that result is not to hand. Right now Jim is having the evening IV on the 23rd. and the schedule for tomorrow is that we come again to the hospital for another IV at 0430. Then we leave for the airport at 0600 at the latest for our flight to Bangkok. We don't finally arrive at Krabi until 1630 so it will be a very long day. We have already arranged a hire car to go to the Krabi International Hospital for another IV soon after we arrive back.
But to regress - our days have mostly been concerned with Jim's leg and all that. Getting as much bed rest as possible with the leg up was paramount. Not very conducive to sightseeing except from what we could see from a taxi window. However, Hanoi is a very attractive city around 2 major lakes and many parks. Together with some lovely old French buildings. The French were anything but benign colonists however and were ruthless in their supression of resistance.
Jim was feeling a bit better so we made the mistake of going on a "City Tour". This involved a visit to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and also the simple Vietnamese house in which he lived. The Mausoleum is a forbidding looking Soviet inspired square building and normally it is possible to go inside and view Ho lying in state, but every year he gets taken to Russia where he undergoes a makeover and this coincided with our visit. So we didn't get to meet Uncle Ho. However, this visit in particular involved a lot of walking in the heat which did Jim's leg no good at all so we left the tour after the Mausoleum visit and returned to the hotel. The hotel restaurant only served breakfast so our days consisted of bed rest and occasional forays out to local restaurants for meals. Not very exciting but all we could do in the circumstances.
Our other activity was a twice daily visit to the Family Medical Practice at Ba Dinh where Jim had a broad spectrum antibiotic by IV to treat the infection in his leg caused by Cellulitis. This is a very dangerous condition which if untreated, could lead to loss of a limb or even life. Interestingly Cellulitis is very prevalent in Vietnam and this may be a legacy of the American War. Apparently with destruction of infrastructure and explosive excavation of ground more bacteria than normal can be released into the environment. This legacy can exist long after any war has ended. So maybe that was the indirect cause of Jim's infection, which we think started in Hue.
Day 22 - 24/10
A long day indeed. First the arranged wakeup call at 0300 from the hotel reception did not eventuate. Apparently they got the time wrong! Anyway, we were fairly keyed up and after a fitful sleep fortunately woke naturally in plenty of time. When we went downstairs we found Frank and his offsider asleep but they woke as soon as they realised we were there. Frank, Lala, Ana and Rose had been the epitome of friendliness and helpfulness and we were very sad to be leaving. The taxi arrived as ordered at 4 and off we went to the hospital. There they were as usual very efficient and within 10 minutes of arriving Jim was plugged in. When that finished we ordered another taxi for the airport. Arrived in good time and checked into Air Asia for our 0900 flight. We had bulkhead seats booked for the Hanoi-Bangkok leg and also down to Krabi which was a blessing as the Hanoi-Bangkok flight was almost 2 hours and Jim's leg swelled with the altitude. Managed to keep it wedged against the bulkhead in front of us so it remained more or less elevated which alleviated some of the discomfort. 4 hours on the ground at Don Mueang (Bangkok) which was totally unremarkable and then off again to Krabi. Climbing out of Bangkok there were some big thunderhead clouds which the pilot weaved his way around. This was accompanied by a disquieting opening and closing of the throttle as we negotiated these monstrous clouds full of high winds and thunder and lightning! Anyway, we made it to Krabi without incident and landed into a grey overcast.
So, our Vietnam odyssey has come to an end. We enjoyed the country and especially the people. When you think what they have been through at the hands of the Chinese (for 1000 years), then the French for about 100 years and who were anything but benign colonists, and then the American War from around 1960 to 1975 when North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the wrought iron gates of the Reunification Palace in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), you have to have absolute admiration for their resilience in the face of overwhelming odds. The Americans could not fight them conventionally and so the order went out to kill as many Vietnamese as possible as they had come to view the situation as a war of attrition and high body counts were the only measure of military superiority! High body counts were also a guarantee of promotion. Women, children and old men - it didn't matter. A body was a body. And they cut the ears off to prove that the claimed body counts were not fictional. We're reading a book at the moment ("A People's History of the Vietnam War" by Jonathan Neale) which details all the history leading up to the American War and the deeply flawed and sick reasoning which led up to the American invasion. Not to mention horrific accounts of being directly under these bombing assaults. The total amount of ordnance dropped on Vietnam was more than three times that of the entire 2nd. World War by all protaganists in that sorry saga.
Since the war ended 40 years have passed and the country is prospering. Still a military dictatorship and nominally Communist/Socialist, but capitalism flourishes everywhere. However, all major businesses (banks, etc.) are state owned. The population is 90 million and there are 60 million motorcycles! Must be a great business for Honda and Yamaha.
That reminds us - when you are crossing 4 lanes of road in (say) Ho Chi Minh City, you must press on resolutely. Above all you do not stop, even when several hundred motorcycles are bearing down on you. If you keep going they can negotiate around you but if you hesitate or stop mayhem reigns. A word from the wise!!!
It was a pity that our 3 week visit ended as it did but we want to go back and complete our tour of north Vietnam in particular. We would give HCMC a miss but would spend more time in Danang and inland from there as well.
Well, that's it for now. More to come with the still unfinished business of the Cellulitis saga and ongoing yachting adventures. Watch this space!
Cheers and love from us........
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Krabi Boat Lagoon
Krabi
Thailand.

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