The loneliest place in the world, is in the corner bed of a hospital ward in a foreign country where everyone speaks another language.

After much debate and collaborative thinking among a group of ETAs, an ambulance was called. Three people came in, looked at my knee which at that point had swollen up quite nicely and was unable to bend or straighten. They wrapped it up in a huge brace type thing, then brought in the rolling bed and transferred me onto it and rolled me into the ambulance. One of my friends went with me...the men were all very nice, talked to us in English, etc. When we got to the hospital I was wheeled in, they took my vitals, and then sent me for an x-ray. The good news is that there are no broken bones. They then insisted on admitting me to the hospital. So I was taken up to a ward, given a bed, and my friend had to leave. I drifted off to sleep around 2:30 probably, and was woken by the on-call doctor around 6 am. He looked at my knee, poked it, and moved it around. He declared that the regular doctor would be in later to look, but that I might have torn my ACL or torn the meniscus or something.

After about 5 other nurses and doctors filed by, poked at my knee and did things which made it hurt in general, and asked how I injured it, they finally declared that I needed an MRI before they could be sure what was wrong. It's scheduled for Sat. at 1:45pm. They wanted to keep me over night, but at that point, I just wanted out. So I persuaded them to let me go home with crutches, and I have been careful not to put any weight on my leg. The crutches are annoying and hard to use...I don't have the strength for long periods of time on them. So that should make getting to the MRI place tons of fun tomorrow. I also have to return to the hospital on Monday, even though they won't have the results back. They just want to make sure it's not getting worse or something. I get the feeling they're going to try to make me stay the night, which I will fight to the best of my ability. I don't like being there.
Luckily, because I had just applied for my Hong Kong Identity Card, the charge is greatly reduced, with the exception of the MRI which is done via a private agency.

Anyway, that's about all I know. I'm exhausted now...the food in the hospital was icksy, so I hadn't eaten in about 36 hours. When I got home, one of my friends went out and got me McDonald's. :) Nice taste of America. I don't know if I've ever been as homesick as I was in that hospital bed. Although everyone was nice, I was miserable by the time I was finally allowed to leave.

On a completely random note, I've noticed the stunningly stylish glasses that abound in HK and that actually fit Asian noses!!! I'm determined to get a pair while here...after I pay for all this medical stuff. *sigh*

Bed time...lots of limping around painfully tomorrow.