In Hospital with Pneumonia!

[pacman]

  I was fully cogent of all the politics behind your question Khun Pentire.

But you gave me a chance to say something positive about the Penthouse & I appreciate that. And for the record, had I believed that a cold, drafty, unclean hotel with inadequate standards had contributed to my condition, I would have stated it, regardless of the hotel & who I upset.

And thanks for your wishes, there is nothing like a minor 'crisis' to put things into perspective.

[pacman]

(iceberg @ Sep. 27 2010,12:36) Great to see you up and around Pacman and is this true you'll be there 'til the 6th as I arrive in Pattaya on the 5th and would love to get a dink and actually meet the man who has provided me w/ so many great post I'll be staying at CanterburyTales so message me if you'd like to get together.

It will depend on what time you arrive on the 5th Iceberg. I leave Pattaya in the early hours of the 6th so it would need to be the afternoon or evening of the 5th. PM me with your arrival time & I'll see what can be done. I have a few goodbyes to make but I am sure we can arrange to cross paths if you aren't getting in too late.

[iceberg]

Thanks for the reply Pacman I should be getting in early afternoon so hope we can make it happen if not thanks for all your informative posts as it really has made me more informed of the LB activities and as I'm new to LOS this really helps once again glad you are up and around and look forward to seeing you on the 5th.

[johnnydiver]

Great to here you are up and about Pac! All the best!

[Ninewives]

Hi Pacman,

Glad to hear you are on the mend. Take care of yourself!

When we were chatting in your hospital room you started to say something about how you fix "Bali Belly" and then we got side tracked and lost the train of thought.

What were you going to say?

I have had diarrhoea for the last week and it shows no sign of improving. Help!!

[pacman]

I am sending you a PM. I have had 2 bouts of traveller's diarrhoea since I have been here & I can confirm it works. And there are no side effects as it doesn't require antibiotics or other medicine. Hang on mate, help is coming.

[deepthroat]

Could you PM me with the elixer as well? I'd like to have that saved in my PM's should I find need of it in the future.

[azza33]

Depends what you have lads... i had 5 weeks of no stool formation and constant problems.... parasite based!!!

[Rick Shaw]

(pacman @ Sep. 27 2010,09:39) bringing a supply of Tamiflu to take while you are here.

And by doing so, you can congratulate yourself as being one of the medically ignorant, nay stupid, people who will cause H1N to mutate into tamiflu resistance, thus removing the only proven line of defence against a global pandemic of flu - the last one of which occurred at the end of the first world war and killed more people than the war did.

This advice borders on the criminally actionable. Do NOT take it as a prophylatic self administered insurance. Do NOT take Tamiflu unless under doctor's orders.

DO get your flu shots and, FFS, get medical insurance.What will you do if you get hit by a motorbike whilst crossing the road, let alone getting pneumonia?

[rossco]

Good to see you have recovered from the malady. I hope your camera recovers soon as well as we miss the pictorial element to your posts.

Re stomach bugs. I caught a bug of some sort and went for the over the counter medicine. After one week went to hospital - they required a sample - yeah right. All I had was liquid manure!

Eventually got a sample and it was Giardia lamblia - sounded like an Irish policeman!

It is a parasite based infection in the gut. It is also known as 'Beaver Fever' which made me laugh as I have not been near a Beaver with all the LBs around.

Nasty bug but with the correct remedy it was gone in 3 days.

[azza33]

Same same rosco ... my sample was not pleasant either....

So whilst i understand Pacmans natural remedy efforts... if it doesn't work within a few days... get tested..... ASAP!

[Ninewives]

(pacman @ Oct. 02 2010,11:08) I am sending you a PM. I have had 2 bouts of traveller's diarrhoea since I have been here & I can confirm it works. And there are no side effects as it doesn't require antibiotics or other medicine. Hang on mate, help is coming.

Thanks Pacman - appreciate it.

[Torurot]

You could have had it worse, getting Pneumonia AND legionaires from your hotel aircon. Every cloud has that silver lining.

[pacman]

  Very true. And with the arrival of drug resistant tuberculosis in SE Asia in the past few years, we can be assured of more worrying stories of sick guys in Asian hospitals. I had time to lay in my ward wondering if I had picked that strain of lung disease while I waited for the test results to come back.

When the doctor came to my room to tell me they had found it was a virulent strain of pneumonia that I had, I was particularly cheered by her words when she looked at my chest X-Ray & said - "at least the pattern of pneumonia isn't consistent with HIV related pneumonia".

Apparently they can tell from looking at the X-Ray if the pneumonia has been a symptom of Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. That was both a relief & something I never knew.

[pacman]

(Torurot @ Oct. 02 2010,17:16) You could have had it worse, getting Pneumonia AND legionaires from your hotel aircon. Every cloud has that silver lining.    

Another comment about Legionaires Disease - friends back home who make their 6 trips a year to Bali (not at all uncommon when it is only a 3 hour 15 minute flight) have started a black list of hotels where people are contracting Legionaires. It is becoming rampant on the island with the major cause being a lack of maintenance with aircon filters. I hear of groups who are demanding the entire airconditioning plant is treated with chlorine before they arrive.

Middle aged Aussie tourists can be damn bolshie when they want to be!!