On our second last night on Koh Samui, in the middle of the night, Earl woke up with terrible pain in his left foot. He could not bear to have the sheet on it nor could he stand on it. He hobbled to the loo by holding onto my shoulders as I walked ahead of him. I gave him Disprin and propped a rolled up towel under his foot and he managed to sleep. But in the morning he still couldn’t  put any weight on his foot. Goodbye planned National Marine Reserve trip!

I arranged for a wheelchair to get him to breakfast and asked reception to get us a doctor’s appointment. I left Earl in the breakfast room while I went to fetch the passports and papers we needed to cancel our Marine Reserve trip. While I was in our room the phone rang to say the transfer was ready. So I dashed straight down to reception to complete the cancellation business. The driver couldn’t understand English but reception did an excellent job interpreting. In the meantime my beloved was in panic mode wondering what had happened to me. In the time I was away, though, I’d organised the cancellation, the appointment at a private hospital and the transfer to it.  The tour company would give me a refund when I presented them with the medical certificate.

The hospital was amazing.  A doctor was waiting for us when we arrived. The nurses were gentle and beautiful. A history was taken and a form quickly filled in. After the doctor checked his foot he was whisked away for an X-ray then another doctor came to examine the foot. He manipulated it and apologized for the pain caused.

There were no bones broken and he was a bit puzzled as to why the foot should be so sore. It was hot so it definitely indicated inflammation – of the the tendon near his ankle.   We concluded that walking on soft sand at high tide had caused the inflammation and he prescribed a cold compress, inflammatories and pain killers. The nurse also gave him an injection. We also decided to take a pair of crutches so he could hobble short distances without the wheelchair.

We missed our boat trip to The National Marine Reserve but we couldn’t have chosen a better place to be hotel-bound.   It was relatively easy to get to the pool bar/restaurant where Earl could sit for as long as he liked.  It had a lovely sea view and he could enjoy the ambience.

I was able to go for swims in the sea and not be too far away.   We actually had a lovely chilled day and enjoyed our last dinner at the pool restaurant on a perfect last evening.

Luckily we had assisted travel anyway and the next day we flew to Bangkok for the last night and day of our holiday before flying home.