It was within a matter of minutes that disaster struck.
My left foot slipped on some loose rocks. I fell backwards with my left leg extended and my right bent underneath me. My body twisted a little…. and ………….SNAP!
I didn’t know it at that moment but, I had a spiral fracture of the fibula just below my right knee. It happened in a split second.
I swore loudly several times (I’m embarrassed and sorry Bob and Yvonne) but there were no tears from this Highland lass.
I looked up to see Bob, Yvonne, Pfoten and Christy standing over me and asking if I was ok.
I told them I was fine and tried to stand up but couldn’t put any weight on my right leg. It felt as if there were a lot of hot needles stabbing my leg from the inside.
Bob diagnosed that my leg was broken immediately and I argued with him that I was sure it wasn’t and if I could just sit down a little longer everything would be fine.
By this time Jørgen who had been much further down the slope and closer than anyone to tasting the cold beer prize at the bottom had been called back up the hill (Poor guy!)
Both Bob and I could feel the broken bone moving in my leg…….but even so, I was adamant that I HAD NOT broken my leg.Bob and Jørgen made me a makeshift splint using 2 sticks ,a belt and a long waist tie from Christy’s trousers to hold everything in place. Any Boy Scout would have been very impressed!
Before I knew it Jørgen and Christy were heading down the hill to the road to meet a police car,ambulance and a fire engine (standard procedure in Hong Kong) if you call emergency services then you get the full package: Police, ambulance and fire all together. Christy had called emergency services and asked for help.Still convinced there had been some terrible mistake and I was only experiencing a sprained muscle I begin to panic about the very real possibility of being thrown in a cell for wasting police time. I relayed these fears to Bob, Yvonne and Pfoten.
By this time Bob was coordinating the rescue team from his mobile phone and they asked him to take off his shirt and wave it so the helicopter….HELICOPTER??? and ambulance could see where we were on the hill side.
From his vantage point Bob could see the road and was able to advise the emergency services they had gone too far and that they had to turn around.Some minutes later (thanks again to Bob Stearns) a helicopter was hovering in the sky a few metres above us and Yvonne was telling Bob to put his shirt back on immediately.
Soon after that a policeman was coming down a rope in our direction with a medical package. As soon as he was on the ground the helicopter flew away, waiting for radio contact from the ground that the patient was ready for airlifting to hospital!!
Pfoten was very afraid of the helicopter, the stretcher and the policeman so she began to struggle and whimper.
Yvonne very skillfully held Pfoten tightly and tried to reassure her (poor Yvonne, this was not a pleasant experience, Pfoten had rolled in something which smelt suspiciously like poop on the way up the hill!)I , in the meantime, was still in complete disbelief and dismay about the events which were unfolding around me.
Bob and the Policeman removed the temporary splint. My leg was strapped up and then I used my hands to pull myself into the stretcher.
I don’t know what would happen if a very large person got stuck on the hillside. The stretcher was VERY narrow. It was a very snug fit! (I wonder if they keep different sizes of stretcher inside the helicopter?) Every part of me was securely fastened down. I couldn’t move at all.
Before I knew it the helicopter was above us again and I was being lifted up, up, up into the air. It was very windy, hot, extremely noisy and smelt like diesel. I had been told to keep my eyes shut but realized that I was experiencing one of those life memory moments and didn’t want to miss out, so I had a good look around me. I wanted to try and enjoy what was happening. It was the weirdest feeling to be pulled up into the air. A bit like flying I suppose. I had that feeling in my stomach like you do when you go over a bump in the road suddenly. I also had that thing happening, that always happens to me when I’m nervous. I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. Yes I know, its weird!!
The whole stretcher seemed to tilt almost vertically just before I was pulled inside the helicopter. I strained my eyes to see if I could find Bob ,Yvonne and Pfoten on the hillside in front of me…but I couldn’t see them at all. I was a little afraid of slipping out of the stretcher and crashing down to the ground from on high!
There was one other policeman in the helicopter who had been helping to lift the stretcher up and inside. The policeman had been on the ground with me had also been lifted up at the same time as me.
As soon as we got inside the helicopter he tested my pulse and gave me the thumbs up sign.
I really wanted to interview both police men about all manner of things relating to their daily job (well its not every day one has that opportunity is it?) but the noise of the rotors inside the helicopter was deafening and they were talking to each other in what seemed to be sign language. If my hands had not been strapped down I would have had a go at that myself, but all I could do was smile as they patted me comfortingly on the shoulder with their leather gloved hands!
All of a sudden the doors of the helicopter opened (I hadn’t even felt it landing and so half expected to be lowered down through the air.) Light flooded into the dark interior of the helicopter. At first I could only see the outline of six human? faces as my eyes adjusted to the light. I was eased onto a hospital trolley which was being pushed by six goggled, capped, masked hospital staff. I smiled at all of them too.
I think I have probably relayed the most exciting part of my leg break adventure. After that I had x-rays and several doctors asking me to try and move my toes. Why do doctors always ask you to touch their pen with your toes, but hold the pen just beyond your reach?
I asked them where I was and they told me I was at Eastern Hospital.
It was a few hours until Bob, Jørgen,Connie and Christy arrived. I was allowed to go home with my broken leg on the condition I would go to a hospital nearer our house first thing in the morning.
It was there that I had my first experience of “one size fits all” checkered hospital pyjamas and chamber pots….but that is another story.
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